UnEventful

And I say that as a good thing!!

Our weekend was quite uneventful compared to last weekend and last week. Last week started with an overwhelming event and didn't stop there! Along with that (I don't even want to speak it back into our life), Landon also got a throw up bug. Yeah. So I had said I'd rather have the throw ups than {the other bug} but I didn't mean BOTH!

So this week is bound to start off better! I'm looking forward to settling into our school routine and getting things back to normal here at the house.

Also on the agenda for the week - PEDICURE! :-) Can't have feet that don't look nice when you're at the hospital! ;-) I'm even considering making a packing list for the hospital - in case Robert has to pack my bags! :-)


Here are some pics from our one outing this weekend - our cousin's 4th birthday party! So Abby and Elaine...if you want any of these pics, just let me know! ;-)










These boys are hilarious together! I told them to make funny faces and show me their muscles!





So sweet! I'm telling ya...Landon really needs a brother.

Too bad I had another dream this baby was a girl. That's 3 dreams for girl and 1 dream for boy. Hmmm......we shall soon find out!

First Day

Obligatory post :-) But how cute are they in their uniforms!

First day of 1st grade and 4K!!!

Landon definitely knew what was going on and was SUPER excited. Olivia fell right back into the swing of things like a pro. And was a very attentive big sister to her brother.


I think I had better first time obedience from him that morning than any other morning!! :-) He wasn't going to let anything go wrong!


Hugging sister goodbye - little does Lillian know that life's a changin' for her too!

Hugging brother goodbye! :-) So sweet!


When Landon was lining up to leave, I could tell he was upset over Olivia already being dismissed or trying to tell the teacher something. He looked stressed. So I ran over to make sure he was okay. I started saying, "it's okay, Olivia's going to her classroom, etc, etc". Anything to make him feel better.

The teacher touched my shoulder and said, "No, he's okay. He's ready to go to the classroom. He said wants to go NOW!" :-)

Bless his heart, he was just so anxious to get started he began leaving the room (not knowing where to go) before the teacher was ready!

I held up okay. It was a bit surreal. Not because we've been counting the days until school (we have out of pure excitement) but because the whole summer I've been telling the kids, "After school starts, it'll be time for the baby to come out!". And now school has started. WOW. Reality check.

I had good intentions of coming home and getting some big stuff done. But my body has recently informed me (in more ways than one) that I've overdone it lately. The only thing remedy for my issues is to lay down and put my feet up. Doctor said so. Gotta follow doctor's orders, huh. :-)

But the doc said baby is low (I could have told you that!!!) and I'm starting to progress. The doc also said 4th babies don't stay up there long. So it could really be any time.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready to get this show on the road! I personally prefer the newborn stage over the last few weeks of pregnancy. But that's just me.

So here's to Operation Get This Baby Out! I will listen (and possibly do) anything that has worked for others - and I've love to hear any suggestions!

I Wasn't Going To Tell You But....

Any future pictures will most definitely bring up questions. And in order to keep it real around here I might as well spill it. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Backing up a little...

Last weekend was a weekend full of cleaning out, rearranging, preparing for baby, organizing, etc. You name it, we did it. It felt great. I love weekends like that. Saturday was an extremely productive day. I also realized why pregnant women should do the baby stuff much earlier in their pregnancy than I chose to. Because lifting boxes and sorting through stuff is exhausting at 37 weeks.

So needless to say, I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing Sunday. Going to church, lunch with the family, nap and family game night. Our usually Sunday.

Didn't happen.

We were almost ready for church and I was starting to blow dry Olivia's hair. She flipped her hair over and it looked like dandruff. But no. Worse. You guessed it. LICE.

The thing is, Olivia has been complaining about her head being itchy. So being normal, fairly concerned parent, I had my dad check it out and even had the PEDIATRICIAN look at her at the doctor last week!!!!!!!!! People...I asked the DOCTOR!!! So I don't know how this escaped our attention.

So, wanting to fix it NOW, I bolted out the door in 1.5 seconds. Bought $40 worth of lice kits and beelined it home. Robert and I spent the next 2.5 hours hand combing every single strand of hair on Olivia's head. Both of us!! It was tedious. But absolutely 100% necessary.

