Pic-a-nic

My little chipmunk cheek little boy

In order to try and keep some of my hard work nesting and cleaning intact till all bets are off when the baby comes home.... it was a picnic lunch this week. My floors have been overly fed this last year...so why not let the wooded ground get in on the action!

Aaaaaaand then there is this thing called LIFE

The days are dropping with each bedtime routine...and here are a few things/thoughts/confessions in the last week-ish.

1.
In my clothing organizer, where I hang my shirts...have two sides to it. On the left, you will find perfectly acceptable tops for everyday wear. Then on the right side....."It was a good attempt, but come back after the baby is here...and then some." It is like I have forgotten that I have this protruding alien growing and all my 3rd trimester maternity tops are for fall to early spring.

2.
Things can change overnight when going from a girl, to adding a boy.

I know, it sounds kinda stupid when said out loud.

Yet, my son has shown me how different he can be from his sister in the destructive two year old chapter. The most recent victim being Matt's grandmother's china. Getting it packed away to make room for my mother to spend a month with us was on the to do list. Well.....Nolan just moved it up to priority number one. A scottish teacup and saucer were thrown and broken in two. Add in a ceramic male and female cardinal figure, and we have a very upset father.

Eliza: What are you doing mommy?
Me: Packing away grandma's special china
Eliza: Why?
Me:.....so you will stand the best chance of inheriting what isn't broken when you get married.

2-3.
Right before Alden gets here, Nolan has shown us just how strong and clever he is in getting inside the crib. This would be a great accomplishment, if it weren't for the fact that we have a drop down crib and he can unlock one of the sides. Not to mention, he was the 6th kid to reside and was hoping mad once he could pull himself up and wail with injustice of not being sprung at the time of his liking.

Um.....no bueno. Gonna have to remedy this quickly. But it has been nice to crib shop online and see just how other fancy babies sleep. Um yeah....hello Walmart! So kid #3 might actually get one thing which wasn't abused by older siblings...lucky you! (Thank you understanding grandparents)

And why are there not crib tops to keep kids OUT of the darn things?!

Unwelcomed past visitors

4. 

Just about any chair or bench is my favorite place right about now....if not for my bed. The HOLY SUPER EXHAUSTION BATMAN phase is in full force! Then throw in hot flashes, boob sweat season and my favorite guessing game....Is it a Contraction or do I Just Need to Poop? Alden will move so much in painful positions, the best way to describe it is as if a cat fight was thrown into a paper bag...ugh.

Yep, lots of super thrills going on under this family roof!

37 Weeks- Child of Mine

A is for: Airplane, Aviator, Aviation or Alden! (latest Hobby Lobby painted paper craft project)

I feel like I've reached the last mile of the marathon called pregnancy.

Having never been in my 3rd trimester during the late spring, and the fact that it is looking like summer isn't struggling to get to us like in years past....I am ever more aware of the heat and humidity at this point. It starts off as tired arms feeling like lead weights and my body turning into blah as I start to shut down during any activity. It doesn't help that our church does not have any AC either, besides two floor fans blowing in the back.

The lower back is feeling more and more of this pregnant belly. I finally succumbed to getting one of those robot arms...much like the tongs used to pick up trash.

Best.money.ever.spent.

I've gotten very good at picking up the smallest of toys off the ground :)

Now that most of the major baby nesting to do list has been tackled, all is left is to prepare the house for family who will visit and avoid any inlaw comments about clutter. (why do you care what the inside of the van looks like when you never ride in it anyways. I do have kids after all)

You know you live with toddlers and preschoolers when most of your clutter rests at the 5 foot and above level. (all contraband of course) I figure....in reality.....what I don't get done now, will probably not get done for another year. Just being honest here!

.....and as I do try and clean in preparation....I am finding my house not being much cleaner in certain ways than during the winter. The only reason I can think of is having or rather spending more of my time outside with neighbors or supervising my kids in our non divided backyard. Not sure if I'll miss this stage of parenthood and take joy in shoving the kids outside to play without me :)

If there is dirt to be found outside, my kids will find every inch of it!

Mid Month Confessions

In spirit with Teaching Sam & Scout, here are a few confessions of mine!

1. Eliza now gives first hand reaction descriptions to Nolan's diapers. We've had "Chicken Dinner and Peanut butter"

2. Since it's become warmer out, the ice cream trucks have been lurking around. Time to keep lying about the merry melody being about how they are out of ice cream.

3. When doing our bi-weekly grocery trip, I'll buy a bag of pizza rolls and hide them in the freezer...just for me.

4. In my daughter asking 'why' after just about everything I say to her, I find myself using, because I'm the mommy.

5. As my due date gets closer and closer....I find myself increasingly questioning WHY ON EARTH DID I WANT A 3RD CHILD!

And so there we have it folks! Go put me on a 3 day time out away from the kids ;)

Baby Boy's Corner

Little by little, I've been crossing off my list of baby to do things as I approach the finish line in June. I opted to just get the crib assembled now, in hopes that it won't be as interesting when the baby is using it....and frankly, I just wanted more room in the garage :)

When I count the furniture items in the kids room....I believe the rug and changing pad are the only things which were purchased as new. Everything else has been a blessed hand-me-down from other families, with the exception of a garage sale dresser. This crib will have seen 7 kids go through it after Alden is done.

