Ti-red.

That's how Stephen used to say tired and now we all say it that way.

And that's how I feel. Ugh. Just tired all the time, and can't get enough sleep. It's like the first trimester all over again, minus the nausea and the desire to scratch out the eyes of everyone who annoyed me (which was pretty much everyone back then). I spent a great few weeks in the last couple months where everything was great! I felt great! I had energy left over to spare and the skies were blue and little birdies circled my head singing as I walked along. Now it's all I can do just to keep my eyes open while driving or talking or eating. I know what you're thinking...yes, I know I'm growing a person and all, and I do remember feeling this way in my last pregnancies, but only in the last few weeks and I still have a good 10 weeks to go in this one. And the thought of spending 2 more months like this, only to transition in to the exhaustion that accompanies having a newborn in the house...well, it makes me want to cry. Or shrivel up and hide.

Tired.

And that is all.

Did I really just say that??

An example of a lazy tired mom--or maybe I'm just being frugal:

Stephen (who's been eating us out of house and home lately) came and asked me if he could have a piece of bread. I told him yes and he went to help himself. After he got his bread, he came to me and said, "Mom, it's hard" and started knocking it on the table. In my defense, it didn't actually make a knocking sound, but I knew it was harder than he likes to eat.

But being the kind of mom I am, I told him, "Well....just pretend it's toasted."

I can't believe I said that.

Somebody stop me!!

I've picked up a new hobby.

Bows.

I decided the other day that I would try to make most of Evie's bows (and believe me, I plan on putting a bow on her every chance I get). Some of the bows that I looked at to buy were $5 or $6 each, and I just have a hard time spending that much on a baby/toddler accessory. So I searched the internet for how to make them (you'd be surprised at how little instruction there is on the internet...these bow-making ladies keep their secrets close) and dug out some ribbon. I made the first one and was hooked. Hobby Lobby had their ribbon by the spool on sale, so I went and bought some cute ribbon yesterday. And I haven't quit making bows since. Well, except to eat and help the kids with their handwriting.

So. Here's what I've done so far (I apologize for the quality of the pictures...they aren't good which is sad because I think it takes away from how cute the bows are):



This one was the hardest, but turned out the best and one of my favorites:



This is definitely my favorite...must find an outfit to match it for Evie:



This one is cute...picture doesn't do it justice (it looks lopsided or uneven, I think it's just the angle of the bow and my awful picture taking skills):



A fun one, really cute ribbon:



This is the very first one I did, it matches one of my favorite outfits of Evie's perfectly:



Just another cute one with cute ribbon:



The first one I did in this particular bow-style...I don't like it, probably won't ever use it:


Surprisingly, I really enjoy doing this and it doesn't take me long to crank them out. I can't wait to go get my hands on more ribbon! However, starting out this new hobby makes me wonder if all the bow-making mommies and professional bow-makers have any fingerprints left. I've burned and poked myself so much that I'm surprised I'm still able to type!

I also bought a bunch of little tiny "no hair needed" bows for Evie's first few weeks. And I got an awesome deal on headbands that you can use with interchangeable bows. I think I might be a little out of control....

Perfect timing

Just the other day, I was thinking that I'd like to get some more nursing shirts and/or dresses for when Evie is born, so I don't have to struggle with nursing at church like I did with Marc-Adam. I couldn't wear any of my dresses that I had because I would have to half undress in order to nurse. But I didn't want to wear shirts and pants all the time, because I felt I would be too dressed down most of the time. And the only nursing shirts I really had were t-shirt type shirts that I got when I was nursing Stephen and the nursing wear they offer these days are SO MUCH better.

ANYWAY, Motherwear is giving away a $50 gift certificate! I think this is one of my favorite items from Motherwear, if I have to choose one.

This gift card would be such a blessing to me right now!!

So in love, I almost can't stand it

Obviously, I love all my children dearly and for different reasons. They all have qualities that make me thank the Lord every day that I get to be their mom. Lately, though, Marc-Adam has just been so amazing and so cute, that this morning at church, I told Sweet Hubby that if M-A weren't already ours, I think I would have to take him so that he could be ours. He walked the halls at church smiling at and saying hello to everyone and was yelling about what a fun time he had at church.

Yesterday morning, he completely took apart a flashlight--screw-on top, batteries and springy thing and all. And then, within just a few minutes, he had put it all back together again--correctly--and was walking down the hall shining it in to all the small rooms. I thought for sure that Sweet Hubby had put it back together, but Marc-Adam assured me that he did it himself.

Lately, as we have our last snuggle of the evening, when I ask him what song he wants to sing (as in which lullaby), he asks for Jingle Bells. Every.Single.Time. Then halfway before I'm done, he insists on switching to You Are My Sunshine. Every.Single.Time.

He's very excited about Evie, and he's especially excited about one particular pair of shoes that she'll get to wear when she's born. Everytime we go to her room, he picks them up and asks if they are Evie's and tells me she'll wear them when she comes out.