It didn't even cross our minds to check out Lillian and Landon because we were so consumed with getting Olivia better. I felt so bad for her! Lillian checked out okay but Landon, not so much. It was not NEARLY as bad as Olivia had it but he still needed to be treated. The most obvious and helpful solution was to shave his head. {heavy sobs}

I was racking my brain to figure out any other way around it. We were due for a haircut the next day (I ♥ his barber so much) to prepare for his first day of school. But that didn't seem right. So Robert brought out the clippers. I cried, oh I cried. I cried so hard the only thing I knew to do was call my momma! And I did. I think it was a culmination of how the whole morning unfolded, the ache for my kids having to go through this, and of course, the lovely raging pregnancy hormones.

Mom was so nice and told me that I'm not a bad mother because of this. And that we had it every year for 3 years during elementary school. Even our neighbor was telling us stories about having it. So we aren't alone in the "lice club". Still. I was a little embarrassed in the checkout line at Walmart. And I've bought things that should have embarrassed me much more before! :-)

Needless to say, after the humans were dealt with, we tackled the material things in the house. I've never actually had to strip every.single.bed. at the same time - I rotate sheet washing. But there's always a first time for everything.

The worst part is, you have this whole "bug idea" in your head. So you start to feel all creepy crawly. I'm scared to touch anything in the house without sterilizing it. I'm not sure if I need to wash sheets every day for a while or just keep spraying. I don't know what the protocol is. Do I call everyone she's been in contact with? It's not like she's shared a brush with anyone recently. I just don't know what to do from here.


But here's what my sweet little boy looks like now. {more tears}



He was SO mad when he first saw it in the mirror. I mean, M-A-D. Sooo mad, it made Robert do this.

(picture removed at request of husband - it was his hair shaved as a mohawk) :-)

Then he finish it off. And Landon was happy.



Thank goodness his hair grows at lightning speeds.


And now, I officially have no one that will want to be in our vicinity this week.


**UPDATE**

I feel much better about this whole situation after talking with the doctor - who, by the way, said they are seeing this everywhere. They said the kids were fine 24 hours after being treated. We will still aggressively treat it just to be safe but I am confident with our efforts so far. Even though we weren't obligated to tell their school (and thank goodness they hadn't started yet!!!) we let them know anyways - in my heart, I felt it was the right thing to do.


It's also funny that everyone I tell has a "lice story". Kinda makes me feel better. Though OVERWHELM was the best word to describe how I felt the past few days. Because I assure you that this WAS NOT on my list to tackle before this baby comes. I think I even broke a record for number of loads of laundry done in one day.

Put it this way - I would rather us all have the THROW UP BUG than have lice!

But all is good now!!! :-) So no worries!

Napping Can Be Dangerous

Especially at our house on a Saturday.

It's no surprise to those who know us that our house pretty much shuts down from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 (more like 4:00) p.m. every day. The kids nap, I nap, the dog naps....but Robert. He disappears on the weekends during most naps. And can return with a truckload of surprises.

Sometimes the surprises scare me. I never know what he's going to bring home. Last weekend, it was almost a go-cart. YIKES.

This weekend, it actually wasn't too bad.



Three big boxes of books - many which we kept. Lots of childrens books and classic stories to read to them. And STICKER books. And we know how much Lillian loves stickers! A fun round futon for the kids playroom! And a desk. Don't know where that will go, we have a few desks, but if we can't find a place for it, it will go in our Goodwill pile - which is getting larger by the day.



A bike....21 speed too. It was free - not too shabby. And now that Landon can ride without training wheels, they may just have to go on some bike rides now!


And he also brought home a SINK. Talk about random. But he went by a local store which would best be described as a "Goodwill Home Depot" where you can buy used household appliances, parts, etc. for very little. It's a hit or miss place and you never know what they'll have out. But he seemed to score a GREAT deal on a nice ceramic sink! The hardware on this sink alone would have been twice what he paid!

The installation though...well, it wasn't a walk in the park.

It lead to my kitchen being torn apart at dinner time. It's a little hard to prepare dinner without running water or a sink. Let alone clean it up. (because the project didn't get completed until after midnight)


But there was some father/son under-the-sink bonding time. Always fun! :-)


But waking up to a clean, nice, new (to us) sink was AWESOME! I'm so glad Robert is so handy! Seriously, he can figure anything out!



