Family Reunion

We had our big ol' family reunion this weekend with all my dad's brothers and sisters. I was able to see several aunts, uncles and cousins that I haven't seen for a long time. It's amazing how much everyone changes in a year!

I spent most of the time wrangling the rugrats. But I did get to talk to some nieces and nephews that I haven’t chatted with for a while to get caught up on their news. Some of the biggest headlines in the immediate family:

Mandy is expecting baby #1 (a girl!) and is due in December.

Stefanie is engaged! She and Tyson are getting married December 20th. (Looks like December is going to be a big month!)

Shannon and Shantel are almost done with their respective schooling endeavors. And my sister Jill is just starting up.

Lyssa sat and nursed this bottle of bug juice for about 15 minutes. (Good thing we took it out of the paper bag!)
Check out how red her cheeks are. They were playing so hard!


Mom spent some of the time with Grandma to get some people in old family photos identified. (Check out the set up they’ve got there. A digital photo frame and 3 laptops…poor almost 96 year old grandma was a little over-whelmed!) It was such a cute picture seeing the two of them together trying to figure out who everyone was.

We ended with the traditional water fight (the girls had fun dumping water on each other as you can see in the photos). You should see how fast people can move when that water starts to fly.

It was just a nice relaxing day to hang out and catch up with everyone.

Tests

So I went out to lunch with a good friend from work today. She is having some trials in her life that are a bit difficult to deal with so we got started talking about trials in general and I had a little epiphany about my own struggles in life.

I think it's fair to say I'm a pretty impatient person. Once I make up my mind to do something, I have a hard time waiting...I just want to jump in with both feet and get it done. I don't like waiting to become good at something and I'm terribly impatient when it comes to waiting for other people to get things accomplished or learn something.

It seems that a lot of the trials I've had in my life seem to run along a common theme. That being the "stick it out/endure to the end" sort of theme...most likely because this is one of the most difficult things for me to do because of that impatient nature.

I have about 5 million examples of how I can see this looking back through different things I have experienced, but the most recent one would be with being pregnant. I went over my due date 2 weeks with both my girls. While this doesn't prove anything, to me it was a huge hardship. (Yes I know many women go through this and survive just fine...but I'm pontificating here...) Having to wait the 40 weeks was excruciating...then adding 2 more on top of that AND having to get induced were just like nails in the coffin. It killed me having to stick it out that long. And while I realize there are other women with much greater trials and there were a lot of things that could have been worse, for ME, it was a big deal. Being huge and miserable was bad enough, but add to that my inability to wait for things and you get a someone who feels like the entire world is against her.

I guess after all that gibberish, my point is that Heavenly Father knows us and knows what our weaknesses are. Because of that He gives us the trials that will specifically test and help us improve our own individual flaws. I have seen time and time again how each thing I have struggled with has helped me overcome or strengthen a specific weakness. It is amazing to me to look back and just how well suited each of these trials have been to me and what I needed to learn at that particular time in my life.

I am so grateful that we have these experiences, and that we know they are coming in love with the intent of helping us reach our full potential as children of God. What great love He has for us. How well He knows us. It is truly humbling to realize how involved He is with each and every individual life.

More snow

Had a doctor's appointment today. Looks like everything is going well so far. I start my one week appointments soon...I can't believe how quickly this is sneaking up on me!

We got more snow today. The girls were so excited to go out and play. We took about 20 minutes to get them all dressed in their snow clothes. They went outside for about 10 minutes and apparently decided they were too cold. Next thing I know, they were pounding on the back door wanting to come back inside. Silly girls.

Help!

It just hit me that the baby is coming in about 6 weeks. I have now hit panic mode! There is still so much to do before he gets here. I think the blogging is going to get more spotty as the date approaches.

I still have a quilt, an afghan and 3 blankets to finish before that and innumerable things to do at work. Not to mention all the little baby things I need to get - like clothes and diapers.

Mom is going to help me with the quilt. For some reason I decided that I was going to hand quilt all the squares with designs instead using the maching to do the boring "X" across the middle. I have only done about 30 of the squares and I have 70 left. YIKES. So she will take some of the squares and help me finish that part.

ACK! I hope I can get it all done!

No wonder...

After seeing me limp around the office on my last visit, my OB recommended that I go see a Physiatrist (I thought she said Psychiatrist at first! I probably need that too...) to get checked out.

