Weekenders

I had every intention of blogging last week but come Friday I was questioning my very being as a mother and was just happy that both kids were still alive and I hadn't cried ugly tears yet that day. 

This isn't breaking news or anything but Leighton and I have been riding the struggle bus as of late. She's testing every fiber of patience in my body on the daily and I'm not always handling the situation with grace. I've really been trying hard to give her extra time and trying to understand the 2-year-old mentality but some most days I'm at a loss. This mom-thing is hard and ain't always pretty....

The worst moment came to fruition last Sunday night into Monday morning. After protesting nap and both of us losing our shit that afternoon, she had gone to bed around 8:30 Sunday night only to wake up around 11:45 PM calling out for me. I let her be for a bit and then finally went into check on her and girlfriend did not end up going back to sleep until 5:00 IN THE MORNING. Which means this mama didn't get to sleep until 5:00 IN THE MORNING.

She was either screaming or whining or fidgeting in her bed; nothing could calm her down or get her back to sleep. I took her temp (it was normal), I offered food and drink, I sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" for the 489324th time against my will trying anything to appease her. I finally laid down next to her thinking she'd fall asleep and she proceeded to legit play with her babies in bed. At like, 3:30 AM! What. The. Efffffffff.  

Maybe it wouldn't have been sooooo bad if I wasn't a million weeks pregnant and hot and cranky and exhausted (j/k, it'd still be miserable...) but it was straight-up awful. Needless to say, we didn't get the week off to a great start. My attitude improved a bit each day (note: still a million weeks pregnant and hot and exhausted...) and I tried to keep my emotions in check when it came to dealing with her. I kept the yelling to a minimum, ate an embarrassing number of ice cream sandwiches as a coping mechanism and welcomed the weekend with open arms.

We had zero real weekend plans which was nice after a less-than-stellar week. The girls helped me get Baker's room all squared away - I think it's all done for the most part so I hope to get a post up about his space soon! It's been cleaned and organized and I have one more load of his laundry to sort through before he joins us in T H R E E (!!!) weeks!

Hey FriYay

Oh, Friday. I'm happy to see you like always but I could do without the excessive heat warnings and vomiting child(ren). Gracyn caught a little bug that seems to be making its way through the neighborhood kids and basically spent Thursday on the couch sleeping and not eating, only to start throwing up the little bit of water she was actually drinking. We're hoping this is short-lived but I"m fully expecting Leighton to fall victim as well. Better now than next month when we're getting ready to have a baby and all, I suppose...

On to the regularly scheduled Friday blog programming...

{ONE}

I think I'm done tweaking the new blog design. For now anyway. I mean, you can only change margin sizes and things like that so many times before you start going mad. And since I have approximately zero coding knowledge, I better stop before I ruin it all. I am loving the sleeker design, though!

{TWO}

We had another visit with Baker's cardiologist this week. Happy to report that he's continuing to grow well, albeit on the small side. He's in the 17th percentile at 4 lbs 10 oz but his doc is happy with this at this point in the game. We won't need to see the cardiologist again until delivery which, surprisingly, puts me at ease. They don't anticipate any surprises or further complications and the doc said they'd do everything they could to keep him out of the NICU. We realize he may spend some time there for observation but I'm really hoping and praying we both stay the normal 3 nights in the hospital and get to come home together.

Bumpdate :: 34 Weeks

HOLY HELL IT'S HOT.

Size of Baby: a butternut squash all up in my business. Over 4 pounds and 17 inches long.

Symptoms: Leg cramps like a mother, swollen fingers and ankles, clothes that don't fit - all the joyous things that come with the last weeks of pregnancy. And so much sweat. It's been so gross outside this week - hot and muggy and miserable. I actually got into the swimming pool yesterday...

And you guys. I feel like I've been soooo emotional. I started crying in the car the other day after listening to Kelly Clarkson's song about her dad leaving her as a child. I was a wreck and I don't even have daddy issues. Ha! I also bawled after reading a stranger's birth story and watching their birth video. I don't even know these people. I'm officially a crazy person.

Friday Things

Holidays that fall on a Tuesday are kind of my jam. Last weekend was extra long, this week was extra short and we're back to Friday already. Amen.

{ONE}

First things first. I really hate when technology messes up or doesn't work the way I need it to. My blog has super annoying notification plastered at the top of my home screen telling me I need to "update your account to allow 3rd party hosting" or something like that. I had to go Google what this even meant but I think it pertains to my Photobucket account that I have set up to host images. They changed their Terms of Service and now want an obnoxious amount of money each year to host your pictures. Um, no thanks.

I literally only have 12 or so files saved to Photobucket, one of which is my little profile picture in my "About Me" section on my sidebar so I think it's this little picture causing me issues. I don't know if I fixed it but I rearranged some widgets, loaded a new picture file and deleted my Photobucket account last night. It said my account would be deleted after July 8th so we'll see if the notification thingy goes away after that.

Anyone have another solution or fix?!

{TWO}

After a good few years as part of the Kansas City Moms Blog team, I am stepping away as their sales coordinator and contributor and I'm soooooo sad to be leaving this group of women! Seriously, they're some of the best mamas and friends out there. It began to be too much of a commitment with mothering full time and working full time and I hadn't produced a worthy blogpost for them in months. Throw in Baker's impending arrival and any additional stressors that may follow and I felt it was time to say adios. Don't worry, though, I will still stalk their site and attend their events and pretend I'm part of the team.

{THREE}

I took the girls with me to Baker's weekly biophysical check this morning. Surprisingly, they were on their best behavior and the baby cooperated relatively quickly so we were in and out in no time.

Fourth of July Weekend

We are coming down from the high of a great weekend with family. But good news! The week is already half over and another weekend is on the horizon!

We hosted my parents, brothers, sister-in-law and our niece and nephew this weekend and I loved having a full house. We ate a bunch of food, I enviously watched them all drink a bunch of cocktails and the girls stayed up wayyyyy too late experimenting with snappers and sparklers. 

Naturally, I took a bajillion pictures and can't pick a fave so I'm going to put all of them right here in one big photo dump of a post. Sound good?!

We all donned our red, white and blue multiple days in a row - including me in a $4 Wal-Mart tank top because all of my other patriotic wardrobe pieces are definitely not maternity - and the girls were good sports and humored me when I asked for pictures so I was a happy mama!