sunday, monday, tuesday...baby day!

so wednesday is right around the corner and i couldn't be more excited. the end of this pregnancy has been harder and more uncomfortable than with isabelle and i am relieved that wednesday will be the end! on the other hand jason and i have about a million more chores to get done around the house before then so we are both a little stressed. as i type this, jason is out mowing the yard after having changed the oil in both our cars. meanwhile, i went and treated myself to a mani/pedi with the sis!!! obviously one of us is ignoring the to-do list! of course now that i am home and the nails are dry, i have little excuse to not be cleaning the bathrooms or finishing up the laundry. isabelle has been playing nicely by herself for most of the day and now that she has a room all of her own she enjoys playing in there without much interaction from mom and dad. i am confident that letting her get used to playing more independently will help me once the baby is here and i don't have as much time to devote to just isabelle. she has developed quite the personality and in my opinion, she gets cuter everyday. she has been saying new words and doing new signs at a pretty amazing pace and can communicate pretty well given her age. i am pretty sure she could be signing much more if i would take the time to learn some myself. anytime i show her one, she picks it up right away (though the motivation for the recent sign "cookie" seems pretty obvious.) isabelle has really shown me that as a parent, your kids just get more and more adorable. not less as i worried about when she was just a baby and i didn't want her to get big! watching her grow up has been pretty amazing and i am so blessed to have such a great daughter. i am sure the cute and adorable thing will wear off sometime around 13...but for now it is nice that i realize that even though the time goes by fast and they grow up quickly that they only get better and better. so our family is ALMOST prepared for #2 and more than ready to find out boy or girl. probably will not post again until after the baby is here, so look for an update!

14 days and counting

that's right...only 14 days till baby #2 is here!!! and let me tell you...i am one excited lady. i am pretty well DONE with being preggo. the swollen feet, gigantic belly, heartburn and inability to get a full nights sleep due to having to go to the bathroom every hour have worn me out! i don't quite remember it being like this last time. i have gained slightly more weight this time around (like 5 lbs) but i don't see how that could be making it this much worse! and most of all, i am ready to know if i am bringing home a baby sister or a baby brother for isabelle (though if it is a brother i don't know what his name will be!). but like i have said before, while i am ready to be done being pregnant, i don't know that i am ready to have another baby! and the things i am concerned about seem to be multiplying.


during this past nine months, i have never really thought about whether or not i will love this baby as much as isabelle. i think that is something parents struggle with when they have another baby. maybe i would have worried about it if it wasn't for my sister who told me frequently that you just do, your heart just does, God just gives you that ability to love the same HUGE amount for each kid. but i am concerned about other crazy things. like what if i don't think this baby is as cute. i mean have you seen isabelle? have you met her? she is freaking adorable. and she gets more and more adorable every day. yesterday when i told her it was naptime rather than run in her room like she usually does she just laid down in the floor and pretended to be asleep. it was pretty cute. worse than the thought i won't think this baby is as cute is the thought that i might think it is cuter! or what if this baby isn't as easy as isabelle was. trust me, i have been praying about this one. isabelle has been pretty easy all the way around. sleeping has been pretty easy, switching from breast to bottle was easy, from breastmilk to formula was easy, getting rid of the paci was easy and she has a pretty easy going personality. this kid could easily be more challenging than isabelle. and i DO NOT want that! i also think about what isabelle's reaction to a new baby in the house will be. we spend the entire day together and have a lot of time for just isabelle and mom. bringing home a new baby will most definitely change the amount of time i have to focus just on isabelle. while part of me is convinced that she will adapt to a new baby just the same as she has adapted to everything else, part of me worries she might not be so happy. and those are just a few of the things i think about during the day when the thought strikes me that in two weeks i will have two kids to take care of, not just just one. luckily i only have 14 days left and then a whole new level of craziness can begin!

what do you do all day?

so here's the thing....i think the ongoing feud between working moms and stay at home moms is a little silly. as far as i am concerned it is a choice each mom should make and for some moms, staying home is best and for others it is not. however, lately i have been confronted with the same question over and over again. "what do you DO all day?" seriously, what do i do? i actually cannot believe that anyone would ask that, but they have. over and over within the past year i have been asked about what i do all day long while i am home with isabelle. as if i do nothing. so i decided to answer that question. here is what i do ALL day long (not 8-5 like working people).

