February Recap

It's a little overwhelming to think that for my next monthly recap, we'll be posting about being a family of five. The "cards" (if you will) will have been dealt regarding labor and delivery. The whole "what will we do with the boys if it's the middle of the night and the baby is coming too quickly" part will have played out. We will have decided on a name. I will be on maternity leave and healing. (Of course, all of this Lord-willing.) It's mind-boggling, truthfully. This is my last update without our family being complete.

I haven't talked about my pregnancy on this blog much, since I have another one wholly devoted to it, but this past month has been pretty rough. The insomnia has left me feeling pretty useless many days, but having a full-time job doesn't give you the luxury of just laying around, so my days continue to run from 5:30am (or earlier on those insomnia days) to 10:30/11pm without much of a break. From 7am-4pm, I'm needed at work, and from 4pm-9pm, I'm needed as a Mama, and from 9pm-11pm, I'm needed as a wife. And for 24 hours a day, I share my body with a sweet little boy who sometimes is kind with his kicks and jabs and other times is not. This doesn't give me much time for just me, although you might think that's all I do, judging by just how convoluted our home is with junk and dust and dirt in all of the places.

This is the easiest and the hardest it will be with three kids, I think: The easiest because one of the three is still contained and there's no extra steps in keeping him alive right now; the hardest because I can't physically do the things I want to do (and would normally have the energy to do), and much of the time I feel like I'm failing as a Mama to my two kids this side of the womb.

But all of that aside, it's not like February was a total bust. ;) We may have spent too much time inside, and we may not really have been able to actually go much of anywhere beyond Worthington. We may have been even moreso stuck to the confines of our home due to two large blizzards that came through, and we may have been counting the feet of snow in our front yard. We may have watched too much Netflix and played Zingo too many times. But overall, the days have been sweet with our little family. There wasn't really a whole lot to recap (unless looking at what we ate for breakfast on Valentine's Day, and the leftovers from the Superbowl are totally fascinating to you), so the recap posts are few and far between. The things I did recap are actually on the boys' separate blogs all about them, so you can check those out. But otherwise, the posts have been at a minimum because quite frankly, there's not much to say that isn't all about waiting for a baby to arrive and being snowed in ;)

Highlights:

• Cashel's Preschool WinterFest Program (February 4) (recap here)
• Superbowl Sunday (February 8)
• Cashel's Preschool Valentine's Party (February 11) (recap here)
• Mama's Night Out (February 11)
• Valentine's Day (February 14)
• Kendrick's First Allergist Appointment (February 23) (recap here)
• Kendrick's Two and a Half Year Update

Photo Highlights:

Looking Ahead...

Well, we're finally in MARCH! This is THE month, people! In a few more days, we'll hopefully be a family of FIVE! I'm not anticipating that there will be much more in store for us this month than just getting through these final few days of pregnancy and then adjusting as a family. There will be Easter at the end of the month, and I'm not even thinking remotely far enough ahead to plan anything for that. I have a feeling we'll all still be a little like zombies at that point, so if we all get dressed, get to church and then eat food that day, we'll be far enough ahead. I bought all the Easter basket stuff already just in case I'm not in a good position to get out and deal with that all later.

We have nothing whatsoever planned for April, but I can guarantee we'll be visiting the horses at Reinbows our fair share as well as visiting the parks a ridiculous amount. We are all SOOOO very ready for spring! I also can't wait to finally get back down to visit my Mom and family down in Humboldt again: It has been since CHRISTMAS, and we usually try to get down there every 4-6 weeks. They plan to come visit when the baby is born or shortly after, but it's not the same for the boys as hanging out with cousins at the farm. We miss them so!

We have yet to really plan much or do much about our trip to Yellowstone in mid-to-late May (we're waiting to see just how late into the month we can go, depending on when little man makes his appearance), but we're looking forward to that as well.

Mostly, in the near future, we're just hoping to learn to adjust, get everyone on a decent sleep schedule, and try to enjoy my maternity leave and just keep up with my little family :)

Stay tuned! I'm sure we'll have some exciting news soon!

Lately in Windom (February 2016)

Checking out the first major snowfall in February. We had a couple major blizzards this month. I think we are ALL ready for spring at this point!

