Finally...someone who will let me choose their clothes...for a while!

One thing that surprised me about kids was how soon they stop letting you dress them. I think I was allowed to choose their clothes until most of them were four or five - I was thinking that would be my privilege until they were at least ten (when people would stop assuming that I dress them)! No such luck.

Around four, Sofia decided that she only wanted to wear knits and t-shirts for the rest of her life - and nothing that matched her little sister!
Annika's styles are a little more random, but still easier to accommodate. (I think she mostly dresses to regulate her body temperature, with a slight preference for pink.)

With only a month left, I'm organizing all of the lovely baby clothes that my little sister has donated to the cause, plus a few I've picked up throughout the pregnancy.
I'm so excited to be able to put the little girl in whatever I want! This time I know to enjoy it while it lasts! These are some of my favorites...

Some of my Cuties

Just the boring stuff that my life is comprised of

I finally went back to the doctor yesterday. After the glucose testing and flu shots and all that jazz, I was kind of avoiding it. I am surprisingly glad that I went, because he gave me all kinds of fun drugs to ease the discomfort of a constant cough. Seriously, lots of drugs. I have Mucinex, Tylonal with Codine, some other cough suppressant pill whose name I can't recall, and a bunch of saline spray. He said, "Just because you're pregnant, doesn't mean you have to suffer and be uncomfortable." Then we both kind of laughed, because it pretty much does mean that.

I spent hours cleaning my bed/sewing room today, and it's STILL not quite there. Getting closer. Way more sanitary. As a reward for all of my hard work, I took all of the kids to the post office, where: I filled out the wrong customs form, Jonathan cried angrily because he didn't want to sit by the other kids, James screamed because he wanted to play with the forbidden dolly, Anthony wheeled James around on the dolly in spite of my instructions, and Annika kept trying to give me a vinca blossom she had picked on the way in (very sweet...just poor timing). It was so much fun! At least I got to put a big check on my mental list of things to do.

Target and Costco went WAY better, since James slept in the cart the entire time. Have they considered having carts at the post office?

And, since Tony has been making it home in time for dinner occasionally, I thought I had better cook something. I made some yummy biscuits from scratch (generally, I'm way lazier than that), sausage, country gravy (also from scratch, but only because I didn't happen to have one of those little packets), and lots of strawberries from Costco. Tony got home around 8, so we all had a late dinner together. Totally worth the wait. He always sounds so unhappy when he calls me from work, but it just seems to dissolve when he walks through the door. If he has to hate a part of his life, I'm just glad it isn't the part I'm in!

10 things I love about him

I think I actually did this post already for our anniversary, but I'm going to take Sarah's challenge and do it again. It'll be interesting for me to go back and see if there's much cross-over between last November and now.

10 things I love about Tony

1. He's funny. Whether I see the jokes coming or not, I always enjoy them. The only thing funnier is when he tells the kids a really corny joke (designed with a child's tastes in mind) and they totally stare at him with a "you aren't very funny" look on their face! He takes it in stride and is not deterred.

2. He is so smart...and in a very practical way. He once told me that he wasn't ever great at any one subject in school - he was just pretty good at all of them. (More like he was great at all of them, because he ended up his HS Valedictorian.) Anyhow, it's nice to be with someone who is intelligent in a well-rounded way. There isn't anything that I feel I can't discuss with him because he wouldn't understand it. You would think he'd feel differently about me, but he seems to think nuclear power is well within my grasp. (I guess he hasn't noticed the eyes glazing over.)

3. He's very analytical about life, relationships,...everything. This is a nice balance for a more instinctual, impulsive person.

4. When he's about to tease me or do something else naughty/mischievous, he can't help making a really charming half-smile that shows off his dimple. It pretty much makes me forgive him in advance for whatever he's about to do.

5. So far, he's let me have as many babies as I've wanted. He's never doubted my ability to handle it (even when he maybe should have) and he has never acted like it was a burden (even though they were pretty much all my idea).