plan and prepare three meals and one snack each day for isabelle, feed her those said meals and snacks and then clean both her and the floor/highchair after each meal and snack. sounds easy enough...until you consider the fact that some days she will eat anything i put in front of her, and others she will only eat cheese, or crackers or some other random food that i have to figure out by first trying about ten other options.

oh..and i have to eat. and i cook dinner most nights for my husband. which if you know anything about me is a BIG change from our early married days where jason did all of the cooking.

housework, housework, housework. being at home all day automatically means the house gets dirty faster than if we were gone all day. so each day i take time to do some housework. dishes and laundry are done daily and then there is cleaning like vacuuming and dusting and cleaning the bathrooms that are done 1-2x per week.

taking care of the family finances. balancing the checkbook, paying bills, making our budget and going to the bank when needed.

errands....i take care of all the grocery shopping and any errands for isabelle like diapers, etc. i also use errand time to make mary kay deliveries.

run my own business. yes, i stay home, but i also work. in addition to holding appointments after jason gets home and on weekends i also use time during the day to make phone calls to book new parties/facials, call current customers, maintain my books and general filing and office work that would be done in any office.

entertain/teach/love/spend time/play with isabelle. you can't leave a child to their own devices all day long. so people who think you can just sit around and eat bonbons while you are home with a child are sadly mistaken. think about what you would want daycare workers or a babysitter to do with your child...ignore them??? i think not. so each day we spend time outside (if it is nice), playing toys, reading books, dancing, whatever will make her happy!

and while this list is far from complete i hope it does give people an idea about what a stay at home mom does all day long. and i hope that people who ask "what do you DO all day long?" will get a clue that just like working moms, stay at home moms and work from home moms are not sitting around watching soaps and eating ice cream all day!!!

update on our crazy household...

well the past week has been a little rough around here. isabelle managed to pick up a bug from somewhere and was nice enough to pass it around the whole house. needless to say, we have all been suffering with runny nose, sore throat and general crankiness for about a week now! what really gets me about kids being sick is the decision on whether or not to drag them to the doctor. we have been to the doctor frequently enough within the last 15 months that i know that 9 times out of 10 i am going to be told it is nothing and to go home (after i pay my copay of course).....but there is always that chance that it could be an ear infection or some horrible childhood disease, so i always give in and go to the doctor. better safe than sorry, right??? until this last time when i learned a very valuable piece of information. you see, i am always worried about the possibility of ear infections. that is usually what drives me to the doctor...to get ears checked. recently the thought occured to me that rather than paying a copay every time i need to have isabelle's ears checked, i could get one of those ear instruments doctors use and check them myself. of course i laughed off this idea because those things probably cost like hundreds of dollars, right? WRONG. my pediatrician let me know you can get them on the internet for like $50. why do moms not know this information? why have we not been taught how to check ears? it cannot be that difficult. really, just tell me, this is a normal ear, this is an infected ear. maybe i am wrong, maybe it is very difficult to tell the difference, but if not....i have been wasting some serious money. so in addition to the million other things i am currently interested in learning and figuring out...ear checks have just moved up the list.

as for other interesting news happening around our house...my csection date changed. no more april 2nd. now march 31st. and while three days really isn't that big of a difference, something about the fact that the date is in THIS month and not NEXT month is kinda freaking me out. this pregnancy has not gone at all according to my plan and there have been many bumps in the road and the change of date was not really what i needed at this point. i keep hoping things will turn around and magically become this perfect vision of what i want for this baby's arrival, but so far, no luck. the last thing i am hoping for (which will be a miracle) is for a stress free csection followed by time for just jason, the baby and myself to be together as a family. doesn't sound that hard now does it??? we'll see!

and poor jason...he is doing good. working hard and trying to not let all the craziness get to him. between my crazy emotions and isabelle being so cranky this week, he is probably worn out! he is the best husband ever. i am not making that up or exaggerating or even saying it because he is my husband...seriously, he is the best. i am spoiled beyond words!

that is what is going on in our household these days...plus regular life! four more weeks and we will have our new baby and will FINALLY be able to know boy or girl! most everyone says girl...except for a few holdouts....we shall see!