At the appointment today she poked at me a bit and determined that I had broken the tailbone (she couldn't tell how badly without an x-ray, which is obviously impossible at the moment) and that my SI joint is out. This is not normal, even in pregnancy, so I get to go to physical therapy. Yippee. And if that doesn't work, I get a fun shot in my hip. Even better.

Well no wonder I can't sit, stand, lay, walk or generally move without hurting (especially after yesterday's marathon of cookie making!).

Yet, for some reason, breaking my tailbone while pregnant, especially this far along, seems extremely funny and ironic to me. If it didn't hurt so bad, I'd be rolling on the floor laughing about it.

This kid is definitely gunning for the position of youngest child.

Nesting?

While I enjoy having my house clean and I don't really mind cleaning, I haven't been that great at it this pregnancy. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that we moved in to the new house while I was in my first trimester. With all the nausea and migraines, I felt so much worse with this baby than with the other two. Then, when I was expecting to feel better in the second trimester like usual and everything got worse instead of better, my motivation continued its slump.

Now at two months left, (and still feeling crappy mind you), I've suddenly started to actually do laundry, dishes, clean, unpack boxes, etc. Can it really be that I'm nesting already or has my second trimester energy finally found me a couple months late?

Accident prone

So we had another big storm roll through last night and earlier today. It left a lot of snow, which I think is great, but I'm sure Matt doesn't like having to shovel the driveway and sidewalks quite so much.

As soon as the girls saw the snow, they wanted to go outside to build a snowgirl. (McKenna refuses to call it a snowman because we are girls and only girls can build snowGIRLS, boys build snowMENS). I got them all bundled up and sent them outside to get started while I did a few things around the house.

I was putting off going out because I really only have one pair of pants that fit me comfortably that I will wear outside the house (the rest are pajama bottoms) and I really didn't want to get them all wet because I was planning to go out to do some Christmas shopping. That and the fact that I don't own a coat that will go around my belly or snow boots that will fit my swollen feet. And let's face it...I don't bend in the middle anymore. That makes it a lot harder to build a snowgirl.

Eventually they could wait no longer. I put on my pants, squished my feet into my uncomfortably tight boots and rummaged through the coat box until I found one that would at least get close to closing in the front.

When you go out our back door, we have a nice big deck with stairs leading down into the grassy area. I headed out and carefully started down the snow covered steps, holding on to the railing. Well...apparently I wasn't careful enough and my foot slipped out from under me, bringing me crashing down on my tailbone onto the step. I then bounced down two more of the steps before I came to a screeching halt. This was quite an...unpleasant sensation.

My right hip is already extremely painful due to that half of my pelvis feeling the need to rotate out of its normal position while I'm pregnant. So now my whole backside is bruised and sore in addition to the hip pain. Good going, grace.

Aside from being a little sore, all is well. The baby was still as spastic as ever and I checked with the doctor that day just to be sure. Mom and dad came out to bring us dinner and check on me (not to mention clean the girls toy room) all of which I'm extremely grateful for.

When I asked Matt if he was embarrassed of his klutzy wife, he just said, "No. Now I just know where your daughter gets it from."

31 weeks and counting...

In honor of my 31st week of pregnancy, (and basically because I'm bored but too tired to really accomplish anything) I thought I'd compile a list of the my most and least favorite things about my current state:

10 Things I Hate About Being Pregnant:

1. Gagging on the toothpaste every morning (every SINGLE morning)
2. Being swollen.
3. Everything hurts.
4. Lack of sleep (due to #3 usually).
5. Constant stuffy nose.
6. Rude comments people make about your size, due date, etc.
7. Random people feeling like it's okay to touch my stomach (seriously STOP IT).
8. Not being able to wear my wedding ring when my hands get too puffy (I must admit, these winter pregnancies are better for that!)
9. All the (rather large) pills I have to take everyday.
10. The process required to get the baby out - which so far, has always included induction.

10 Things I Like About Being Pregnant:

1. Feeling the baby move.
2. My hair and fingernails grow faster.
3. Not feeling guilty about putting my feet up and relaxing (or trying to).
4. People seem to be more friendly and nice to you (although this can backfire, see #6 and #7 above).
5. Getting to take a month off work.
6. Shopping for baby stuff.
7. Having a shelf to sit my cereal bowl on.
8. Decorating the nursery. (boy stuff this time, yay!)
9. Being part of a miracle.
10. I get one of these at the end!