Waiting for Emme

I'm 38 weeks!  I'm having a hard time being patient, waiting for labor to start.  At the same time I'm hoping she takes a bit because I have so much to do before she gets here!  Getting a little nervous about caring for a newborn, toddler, and keeping up with a 24/7 business.  Will Josh be able to adjust?  He's already burned out.  Will Carson have an utter meltdown since I will no longer be focusing on only him?  Am I ready for the amount of pain coming very soon?  Not to mention will our puppy freaking potty train before she's here!? My mind has been flooded with various thoughts.

However, excitement and peace are still the top ranking thoughts.  Peace that God will bring her out of my womb in his perfect timing.  Peace that the birth is going to be beautiful no matter what unexpected things may come.  Peace that she will perfectly fit into our lives because God understands what we need and what we can handle.

Now I just have to wait!

We had a scare this last week.  During my 36-week check up with one of my midwives, she thought little Emme might be breach and then asked me how I felt about a c-section.  Yikes!  Not what I wanted to hear so late in the pregnancy.  However, an ultrasound the next day confirmed that she is in fact head down!  HUGE relief.

Seeing my little girl on the ultrasound really got me excited for the birth, especially now that I can go on with the natural birth I have planned!

Mr. Social

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted last.  We have been very busy with the business, an active toddler, and a pregnancy.

Thankfully our schedule is going to slow down a bit so I should be able to keep up again:)

Carson has become Mr. Social.  He went through a shy stage that we thought was pretty normal.  Both Josh and I were extremely shy growing up so we thought he would be the same. Well Carson has seemed to grow out of it.  He now wants to say hi to everybody and I mean everybody.  Even people who don't want to say hi to him.  Which really bugs me.  How can you not say hi back to an adorable two year old!  The nerve of some people.  However, it is teaching him about the real world, it's just hard as a mom to watch.

This new social interest is also causing Josh and I to step out of our box a bit.  I don't think I've ever talked to strangers so much in my life!  Suddenly I'm striking up conversations with random people at the grocery store as I interpret what my son is trying to say to them.  Plus what he's trying to say is usually very two-year old oriented.  "Hi, HI, I have Lightening McQueen on my shoes.  He goes fast and my shoes light up...see...oh they didn't light up...sorry blows raspberry."  When I interpret these conversations people look at me like my child is strange.  Oh well, it makes sense to a two year old and I happen to find it adorable :)  I make sure to reassure Carson since I think his new budding social life is good for him.

Marriage

Me: "Did you dust the house like I had asked?"
Josh: "Yup"
Me: "You Did?"
Josh: "Uh huh"
Me: "Then why is all the furniture dusty?"
Josh: "You asked me to dust the house, so I dusted it"
Me: "What does that mean? Isn't the furniture part of the house?"
Josh: "Well if you wanted the furniture dusted, then why didn't you ask me to dust the furniture?"
Me: "So what exactly did you dust? I'm confused."
Josh: "The house!"

This is a dialogue Josh and I recently had when I asked him to dust the Adult Family Home because it was looking a little fuzzy. I am still flabberghasted by the differences between communication of a husband and wife. Even after almost 7 years of marriage my jaw still drops in response to the casm there is between our two brains. We never cease to learn and grow in this area and hopefully we never will. It amazes me that God created us so differently yet with the ability to complement each other so well (at least with a little work ;).

After picturing our conversation above, I could totally see Josh walking through the house with a swiffer duster dusting the walls and corners thinking what a great job he's doing :) And I'm sure he did an excellent job. By no means is he lazy. Just next time I'll remember to include the furniture in my request.

April Update

Did I mention I'm pregnant with a girl?  Pretty shocking.  It's taking a little getting used to. Not sure what to do with the 9 large storage bins of Carson's clothes that I saved.  Even hauling it to Goodwill seems like a lot of work!  I'm still saving some of my favorite outfits of his...just in case.  I won't really fully believe this baby is a girl until I give birth to this child and check for myself.  The ultrasound was pretty undeniable.  Even with my lack of training I could easily identify this baby as a girl.   Of course I had the tech prove it to me!  I was convinced there was something hiding somewhere.  However, I heard Josh chanting "I told you so" next to me.  He's been sure from the beginning this baby is a girl.  I guess Daddy's have instincts too.

Carson seems excited too.  He loves picking out girl shoes (should I be concerned?).  I passed down my shoe fetish to my son :).  He's starting to understand the concept that there is a baby in my belly, although he can't understand why his sister can't just come out.  The waiting is a little hard for him to grasp.

I had an epiphany this last month...Carson is growing up and I need to treat him as such.  He was such an easy baby.  I never had to reprimand him until the 18 month mark or so and even then rarely.  We hit the twos and I guess I was still in baby mode.  I realized (with Josh's help) he is lacking respect.  So I'm taking my role as teacher more seriously.  It's time to crack down and be the mom of a toddler.  Results so far have been great.  He actually listened to me today!  Woohoo land of victory!  It feels good now but getting into the correct frame of mind required some letting go and mourning the loss of his babyhood. I had to stop looking at him as the sweet 14 month old that never tested me and as the 21/2 year old that he is.  Sort of a reality shock.  However, feels good to live in reality. 

We also established family movie & pizza night.  One night a week we either make pizza, heat up some frozen, or order in and enjoy a movie as a family together.  I hope as Carson grows this night becomes special to him because it is the one and only night he gets to stay up past his bedtime.  Josh and I have been surprised by how much we look forward to this night!  It gets to Thursday and we're giddy the whole day.  It's been fun and fulfilling starting a family tradition. I highly suggest creating one! 

Sincerely,

Homemade Felt Board

Carson refuses to go into nursery at church so instead of trying to force him to stay there each Sunday, I decided it was time to start brainstorming ideas for quiet activities he can do while staying with us in church.  I was over at my mom's house one night running things by her and trying to get ideas and her good friend was over and she mentioned that she had made felt boards for her kids to play with only during church so it was special.  I had been wanting to make a felt board anyway so decided that was the perfect idea.  So I spent a couple hours cutting out animals shapes and gluing them together.  Now we have a cute felt board ready for church tomorrow.  I also cut out a bunch of regular shapes.  I thought of creating different food but ran out of energy.

The project cost me less than $5 and I have a ton of leftover felt that I can use to make felt boards for birthday presents this year for all of Carson's little friends.
Steps for a homemade felt board:
1. Purchase cheap picture frame.  (I think I paid a $1 for this at Walmart)
2. Buy Various Colors of felt
3. Glue main felt piece (I chose blue) to picture frame backing and dispose of glass insert. (I used a fabric stick glue) I then cut the extra felt off around the edges until it was flush with the backing.  Then I placed piece back into frame.
4. Create your felt pieces and you're done!  Possibilities are endless.

Meal Planning

I'm trying to get back into meal planning. Since moving into our adult family home we have been overwhelmed with adjusting to the lack of a 9-5 schedule for the hubby and it's been a challenge no longer officially being a stay-at-home mom. Things like a dinner menu have gone by the wayside. Now that we have a little more employee help, I'm trying to regain some normalcy and also restore health and healthy family habits to our lives. It is a challenge because some nights two dinners are required, one for our residents and one for us. That can be exhausting. Some nights I can combine the two which is helpful so I will be trying to do a mix of both. Our residents eat a very light dinner which we don't mind every other night or so but we'd go crazy after a whole weak of that. I love my comfort dinners!

I'm looking forward to home cooked dinners again and I know my family is as well. One thing at a time right? Next is figuring out how to keep my house clean on top of everything else.