He sings and talks and carries on for what seems like for.ev.er after we put them to bed at night. The other two boys don't seem to mind and they pass out long before he does. He'll talk to his lovey and sing to Dadoo (a little stuffed dog) and then when he's all done, he'll call me in to cover him back up and then he goes to sleep. It cracks me up.

He is my most high-maintenance child. But he steals my heart every day.

I forgot to give this post a title the first time I published it...

...that's a sure sign that it's a random post.

I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately. Things have been kind of crazy, and my brain is so full and overwhelmed that I feel like I wouldn't even be able to put together a coherent post. So we'll stick with bullet points today and hope that I can come up with some better posting in the next few days.

• Stephen had some weird symptoms earlier this week, so I took him to the doctor. Turns out he had strep. Weird. Even the doctor was confused. He said he'd never seen strep present that way. But he went ahead and put him on antibiotics and Stephen's all better now.
  

• I've been feeling a little under the weather. Hoping I'm not coming down with strep, too.

• Sweet Hubby's still dealing with quite a bit of pain. He's on pain meds that seem to help a little, but not completely. Hopefully he'll be able to function better after we get these other tests done.
  

• The boys are finally getting over a cough that kept us up at night for several nights. And then once they got over it and we had the possibility of a good night's sleep, a thunderstorm blew in that kept the kids and I up for a while. We finally started getting some better rest a couple nights ago.

• I've finally found us some new curriculum that I'm excited about. I'm in the planning stages this week, and we hope to start on Monday. We're also going to try our hand at lapbooking. Even Sweet Hubby is excited about that. I'll post our progress and results next week.

• Sciatica sucks. That's all I have to say about that.

• My in-laws are opening a little home decor shop for the first time tomorrow. I'm super-excited for them and we've been there helping out quite a bit this week. It's been great because my mother-in-law asked me to make some pillows for the shop, so I've been able to sew again, which really makes me happy. I always forget how much I love to sew until I'm able to do it again. I really can't get any sewing done on a regular basis, but I've had great fun over the last couple of days getting some pillows together for her.

• Have a great weekend, everyone!
  

Is no news actually good news?

So, after 4 visits to our family doctor, 3 visits to 2 different neurologists, 4 MRIs and 1 CT scan, 2 trips for blood tests we still don't really know what's wrong with Sweet Hubby. His last couple of MRIs did show some bulging disks in his middle and lower back, which might explain the numbness/pain in his legs and feet (and it definitely explains his back pain), but it doesn't explain what's going on in his neck and arms/hands--and what's going on in his arms/hands are the same things that's going on with his legs/feet so it makes me wonder if the bulging disks have anything to do with anything. The bulging disks are too far down to be affecting his arms and hands. We were so frustrated when we left the doctor this morning because we still don't have a solid answer and now he's got to have more (and more invasive) testing. In 2 weeks, he's having an EMG done on all 4 limbs so they can try to pinpoint which nerves are causing the problem and then hopefully we can find the source. In the meantime, he's on an leave of absence from work. Thank goodness his company has a 90 paid leave of absence for management, otherwise we'd be in a world of trouble. They also have an "Associate in Need" program to help out when things like this happen, but unless something really awful or expensive happens, I don't think we'll need it.

On the bright side, we've spent so much on all this that we've almost hit the maximum out of pocket for our insurance. Once I pay for my part on the hospital, Evie will be free. And my hospital stay and all that will only cost us $800. And any other medical costs we have this year will be covered 100% by our insurance.

So that's where we're at. I hadn't updated in a while. We could sure use your prayers if you can squeeze us in.

Anyone care to join me in a dance??

I received some fantastic news a little bit ago. I took my 3 hour glucose test for gestational diabetes on Monday. I didn't have high hopes because I've had GD the last two pregnancies, but all my bloodwork came back NORMAL!! I don't have it this time! YAY! I can eat just about whatever I want, I don't have to prick my fingers or record my numbers or pee on a stick every morning! What a relief.

I'm doing a happy girl dance!

Quick! Send me some e-mail!

Because I feel like I have brain matter coming from my ears from trying to figure out all of our doctor's bills and insurance claims, I figured I would make myself feel better by trying to clean out my e-mail inbox. It desperately needed a cleaning. I had nearly 5000 e-mails dating back to summer of '07. I intended on only purging until I had freed of 50% of my allowable space, but then I couldn't stop and I trashed everything, except for a handful of e-mails that I moved to the "Save" folder. Now my inbox is empty. And now I'm sad. And also slightly crazy. But that's nothing new.

I'm totally kidding about asking y'all to send me e-mail. I'm just surprised by how I feel about my empty inbox.

It feels like freedom!

Yesterday, I ran to Walmart to pick up a few things, and caught myself thinking that I needed to get diapers. But we're diaper-free! This is the first time in 6 years that we've been diaper free. And when Evie is born, it will be the first time since Stephen was born that I won't have a newborn AND a toddler in diapers!