SO proud of this little guy for his first WinterFest

Apparently he only acts like this when we're around. His teachers tell me he's usually very well-mannered, helpful and sweet at preschool. I guess we bring out the crazy? haha

Have I mentioned before that Kendrick likes dip? I probably shouldn't have encouraged him by taking this picture, but #scrapbookingmamaproblems

I am SO in love with the stage the boys are at right now. Every night, Kendrick has to have a flashlight so he and Cashel (and sometimes Mommy and Daddy) can go find a "beaw [bear]" or a "ghost" downstairs. You don't dare turn on the lights to find them, but always with a flashlight. The cutest part is that they flat out know they're joking, but they take it SO SERIOUSLY. They freak out if we walk downstairs with the lights out. I usually go find the "beaw" in Cashel's room and then we all run upstairs laughing :)

I got to help with Cashel's preschool Valentine's party. It was fun to see him in his element with his friends. As an aside: Why is it that they listen SO much better to other adults than their own parents? ;)

My kid is the crazy one in the back row ;) On a side note, I swear these kids have grown leaps and bounds since the Christmas party two months ago! Cashel isn't the tallest one anymore, although you could maybe call it a tie, whereas a couple months ago, he was taller by a full head!

We don't paint often in our house, but when we do, the boys LOVE it!

My little Picasso :)

Valentine's morning breakfast. Ya know, I cringed a little ordering so many caramel rolls for Cashel's preschool fundraiser, but I am not complaining these days! SO yummy!

One of the junky parts of being the little brother is that you "get" to do things more quickly than we made big brother do them. Sippy cups are quickly becoming a thing of the past at our house. On a side note, it looks like we failed to catch Kendrick breaking the #1 table rule at our house: "No toys at the table!"

Valentine's Breakfast :)

This little smile just fills my heart with so much joy :)

I've begun my weekly prenatal massages. I didn't do this with my first two pregnancies and SO wish I had. It's expensive, but I also haven't been buying anything for myself lately, so I've got quite the blow fund built up to splurge on stuff like this. I'd say a $60 massage is worth far more to me than a new pair of shoes or jeans at this point.

I think we could probably easily have these two share a room if we really wanted them to at this point. Their favorite thing is "family bed", when we pick a bed and all snuggle together :)

Last required day at the gym! I haven't stepped foot in there since! haha

After Kendrick's allergist appointment on Wednesday, we had lunch at Pizza Ranch. This kid is BIG into the chicken there. All of my boys MUCH prefer the chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies to the pizza there. They are definitely their father's children. (Mama likes the pizza)

Last pedicure before baby! I can't believe I could reach my own toes at 37 weeks!

These boys were SUPER excited to get to hold our friends' newborn baby girl on Saturday. I think it made it extraordinarily more "real" for Cashel, and he is SO excited to see his baby brother at this point. Kendrick still could care less lol

This dude just makes me laugh :) The last Saturday of the month was SO GORGEOUS! We all wore jackets. We didn't need hats, but Kendrick insisted on wearing his giraffe hat.

My absolute favorite part of this picture is the part where there are SUN RAYS!!

Olaf, meet Olaf! The boys found all the Halloween costumes and had a try a few on. I have a video somewhere that I don't think made it off the camera yet, but is pretty hysterical of them dancing in their Halloween costumes. I'm beginning to think

Getting to work: With Kids vs. Without Kids

These past two days, my boss has been on vacation, and simultaneously, my daycare provider is also on vacation, so it has been daddy daycare at our house. I've woken up the past two mornings just in awe of how much extra time I have, and thought it was almost comical how much easier things are when you don't have to prep the kids and get them off to daycare. So I thought it'd be a fun little post to walk through the hour of my day from 6am-7am with you with two different scenarios:

Scenario #1: Going to work when you have to also get kids ready and take them to daycare