6. He's sympathetic to my whinings. He does chuckle a little when I say how tired I am, since he gets maybe half the amount of sleep that I do, but even that doesn't stop him from at least feigning sympathy. He lets me act like my swollen ankles and ungainly body were a total surprise and not the result of my own plans and actions.

7. He'll do anything to make me happy. Case in point - he has not quit his current job. (Although we have big plans in the works that we hope will result in a big pay cut and a happier husband! No, we aren't going to become goat farmers on an uninhabited island in the San Juans.)

8. Tony is just the right size for me. He makes me feel small like a woman but not small like a child.

9. Tony is so easy to be married to. He doesn't ever criticize or try to change me. He doesn't complain when the house is messy or I make lame things for dinner. He's just totally supportive and appreciative. I think his absence has been the only challenge in our marriage. Maybe if he were more of a jerk I wouldn't miss him so dang much when he's gone!

10. Well, sorry, this last one is private and none of your business!

Mandatory Fun

Tony and I went to the Doliphin Scholarship fundraising auction last night. Tony and I like auctions and giving to charity, but Tony doesn't like being told that he has to do things. That put a little bit of a damper on this required social event - for him. To me, a date is a date. I'll take whatever I can get! Besides which, if work wanted him to go, they had to make sure he was not at work (so, for once they're on my side).
The only negative for me was the "team attire" chosen by the boat, to go along with the Sports Theme of the evening. Some women can wear men's t-shirts with impunity. Broad shoulders and thin build can get away with that. I can't look decent in a man's t-shirt when I'm NOT eight months pregnant, so when Tony brought home my XL t-shirt the evening before the auction, I was pretty horrified. I wouldn't wear it to bed, much less out in public.
I spent a couple of hours Saturday morning rebuilding my XL manly t-shirt into a medium-sized (maybe large...I am getting pretty big) maternity shirt. When I was looking for advice on the internet, I found 3 cool-looking books about rebuilding t-shirts. Now I have them all on hold at the library! Tony wouldn't let me do any rutching on the sleeves, but now that the auction is over, I might. The dang thing cost $27, and since I'll probably never wear it again, I might as well get my money's worth by experimenting on it!
We didn't bid on the B&B Twilight package, including dinner at Bella Italia, but we did buy one thing at the auction - a month of art lessons for Sofia. And, speaking of Sofia, she really wants someone to comment on her blog! Please. It would make her day and save us from the sad whining.

Wheew!

I can finally breath again! A couple weeks ago I officially outgrew my maternity pants...well, at least the ones I feel I can wear in public (my yoga pants and gauchos still fit great!) I just couldn't bring myself to buy a new pair of pants that I knew I'd only be wearing for 4-6 weeks. And then I'd have the baby and need new pants again!
Yesterday, it became obvious to me that the "just wait a few weeks" plan was not going to work. A few weeks is a long time to not be able to breath and have a permanent wedgie because of your tiny pants! I found a compromise that I could live with - Goodwill.
Luckily, my thrifting Karma was good. I found 2 pairs of pants that I really like and fit! An added bonus: in spite of my huge size, I'm still only a medium (in maternity)! Hooray!
I also found two very cute dresses for the girls - tags still attatched. I bought the same dresses at Old Navy three years ago (for a bit more $) and wanted to cry when the girls outgrew them. Now we get to enjoy them all over again!

Revolutionary!

Ok. So, it isn't really a revolutionary idea, but the change is so drastic, I had to give it credit. Ever since the onset of winter, a plague of coats, jackets, and sweaters has decended upon us.

They've been on the floor of every room in the house. And, to be fair, it isn't entirely the kids' faults. Only two of the hooligans are even tall enough to hang up their coats in the closet without help.

We finally found a solution, (Yes, it has taken my pregnancy-impaired brain all winter to figure out a place to hang some coat hooks!) and Tony jumped right on board and did the manly labor part of it for me.

While it may not be impressive to anyone else, I get a little warm-fuzzy feeling every time I look in the laundry room and see the row of jackets and every time I get to yell up the stairs, "Annika! Jonny! come hang up your coats!"