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!

Time Flies.....

well, here it is seven weeks until this next baby arrives. seriously??? i feel like it was just yesterday that i found out i was pregnant...okay so not yesterday, but not that long ago. it is hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that i am both completely ready to not be pregnant and have the baby here, and also at the same exact time terrified of how i am going to handle having two under two. i know people do it all the time and are just fine, but i am pretty sure they are tired. VERY TIRED. and the thing of it is, i was just getting used to not being tired anymore. i am also stuck between thinking that if it is a boy then i will be done having kids and thinking i could have about 20 more. stupid duggar family. if they didn't look so happy and well adjusted i might not have this problem. seriously though, i don't think i can be done at two...maybe three. three seems to work well for other people i know. what would happen if i had three under three? would that make me totally crazy? would it make jason totally crazy?? isabelle isn't helping the situation much. she has started giving me hugs, which is like the most adorable thing EVER. she wraps her arms around my neck, squeezes and makes the cutest little noise ever. the hugs alone make me want at least 2 more if not 20 more. so who knows. i guess it is a good thing i don't have to make up my mind today!

goals for the 0-1-0. (oh-one-oh)

so i hate new years resolutions. i forget about half of them and don't keep the other half. so this year i decided to set goals instead. as if changing the name from resolutions to goals will somehow make a difference...but you never know. of course writing them down online for anyone to see them will of course mean that i will have to at least ATTEMPT to accomplish what i set out to do! so here goes!

Goal #1. finish a book. any book. not that i am not reading, mind you. in fact right now i am about half way finished with three books and about two chapters into a fourth. what am i reading you might ask??? first is what the Bible says about child training, second is renewing your mind, third is a book called boundaries and lastly a book about homeopathy. all very good, all very relevant to my life right now and that is the problem. i need all of the information in all of the books RIGHT NOW. however, as i have come to realize, finishing just one might be more useful than getting 1/2 way done with all four!

Goal #2. learn how to prepare healthy meals for a one year old. strike that. learn how to prepare healthy, inexpensive meals that my one year old will actually eat, that don't contain lots of obscure ingredients or involve frying vegetables. i have no idea if this is even possible, but i am confident that cream cheese covered raisin bread, bananas and milk cannot sustain her forever.

Goal #3. finish isabelle's first year scrapbook. she is almost 15 months after all. and in two months there will be a new baby who i will want to do a scrapbook for.

Goal #4. build my mk business. mary kay has been such a blessing for our family. i have been able to set my own hours, work from home, take vacation any time i wanted and make some extra money. the great thing about mk is that the potential to be successful, make tons of money, win lots of prizes including trips around the world, diamonds, and free cars is there. turns out, however, that those things don't just fall into your lap without actual work. now it is easier, and more within reach than any other type of business or work from home opportunity, but the thing of it is, all things in life require work. and i am certain i have not been working enough. not to mention that while i used to consider myself outgoing, i am pretty sure i need to be more outgoing and more confident in order to start really seeing BIG profits. so part of building my business means being more bold, more confident, more outgoing and putting in more effort!

Goal #5. grow in my walk with the Lord. pretty self explanatory! i would like to also be reading my Bible daily and committing more scripture to memory.

Goal #6. and my last goal....learn something new. not sure what this might be. i have considered some serious in-depth study of homeopathy, photography (since i love photos but suck at taking them), cooking (beyond tacos, spag and sandwiches!), or actually finishing learning how to knit (i can do a scarf...that's it). who knows what i will actually decide. probably whatever i can do while taking care of two children under two! after all, baby #2 will be here in april. which is why, of course, that losing weight is not on the list of goals. i am screwed for swimsuit season any way....so maybe it will be on a revised mid-year goal list, but maybe not.

if i accomplish even half of these i am pretty sure i will consider the year a success. i will probably consider it a success if i make it through the year having been able to figure out things like grocery shopping with two kids. (where do you put them both and keep your groceries???) i am also sure it will be an adventure that will be both fun and scary. i can't wait!

snow days

So this past weekend, we got six inches of snow. Last time it snowed, we tried to take Isabelle out, but she wanted no part of it! This time was a little better, not great, but at least she didn't cry. I don't think she knew exactly what was going on. I think part of the reason she was okay to be outside was the fact she was wearing her pink boots which for the past two weeks she has refused to take off. First thing in the morning she wants them on (she will wear them over her footed pj's) and she does not want to take them off for bed. Luckily for us, she feels the same way about her new shoes we just bought so we should be okay when she outgrows the boots!

Jason and I took advantage of the weather by working on her new big girl bedroom. We still have a lot of work to do, but still have 8 weeks left to do it, so I am not worried (yet). We also were able to fix a delicious meal on Saturday, which we don't usually do because of church, and had the Williams' over to eat. Sadly, the guys beat the girls at canasta, ending the girls winning streak.

Overall, we had a nice weekend. Sad that church was cancelled, but glad we had the extra time to spend together. Now I am ready for the snow to melt and for it to be a bit warmer outside!