It still needs to be caulked but I love the fact that there aren't any ridges around the edges of the sink. In our other sink, food and grime always built up in all the inner grooves and it drove me crazy! This one has a nice smooth surface around the inner edges! Sweet!!


But the best part of waking up that morning was realizing that my husband remembered to set the coffee. You see, I like my coffee ready and hot when I get up. And I am the one who sets it religiously the night before. I remember wanting to ask Robert to set it when he got the water back on but forgot. And the first thing I thought about when I woke up was how fast can I get coffee made. I had already decided (while still laying in bed) to use the microwave and some instant coffee samples we just received in the mail. So imagine my surprise as I arrive in the kitchen (already peeved about having to wait 90 seconds for my coffee) to see that the pot had already brewed!!!!! I literally made a "AH" sound out loud in my quiet kitchen. And as soon as I could, ran and thanked him while he was in his drowsy state of mind!! It just proved to me how well he knows me and how much he loves me!!! ;-)

Thanks babe! Your small effort did not go unnoticed - and definitely gave me a good start to what turned out to be an extremely emotional and dramatic day!!!

OH....if you even KNEW what we had to deal with this weekend......Stay tuned....

Ramblings

And ramblings of a pregnant woman at that! Who knows where this will go.

Anyhoo...I always liked when my pregnant friends posted updates about their pregnancies on their blogs, so I thought I could ramble on a little bit about the end of this pregnancy. I'm sure my out of town family would like to know what is going on too! ;-)

Let's see. 36.5 weeks. WOW. So close.....yet SOOOO far away. I always say the last month is just as long (if not longer) than the whole 9 months! But I'm feeling really good. Normal aches and pains for being 8 ½ months pregnant that aren't fun, but I really am blessed to have such easy pregnancies.

My appointments have been going well. I'd like think I'm my doctor's favorite patient. In and out in no time, no questions, no phone calls, and no problems! We'll just pretend I am anyways...makes me feel good. :-)

I opted out of being checked this week. Probably fearing news that would just discourage me. I'd be perfectly happy not knowing how "progressed" I am. I've stayed "nothing" for weeks, then went into labor and stayed 2 cm for weeks and went into labor. Then I've been overdue. So I tend to try and not listen to my cervix too closely. It doesn't consistently communicate very well in my honest opinion.

The doc did say it looks like we're headed towards a baby the size of Landon or bigger. I could have told him that. I've felt that this baby was bigger...especially compared to Lillian. It was nice for him to concur. But it makes me speculate "boy" a little bit too.

Baby names. Boy we are BE-HIND in this department. We have plenty of girl options (I like choices once the baby is born) but not really enough boy options. May have to work on this a little bit. :-) We'll see. It'll have a name eventually.

The only thing I really need to do before this baby is born is wash the car seat cover (even though I'm getting a new cover if it's a boy) and go through the newborn clothes. I will pull out all the white cotton gowns for the baby to wear for a while. Then I'll have a girl bag and boy bag ready to pull once we know the sex.

The only thing we absolutely needed for this baby was a chest-of-drawers. And there just happen to be an extra one in my grandparents garage that belonged to my parents. They said we could have it. And to top it of, to save on space, my grandfather built a cute railing around the top of it for a changing table. Voila! Now it just needs to put in the corner of our room and be filled with white blankets and gowns!!

Bad pic, but you get the idea. it can be removed once we are done with the changing table!

Next week will begin the waiting game - which is killer. I'll be "term" and it'll just be up to God and this baby to decide when the big day is. At my last appointment my doc and I had a wonderful conversation about delivery that really put a peace in my heart about things. I'm finally ready and can't wait to meet this little human that kicks me all.day.long. I know the kids are ready too! They are "so over" this baby-in-the-belly thing. They pretty much don't even ask about it anymore.

So, I think I covered most of the bases. It's been a pretty uneventful pregnancy. Let's hope the delivery is too! ;-) I'm ready to tackle the swing of things with 4 - and try and manage not to lose my sanity!!!

Best $30 Spent

These last days before school starts have been hard to fill with fun activities for the kids. All of our VBS's, free movies, library programs, and camps are over! The park is just too darn hot to sit at - even for the kids - and everything else I could do costs a little more money than I'm willing to pay.

