And Hannah's gone...

Despite the fact that Reid & Ross can make more noise than 12 of Hannah, the house seems strangely quiet and empty today. She left last evening with John (and Judson, too) to go back to Ohio. I spent the last several days trying to squeeze in as much time with her as the boys would let me (and my tired and aching body would allow).

Yesterday I took her for her birthday treat -- a pedicure. She's not had one before and it was a fun experience for the both of us. She really seemed to enjoy the pampering! In retrospect, I wish I had scheduled manicures, too, because I think she would have enjoyed that as well. Something to keep in mind for next time...

I tried one final time to snap a picture of all three kids together. I did manage to get at least one decent one and lots of good ones of just Hannah. For once, Ross wasn't the difficult one -- Reid was just too wiggly to sit for the camera! Oh, and you can see the boys (particularly Ross) sporting their new hair-dos here.

Off I go to find something to do...

I have my van back!!!

We FINALLY got our van back last night. Wow -- I never thought I'd be so excited to drive a mini-van, but compared to our loaner, our van is like driving a sports car. Really, the other van didn't go -- there were several times I thought I was going to get hit, simply because I turned and the van just putted along. Zero to sixty in 3 minutes...wow!

Reid decided this morning that he wanted to wear big boy underpants out of the house. It was a scary thing, but I let him. And he did fine! He's only had one (maybe two, I'm not 100% sure) poopy accidents in the last 2 1/2 weeks. He is doing really really well!!! Plus, he is starting to tell me when he needs to go, which is fabulous. I'm so glad he is doing so well with the potty training...the thought of three in diapers was overwhelming!

I almost have the nursery finished. I just need 20 minutes when I can run the sweeper. The new car seats were on the floor until Jeremy installed them in our van last night, so now I can really finish it all. We still don't have names picked -- this is becoming a bit of a sore spot at our house. Some of us (I'm not naming any names) wanted to pick names months ago. And some of us wanted to wait until I was 36 weeks to pick names. And guess who still doesn't want to talk about it? Yep, "he who must not be named" is still dragging his feet. I know this kid will get named...eventually!

Hannah had a swim-a-thon as a fundraiser for her swim team this morning. She swam 83 laps and looked pretty worn out when I picked her up! Each swimmer was supposed to bring a snack item, so we made a double batch of brownies yesterday. Guess who forgot to set the brownies out? So, now I have a box of brownies sitting on the counter calling to me...it's a good thing my pants are extra stretchy!

FYI

A wet down comforter smells a lot like a wet dog.

A cleaning confession...

Tuesdays are bedroom days. I always wash sheets and clean the bedrooms on Tuesdays. The first Tuesday of the month, I wash all the bedding -- comforters, blankets, mattress pads, etc. Today, as I was tearing my bed apart, I realized that I DESPERATELY need to wash my down comforter and feather bed. We got the feather bed before Reid was born, because I remember removing it at the end of my pregnancy just in case my water broke in bed. We got the comforter when he was about 6 months old. And guess what? Neither one has EVER been cleaned. They say dry clean only and I'm just too lazy to take them in. So, I thought, why not try washing them in my machine. Heck, why else have a super capacity front loader? I did a little googling and found that most people had good results with machine washing them. For the record, a queen size feather bed DOES NOT fit in even the largest of home front loading machines. And guess what else? Yep, now I have a wet feather bed from this experiment, because I've been using the machine all day. So, I guess we're going to the dry cleaner after the boys wake up. The comforter, however, is in the machine as I type. I am hoping I don't destroy it...

And, yes, part of my nesting urge is an insane desire to wash everything I can get my hands on!

Ah....I'm crossing things off my list!!!

Slowly but surely, I am getting to the point where I am ready for this baby. No, some of the things on my list aren't vitally important for the new baby, but they are things I feel compelled to complete now.

Last night I got the crib bedding completely washed and put back on the crib. I did the same with the moses basket. I even got that half of the nursery completely cleaned (pulled everything out, dusted and swept, cleaned the woodwork, etc.). And the bouncy is now sitting safely in the crib waiting to be used. This was a must on the list, as leaving it down where the boys could get to it was going to end in severe damage to the bouncy. Which makes me think -- this baby might never get put down, as I'm not sure the floor is a safe place at our house anymore. I also got the nursery closet cleaned out and in the process pulled out the rest of the baby stuff we'll need. It is a good thing I actually cleaned the closet, because I would never have remembered to get the baby bath tub out! I also found the pillowy inserts for the car seats and strollers that keep the baby's head from flopping about. The diaper bag for the hospital is pretty much ready now, though it does have shockingly little in it. Funny how much different it looked when Reid was born -- I've discovered just how little you really need for a babe! My bag isn't ready, but hey, I need my clothes for the time being.

I also got all my stuff priced and tagged for the consignment sale that is coming up around here. All of my winter maternity clothes have now either been set aside for this sale or been donated. It is a nice feeling freeing up that space int he closet for other things! Besides, I really, truly, don't EVER want to see those clothes again!!!

Depending on the mood of the kids tonight, I just might be able to finish cleaning the nursery, which will relieve a lot of worry for me. I can't clean while they are sleeping, since the nursery is right next to their room.

Oh, and on a completely different topic, we made one more (and probably last) trip to the blueberry farm this morning. Reid, again, had a blast. Ross hated it, though. He was grumpy and cranky the entire time he was in the carrier. So, against my better judgement, I let him down. Yeah, he gravitates to dirt. And he LOVED the mud puddle that Reid pointed out to him. All I can say is that I had to give him a shower when we got home and put his tennis shoes through the washing machine. The blueberries are divine, though, and seem to get sweeter as the season goes on. So, that makes about 26 pounds of blueberries we picked this year -- probably not nearly enough to get us through to next season!

So, off I go to knock a few more items off my "to do" list!

The (almost) brithday girl!

Here are a few shots from Friday night, when we celebrated Hannah's 12th birthday! She requested steak for dinner, which is absolutely no surprise. Her gift from us is still a surprise until next Friday (it is an activity, not a thing).

She requested chocolate cake. We ended up doing cupcakes. By the way, in case anyone is wondering, the patterned cupcake liners really don't work with chocolate cake. So, that is why there is a second (very loose) liner on each cupcake. I'm so glad I went out of my way for the fun liners (and even waited in line 20 minutes to pay for them)!


I captured these shots when she was opening her gifts from Grandma & Grandpa. Holy smokes -- how did she get to be so grown up looking?!?! Oh, and on that note, she is indeed taller than me now, by about 1 inch. Her feet are still several sizes larger than mine, so I suspect she has a bit more growing to do.

A few quick things.

Ah! It has been a busy week!!!! Plus, I'm slowing down...I get more tired every day!

Hannah had a "fun" meet yesterday morning. She did really well. She came in 1st in her age group for freestyle and breast stroke and 2nd in the butterfly. I might add that the coach accidentally put her in with the 12 - 13 year olds, too, so she was swimming with girls who were all older! Here is a shot of her in action -- she's the one at the top!



Oh, and I thought this was hilarious. This is how I found Ross sleeping yesterday. He must be trying to learn through osmosis!


We celebrated Hannah's birthday last night (for a slew of reasons, last night worked out best). I'll try to upload pictures from that later today!