In staying true to our airplane theme....I finally got around to crafting some wall art for the barren wall.

The two airplane images were found for free and I printed them directly off my home printer. A laminator is a wonderful tool, and were glued to some ready made canvas I had from a few years ago before kids. Find the chevron here and the plane sketch here. 

The pilot quote is from Neil Armstrong, and after designing the text, I printed it directly on a sheet of canvas you can purchase in tear away sheets. It was then glued to a larger canvas that I painted before hand. (Note: if you do this, you'll need to spray some sort of varnish over it to protect the printer ink from smearing)

Hubby is enjoying this artwork the most....as it didn't cost him a dime for any materials, ha!

Crib bedding was a very nice hand-me-down from a family who is expecting their first baby girl...and how perfect it was for them to have gone with a planes theme before. I'll eventually put some little knick-knacks in the cubby holes....for when I know a big brother won't go up and swipe em!

Promotion...Travel...Cars & Mother's Day

It has been quite the week for the Geddes family!

As we approach the hardest weeks of a pregnancy, among some hard news to swallow...we found ourselves in the market for a new to us vehicle. With the Chevy Uplander being 10 years exposed to the harsh salty winters of central NY...it had taken a toll on the structural integrity. After taking it to a few body shops for estimates, the consensus was it would be throwing money away to fix the direct issues, but not making it any safer to drive.

(Insert protective momma bear instincts with the thought of bringing home a new baby)

The thought of having to scramble to find a car to fit our needs and already striped to the max monthly budget was crushing to us both. We hadn't had this car for more than 1.5 years, since having our other van of only 6 months be totalled due to the fatal deer crash. Trying to find a minivan in this was a surprising challenge. An SUV was too expensive on the gas and a crossover was too small with three kids/car seats.

It surprised me, to be one who isn't into and avoids most car details to push forward and do research on what was available. I leave that to Matt, as the last two car purchases were complicated and under stressful circumstances.

To make a long story short...after coming 2 days late on a minivan possibility...on Saturday we went to a local lot with pretty serious intentions of purchasing it. Throw in some red flags and not being seller ready, we took to our back up plan.

But.....the backup was 2 hours away :/

Car shopping, unless you have cash outright to buy one, is never fun. Throw in heat, an all day migraine and two cranky toddlers who don't understand why they can't run amuck...well, its the perfect storm.

But we have a new to us Toyota Sienna!

Having working power sliding doors is one of the best things about this car 

Oh car seats...how I love/hate them

Glorious cargo room!

This little girl sobbed the night before/during/after the purchase when she learned we were not bringing the old van back home with us...and then argued that both were in fact green and not blue

A great blessing came on Friday morning with news that Matt was being selected for a job promotion after many tried and unsuccessful opportunities applied for. It isn't a giant lifestyle changing raise, but will allow us to not have to cut the grocery budget any lower and still make the monthly payments. Oh how the little things in life can make or break ya! I have missed driving a Toyota since my single days of the 83 Tercel and 91 Previa. You'll sell/crash'em before running them into the ground. May this continue to hold true!

The kids already miss the drop down DVD which came with the Uplander...(me too kids)

Mother's Day

After a stressful week, there were no grand celebrations planned. We were just happy to have survived the previous process. I instead wanted the gift of only having minimal parent duties for the day. This meant being able to only have to focus or worry about getting myself ready for church. Breakfast in bed was a surprise addition. Church and frozen yogurt followed. But I was not fully off the hook from grossness as a mother....

Right after taking these pictures, Eliza informs me she has to go potty. So encourage her to just go. She quickly comes out of the house and said she didn't...only to shortly say she did and it was poop. As I loaded up the car with some MOPS garage sale items, she yells from the window that she had an accident. I tell her to take off the dirty underwear and to wipe very well.

HA! If only it was that simple. Nothing prepared me for what was found.

Drapes

Outer toilet bowl

Walls

Floor

Clothes

Rug

Child head to toe

Just when you think you're winning as a parent....God humbles you! I thought we were out of the blowout stage when you have a four year old!? It was a joint effort by both Matt and I to clean everything up before Nolan was released from nap time.

I told Matt.....he can have Nolan's blowout for Father's Day ;)

A Big Boy Quilt

In keeping up with tradition, with Alden on the way, this makes Nolan an official "Big boy" in the family. So this means he gets a new quilt to reflect a new milestone.

I had been saving the main quilt block fabric from a visit back home to San Diego. My mother treated me to a few of her quilting haunts and this called out to me. It really does say boy all over and I liked a little of the art deco flare of the illustration work.

To break up the blocks and pull some color out, the middle and top bar fabric was found from Joanns. This also includes the backing, which I sewed the binding on the inside and then reversed it right side out. The corners ended up rounding each other, but it saved me a lot of hand sewing in the process. Plus...boys won't care ;)

I'm pretty happy with the end result, and frankly, pleased to have finally finished this sucker before I'll have no extra free time after the big kids have gone to bed! If I didn't complete it, I'm sure it would get lost in the craft abyss.