So....

We jumped in the car one day and headed to Michaels. I told Robert I just can't sit and melt away outside these days. It's just miserable! But I'd be happy to craft away with the kids inside all day! :-)

We hit up the clearance aisles of our local craft store and found lots of fun things to keep all these little fingers occupied.



Modeling clay and little ceramics to paint. Each of those ceramics sets (with paint and brush included) were 30¢ each! I'll take 20 please.


Stamps! I figured we could work with Landon (and Lillian for that matter) on their numbers and letters with stamps!

Sticker books and little marker craft sets.


A bag full of goodies to be creative with and a bead kit. I also got Landon a puzzle. The kid LOVES them! And it's Superman too! :-)


No when we get bored, we pull out the big ole craft box.


Lillian's favorites are the stamps and stickers!!! She just stamped away! And it went mostly on the paper.



Landon painted his airplane for what seemed like an hour! He was so quiet and still - I seriously need to go get more of these. I didn't realize he'd like them SO much!



And these little marker sets kept his little fingers going for a while too!



Olivia went straight for the big stuff. Glitter, glue, pom poms, etc. She has crafted up a storm! I knew she'd be good at this! :-)




And Lillian only stamped herself (with glitter) once.



Crazy girl.

I think I have a new favorite store! :-)

Packed

And I'm not talking about my hospital bags. :-)

Our back packs!!! And all the other stuff we have to bring in for school.



Now if the first day of school will just hurry up and get here! August 26th is when we start. Apparently that's really late. I wish school would start after Labor Day and finish before Memorial Day. Then we'd ALL be on the same schedule. Wouldn't that be nice??

This will be Landon's very first day of school anywhere. He's been home with me for 4.5 years! It will feel very weird leaving him in the care of someone else. Even though I adore his teacher and she adores him. :-) Still, I've had him to myself for so long. Olivia had her as her 4K teacher and Landon's had his eye on her since! That's one of the things I love about such a small school. There's one teacher per grade and everyone knows everybody! So Olivia already knows her teacher - even though Olivia's teacher has known her since birth - and me since very young as well. We're all just one big happy family!!

Can't wait to see them in their cute little uniforms! (another perk about small schools!)

t-minus 2 weeks!

Club Pub

It's been a while since I've posted a Publix trip. But this week's savings really caught my eye. I almost quadrupled in savings what I spent out of pocket!



Total before sales/coupon: $106.91

Total savings in sales: $46.28

Total coupon savings: $37.25


Total savings: $83.53

Total spent out of pocket: $23.75

The glass plus was 25¢ each (can't have too much windex around here!), the bags of dog food were 99¢ each! Razors (fancy too!) were $1.50 each, Lunchables 50¢ each, rice sides that we love were 37¢ each, and the Total cereals were around $1.40 each. (Have you tried their cinnamon crunch total? it's cinnamon toast crunch for adults! but i plan on feeding it to my kids since it's much better than the kids cereals and packed with minerals and vitamens!) Yogurt packs were $1 each.


I also had a $10 winn dixie coupon that I needed to use. So it was basically some random things, but random things we use A LOT! :-) That's the point though - buy it when it goes on sale with a coupon - even if you have 10 of them in your cabinet anyways. Saves $$ in the long run!

I wish I had posted my CVS trip the other day. I walked away with 2 packs of HUGGIES diapers, chocolate, apple sauce and pure vanilla extract for $5! (and got $4.00 back) I've been able to sock away some size 1 and newborn diapers for the baby! Hoping to keep that up even after it's here - t minus ONE month! ahhh!

Launching...

Operation Get Rid Of Papi

Don't let those pretty eyes make you cave. But somehow I have to get this pacifier away from the adorable little girl.




But there's one catch. I'm terrified. You see, Olivia never used a paci. We forgot Landon's paci on a trip one time when he was about 1, told him we didn't have one for him, and that was the end of that. It was a complete non-issue with him.

Lillian, well, she's slightly deafening without it. I fear losing my hearing if we give it up. Or at least the rest of my 5 braincells that cause me to function {somewhat} properly in this world.

And then there's the "baby factor". Which means that she could totally revert back or get worse after the baby's born. She'll probably steal any pacis that she sees around the baby anyway.

