Still Kickin

 At the end of February Mark got a call from my brother-in-law, George, that a van had come up at the auction in Arizona that we might be interested in.  Mark thought it sounded good, so he told George to go for it & we bought a van!!  It has more miles than we wanted, but the price was more than right & we've been really happy with it!  We need to figure out how to turn the alarm off because it resets on its own under strange circumstances & then we're blasted out and become a public spectacle.  It drives really nicely & I don't find it as much of a pain for us to jump in & go somewhere.  I've driven the car only a few times since then & I can't believe I put up with it for as long as I did!

After the weekend that my mom & sister & I got together, I was going through all the baby clothes that Jenn handed down & I started to get a little weepy thinking that this baby might not be a girl.   A few days later I was laying (lying?)..........as I lie in bed.....I had a mini panic attack about this baby not being a girl....along with a few others things.  I decided to do something about the things that I could actually control, so I scheduled myself a second ultrasound.  It took a bit to track down the tech that did my first one & she was surprised to hear from me, but I didn't care.  Ok, I felt kind of dumb when I actually got there & she said she looked at my pictures again & couldn't figure out why she'd offered to do another one because it definitely looked like a girl.  But she checked again for me & had her associate come in & check & they both said girl.......again.  She practiced her 3-D skills & gave me a disc, but it's in the car at the shop right now.  Anyway.  I felt much better & have had fun letting myself get excited about really having a girl.

I made a new canopy for our baby carrier.  The seat is black & light blue, so I chose a cute floral-y fabric with a light blue background & reds, yellows, greens, pinks.  The backing is a red with big white polk-a-dots.  I still need to sew the straps & maybe add some ric rac.

The kids and I made a leprechaun trap the day before St. Paddy's (did you know Paddy is masculine & Patty is feminine?  I didn't).  We didn't catch any leprechauns but one did leave behind some gold coins.

Mark has spent quite a bit of time helping one of his brothers renovate their new-to-them home.  The kids and I have gone a couple of times to "help".  We had FHE & dinner there one night.  This is the kids licking the beaters after we made brownies to take over.

It dawned on me one day that I hadn't taken any pictures of my baby belly this time around.  So here's 31 weeks.  Carson was the photographer.

I was asked to teach a mini-class on Self-Nurturing at a Relief Society meeting last week.  I was really happy with the way my display turned out.  I think my lesson turned out OK.
 


We'd been planning to go up to SoAb over Easter weekend because Mark's nephew was getting baptized and my cousin was getting blessed, but Mark was swamped at the shop and both he and his dad couldn't leave, so we ended up staying here.  The kids got their Easter baskets on Saturday morning.  Brittney & I threw together an egg hunt & egg dyeing activity for Saturday afternoon & were happy to have a lot of the cousins there.  We had a nice dinner on Sunday evening with Uncle Tim & "Uncle Joe".  

 Coconut cupcakes.  Good, but not to die for.

That's Burke with his bucket on his head.

 My New Year's goal this year is to get good at making bread/buns.  These ones for Sunday dinner turned out pretty darn good!

Here's today at 35 weeks.  Photography by Carson again.  Kind of wishing I'd let him cut off my head entirely so you couldn't see how tired I am!  This doesn't look much different than the last one, but I'm measuring a centimeter bigger than I "should be" - 35cm at my 34 week check-up rather than 34cm.  My next appointment is this coming Monday & after that I go once a week.  It's getting so close!

I've felt better in this last trimester than in the other two.  The only problem is I don't have much energy.  I'm finally not feeling sick, but I am feeling tired.  There's a bunch of cleaning I'd really like to get done - wash walls, windows, blinds, etc. - but I just can't make myself do it.  I keep hoping my nesting instinct with kick in but I think I'm just going to have to set little goals and make myself do them.
Spring is springing - trees are getting buds, birds are chirping, it's staying light for a long time, it's warming up  - and I'm loving it.  The kids love being outside & I love sending them out there!  Outdoor playsets are on sale at Target this week, so I think we'll finally use up our gift cards & order one.  It's going to take some time & lots of work to get the ground leveled out & get everything set up, but I'm really excited for the kids to have something more to do in the backyard than dig in the garden.

Hopefully I find the oompf to blog again before the baby comes.  I have to admit my tiredness & lack of ambition have taken their toll on my attitude toward my church callings and housework and fixing meals and spending time alone.  I'm trying to do better and endure to the end without too much complaining!  Maybe the baby will come right away & I'll have lots of good things to say really soon.