This Week at Our House #2: Back to School

Baby Gideon has not made his entrance yet, and seems to be content to stay put longer. I am extremely uncomfortable and that is all consuming. John keeps asking me what I am thinking about, and I am like, "there is only one thing on my mind." I tried to remind him that when he is sick, he thinks, "Oh, I am sick. Oh, I am so, so sick. What can I do to get better?" Well at 39 to 40 plus weeks pregnant, all I think is, "I am so uncomfortable! When will this baby come?"

On Tuesday, I had my first midwife

The second thousand piece puzzle of the new year

appointment for the week. They are having me come in on Tuesdays and Fridays for non-stress tests now. Tuesday, I brought Rachel, Anya, and Arwen because they wanted to go grocery shopping with me. We made it through the appointment, a trip to the bank to get a check endorsed from the home insurance company to get the roof repaired from the hurricane, to Hobby Lobby for a small birthday present for Anya, and a long-ish grocery trip to Sam's Club. But things got a little funky with me when we tried to make our last stop to Walmart. The baby keeps resting on some nerve or something that is making it so my left leg quits working. It kept 

happening while we tried to cross the parking lot into Walmart. All the cars were stopping for me and the girls to cross, but I could not make my leg work. I had to wave for them to go until I knew I could cross into the store. It was half funny half humiliating. Rachel and Anya were quite worried about me. Once I got a shopping cart, though, it was fine because I would use the cart as a walker. Eventually, Gideon shifted position and I could walk normally again.

Until the baby does come, we will be holding school. After a 3 week vacation, the kids weren't too happy getting back into the swing of

Susan does this 48 piece puzzle by herself

things, but they did it. The worst day was Thursday. I would usually expect it to be Monday as that is our typical worst day of the week. But on Thursday, Joseph, who couldn't sleep at all the night before woke up at 2pm and then cried and got mad at everyone for "making it so he had to do school so late." Arwen would not do her work. She just sat and stared at her papers and played with anything and everything that she could get her hands on and ended up working past 4pm to finish what she usually does between 10am and 12pm. As soon as I told Josh it was time to read to me, he started bawling and then couldn't read a word. I sent him outside to run 

around the back fence 10 times. Sam ran with him, which Josh liked. Then Josh came back in ready to read. But Thursday was definitely a long, hard day. Still the first week of second semester is complete! If we stay strong and don't take any breaks except for 2 weeks for the baby, we will finish school the first week in May.

While we ran all the errands on Tuesday, Kate was a gem and made 4 ice cream cake rolls in preparation for Anya's birthday on Wednesday.

At Hobby Lobby, Anya picked out a little paint your own bird house. She enjoyed doing that over a couple of days. I was glad that Anya happened to be with me. I would not have picked something so suited to her.

Anya is now an inch taller and 2 pounds heavier than Rachel. Rachel had always managed to stay just a little taller than Anya until now. Rachel may beat out Kate for the title of "shortest member of the family". 

On a cute note, Susan said to Anya, "I am little, but my curls are all grown up. Isn't that funny?" Then she spent the rest of the evening trying to comb out her curls to make her hair longer. It doesn't really work. All that does is bring her curls all to the bottom of her hair and makes it look like she has a big flip. Still, I think Susan adores her naturally curly hair. She is the only child who made it past babyhood with curly hair and the only child who has had a haircut and then had her curls return.

Kate has been helping me a lot since I have been so big and uncomfortable. She has made every dinner except the ones that I made using the crock pot. Anya and Rachel are supposed to help cooking, but Joseph usually ends up being the one to help cooking. Joseph has been baking since he was 6 or 7, but now he likes to cook parts of dinner too. 

Sam has discovered watching TV. Sometimes he screams to try and get us to put a show on for him, but other times he asks so sweetly, it is hard to say no to him. When I am back into regular functioning life, the tv will go off, but for now, he can usually convince me to lay down in the evening and let him watch a half hour or more.

Adam broke his new pair of glasses during a soccer game this week. I ordered him 2 new pairs from

Zenni. They will take 14 to 21 days to arrive. I am sorry that Adam has to be without glasses again.

He has a very strong prescription and really can't see well at all without his glasses. It makes it hard for him to read and do school work. 

Since Johnny never really took any vacation time, he had no trouble getting back to work. The main complaint I have been hearing about Johnny is that he works too much and does not have enough time to play anymore. 

Ruth is still doing well on her mission. Last I heard, she has not spoken to her mission president in person about extending a month. She really wants that. We have been thinking about bedrooms and such for when she returns. I want her to have a nice place to come home to. 

We will continue with school tomorrow and continue on until Gideon arrives, and I will continue to feel all sorts of discomfort. Josh has his birthday coming up on Thursday too, so if Gideon does not come tonight or tomorrow, I will want him to wait until Friday so as not to mess up Josh's birthday.