• I wake up at 5:50am and try to go back to sleep until Mark's alarm goes off at 5:50am. Most times I don't end up actually rolling out of bed until 6am.
• I hit the bathroom, then walk upstairs and get completely ready right away. I usually end up going through about 4 outfit changes at this point, since 80% of my clothes don't cover the bottom of my belly anymore #9MonthPregnantMamaProblems. Sometimes I have time for breakfast, but not today.
• By 6:30am, I'm ready to go, and Mark and I head downstairs with milk in hand, as well as coat/hat/shoes for the boys.
• 6:35am, finally get Kendrick to roll over so I can change his diaper. He whines and fusses until I hand him his milk. I try to move as quickly as I can to take advantage of his non-wiggly time.
• 6:40am - we're finally at shoes/hat/coat time, and he fights it like crazy...until big brother pops into his room, fully ready to go. Then I remind him that Cashel beat him getting ready, and he finally succumbs to putting his shoes/hat/coat on, whining that HE was the first one done (although it's pretty apparent that he wasn't).
• 6:45am - we head upstairs via piggy back (because I can't lift him any other way these days) and he goes with Daddy to get into the car while I slip on my shoes and coat, grab my purse, grab the enormous bag full of the boys' snow stuff (which may or may not be full...and if it's not, I've got to remember to FIND all of the snow stuff and shove it in the bag.
• If it's Tuesday, I also have to grab his backpack for preschool, and only then do I realize that I didn't check his bag from the previous preschool day. Whew - no assignments for today due!
• I get to the car and Kendrick and Cashel are both fussing because they are cold and need their blankies. I run back inside and find blankies, get them all snuggled in and warm, then they fight over who gets to open (and then close) the garage door, and we're off to daycare.
• 6:50am - We arrive at daycare and get out of the car. Kendrick sometimes feels like walking in himself, but usually not the entire way. Some mornings he, once again, wants a piggy back ride. Lately, Daddy will give him the piggy back ride, but if he wants a MOMMY piggy back ride, don't you dare have Daddy do it. We get the boys in the front porch and take off shoes/hat/coat, drop off the bags (that we HOPEFULLY remembered to bring) and take the boys inside to say hi. They run to give Jody a hug, then run to the couch to claim their space. We give Jody any special instructions we might have for the day, then give pouty faces until the boys realize we're leaving and come and give us hugs and kisses.
• 6:55am - We finally get on our way to work, I'm wishing I had remembered to A) Eat breakfast and B) pick up creamer for coffee at work. I resign myself to have a Fiber One bar and piece of fruit when I get to work (thank goodness we're good at stocking our snack supply).
• 7:00am - We rush into work, opting to take the front door, just in case the beginning buzzer rings while we're walking through the plant, since we don't typically keep our safety glasses and ear plugs with us. (Those are required when we're in production at all times). I feel tired, and rushed and not at all ready for the day. The weather is ridiculously cold: I miss the sunshine. I hope I haven't forgotten anything for the day, and check my calendar incessantly at first, making sure that this date doesn't ring a bell for any reason other than a preschool day. I did remember the bag, right? Oh well - Jody will call if I forgot something. I plop into my seat feeling tired and longing for coffee, but since I forgot my creamer (dangit!) I resort to buying a 60 cent cup of the foo foo frilly stuff from the vending machine (i.e. powdered stuff with water added).

Scenario #2: Going to work when Daddy daycare is in session

• I wake up at 6:05am and roll out of bed (literally - remember, I'm 9 months pregnant).
• I hit the bathroom, then walk upstairs and plop down with a bowl of cereal in front of the news.
• At about 6:20am I start getting ready. Clothes first, then makeup, then I straighten my hair. With all this extra time, I tidy up the "changing room" upstairs, putting some clothes away in the one closet, hanging others up in the hanging part. I stand in front of the mirror thinking I must have forgotten something, but can't recall what. I have WAYYYYY too much time left.
• At 6:40am I am ready to go. I walk downstairs, slip on my shoes and coat, grab my purse and walk out the door.
• Since it's so early, I have time to stop for a small vanilla latte at McDonald's on my way to work. I chit-chat with the lady at the first window a bit.
• I show up 10 minutes early for work and leisurely stroll into work feeling rested and on top of life. I hear my shoes click on the pavement, enjoy the sunrise as I walk up through the front door, simply because I feel so great and full of life and want to soak in this moment.