So what should I do? Take it away now and hope we don't have a relapse? Or just wait. 'Cause we all know she ain't going to walk down the aisle with it. Or even into Kindergarten, for that matter. I'm treading in new territory with this "pacifier at 2 years old" thing!

Thoughts?!

Parenting Tip #135

You can read about parenting tip #132 HERE and #133 and #134 HERE



DO NOT...

i repeat.

DO NOT...

Under any circumstances throw the baby in the bath with you and "accidentally" wash her hair with Oil of Olay Body Body Butter Ribbons Body Wash because the soap was already in her hair and you might as well not waste it.

Because......

After re-washing it in the sink with soap,

AND.

After at least 10 minutes of attempting to dry her hair, you will realize it's hopelessly greasy and start to play with it.

Which means:

combing it all back for the "Wet John-Travolta-in-Grease" look.



"Alien-Cone-Heads" look.


"Alfalfa-from-Little-Rugrats" look.


Which leads to the "Straight-Up-Scaring-Your-Child-To-Tears" look.


I couldn't help it. Her hair was just so plyable and fun to play with. I realized there was nothing more I could do. And I wasn't going to try and wash it out again! That stuff is tough! She woke up the next morning and it still looked like she had wet hair.

So....no more body butter ribbons "shampooing" again.


*She looks a little beat up in a couple of pics. But no, she's quite well loved on here at home. She just did a little concrete face plant earlier that day. But we're A-Okay!

Another Sighting!!!

We spotted LANDON on the shelves and Barnes and Noble!!! We've always kept an eye out for him when we would look for Olivia but haven't been able to find him until now. And he found himself actually. I was buying a book and he ran off to the toy section only to return with himself in tow!

We bought it! Couldn't help it. And of course I made a big fuss over it like a crazy-obessessed mom at the check out counter. The guy could have cared less.

Estrogen Overload

I think Landon is feeling a little outnumbered by all the girls in the house lately - which includes the dog. Because this is what he drew the other day.


When I asked him what it was he said it was a sign that represented "No Girls". He was going to post it on his bedroom door.

Landon is not my artsy child. But he certainly was blunt and to the point with this drawing.

He really needs a brother.

I've Got The Gear To Prove It

When were in Oxford, we had to hit up our favorite Ole Miss paraphernalia store. We picked up a few things....the cutest visor for Landon, a shirt for Olivia, and wallet for Robert.

I had my eye out for a very specific logo.


ANYTHING that said "OLE MISS MOM"!

And guess what.....they had TWO things!




A car decal....oh yeah. Can't wait to get that on my car! And now I'll be able to spot myself even easier! ;-)

And a Ole Miss Mom t-shirt!! I thought it was fun. Even though I'll probably only sleep in this t-shirt we had to get it!

So it's official...and I have the gear to prove it!

Back to the Beginning

Being in Oxford really brought us back to the beginning of our life as a family. Even though Olivia couldn't completely understand or appreciate what we were showing her, it was still fun for Robert and I to reminisce. This may be of complete bore to you, but it's our beginning.



The stage in The Grove where we tailgated behind for every game. Our tent was in the back right of the stage. This is where the Ole Miss Band plays before the game and it still gives us chill bumps to think about it.


Way back there under all those oak trees is where Robert proposed! Quite a fitting beginning, I think. :-)


The Walk of Champions is where the football players file out before the game. Behind it is the Student Union. I ate many a chick-fil-a sandwiches in that Union. And walked to many a classes through that Walk of Champions arch.



The Lyceum. It holds a lot of history. You can read about it in the next picture!



This is a newer monument on campus. It's of James Meredith who was the first African American to enroll at the University of Mississippi. This controversy sparked many riots and left 2 students dead. He graduated and went on to recount his experience in his book Three Years in Mississippi.



The Rebel Stadium.

Coach Vaught.


The speed limit on campus is 18 mph in honor of Archie Manning. His number was 18. And it was a speed limit I'm sure I never obeyed. ;-)


And off campus is the Square! Here is the courthouse in the center of the square.


I just hope we can make it back for many football games in the coming years! The kids are old enough to really enjoy that! Hey, I wouldn't mind moving back to that small town. It's just so darn cute!