The nursery is as good as done now. Outside of getting Lydia's room painted this week, I have bookoo loads of laundry to do. Pete will have to do most of Lydia's room on his own. I am really feeling it lately. I cleaned the house yesterday and will spend today paying for it. Soreness abound. Pete did finish Lydia’s furniture. I’m happy with it and it looks great in her room! I love the new arrangement. The tall dresser really works much better than the long dresser in her room.
Pete went to play in his alumni soccer game at Herkimer yesterday and is still sleeping now. He needs to get up and start breakfast soon. I sent Lyds up to wake him. That has become his task since I was pregnant with Lydia. For whatever reason, I could eat breakfast but I just couldn’t make it. It made me sick, so he took it over and I never took it back. It has worked into a nice weekend family tradition!
Today is the last day of Sunday School for the summer and we have a few play dates to go to this week. Next Saturday we have a birthday party to attend and Lyds and I need to go get a "Father's Day surprise" done for daddy in the morning. Sounds like a good morning to send daddy off fishing for the morning. (Pete did you read that? For the morning. Not all day. Just the morning buddy. Be home at 2pm. It's in writing so now you can't mess with the time. :D ) Ah, and next Saturday night I have a girlfriend cocktail party to go to. Good times. Looking forward to an evening of good girlfriend chat. I need to check with Beck to see what she wants me to bring.
Lyds is continuing with her lists. Last night she made a "list" for daddy. Again, it's a list of her wants. Good lord, we are in trouble.
A neighbor had a garage sale so I scooted on over to ask her how she does. She said she advertises on Craigslist and in the Scotsmen/Pennysaver. She does well enough that she does one every year. I wondered how garage sales faired on our street since it's not a through street. The only people that travel on it are the people that live here or the people that make a wrong turn. So knowing what she said, I have enough stuff I want to get rid of to have a sale myself. I'm thinking the Friday and Saturday of Father's Day weekend. Writing this reminds me...I still have to get that bin of summer clothes washed and pressed for the consignment shop! Ha, MORE laundry.
Photo: Memorial Day camping trip, 2004.
Bed is down, crib is up, and the dresser I needed moved has been moved. We also brought the glider and ottoman up. It's starting to look like a nursery!
The cookout was a success. We certainly have enough leftovers for a few nights of dinners, which is good since I've not been in the mood to cook at all lately. Poor husband and kid. The girls had a good time playing with each other. The two baby boys-- one was terribly cute (7-months) with his squealing at the girls. I think he's going to be a flirt. The other (13-months) had a grand time being a boy and trashing my house. I'd tell him to stop trashing my picture frames-- that was his ammo of choice-- and he would have a conversation right back with me. I'm not sure what he was saying, but he was quite serious. Apparently, he was on some sort of mission and I don't know what it was. Michelle told me that Bre was never into things as Gavin is...and I do remember that Lyds wasn't either. She was entertained enough with her toys and didn't need to bother with my knickknacks. Am I going to be in trouble with a boy? Will I actually have to undecorate my house for a year or so?
Tomorrow is back to work and a play date--back to a normal schedule. The long, enjoyable weekend is over...and we did get the flowers planted today! :)
Lydia is creating a list that contains: Better Batter Baseball, a princess dress, a new computer, and another baby doll bed-- in her version of writing of course. All for going on the potty. Damn TV and their commercials. Although I have to admit, it is pretty funny hearing her say, "Mom, can you get me Better Batter Baseball?" Why can't my lists look something like that?
I'm very tired this weekend but I'm getting a lot done. Call it nesting if you must. I have a few closets cleaned out, the basement semi-reorganized, and Jonathan's room has been cleared and is ready to become a nursery. Perhaps I can convince Pete to take down the bed today so while his friends are here for the picnic we can have them help bring the mattress to the garage. (Pete's parents are taking the bed from that room.) Hmmm, that reminds me, I do have a dresser I want moved down to the basement from that room as well. Ha, I guess our cookout guests didn't know we'd be putting them to work today!
Today is flower planting since I didn't get to it earlier this weekend...followed by a cookout this afternoon. Chicken speedies, tuna macaroni salad, a fun potato salad, garden salad, baked beans...and Lyds convinced me to make cupcakes with her last night. We have a few friends coming over with their kids.
Pete didn't get to the furniture, other than the nightstand so far, since I put him to work, helping me get organized. He was my runner-- bringing things from upstairs, down to the basement. That was very helpful, and even with that help, my body is still feeling all the work I did this weekend. I just ache all over today. Perhaps he can get the crib together or a 2nd piece for Lydia's room finished after our cookout today. I did request his help with flowers this morning. I told Lyds she was going to help and she's is very excited about it.
I had the joy of a lovely leg cramp waking me around 4:30 this morning. I think Pete might have thought I was in labor. It was my worst leg cramp yet. Ouch. I couldn't fall back to sleep and anticipate napping with Lyds this afternoon.
Lyds is currently galloping around the house with her stick horse. No princess sighting yet today. Ah, to be three again--the things that can entertain you. She's attempting to bring her breakfast out to her horse in the living room to feed him. I promptly told her that the horse needs to eat at the kitchen table.
There is potential for rain this afternoon so depending on the weather, I may or may not get my annuals planted this afternoon. Pete is off fishing until 1:00 and I plan to get my weekly cleaning done this morning. Sunday is picnicking and boating with mom and Jim and Monday is open at the moment.
Pete started on Lyds furniture and has the nightstand done. I'm very happy with the quality of the purchase. The reviews on the set were great and the display in the store is what sold me. For the price, if it lasts until Lyds teen years and she wants something a bit more grown-up, then it was well worth the price. Now we just have to see how it holds up to the years of banging from a young kid.
Pete said he wants to take a few days off from painting before starting Lydie's room. We have some furniture that needs putting together so that will be the agenda this weekend. He'll be a busy man. At the very least, while he's working on that, I can try to get some sort of assemblance back in Jonathan's room and get things moved to where they should be. I have to move some things out of what was once a spare room closet, somewhere else, so that can now become Jonathan's closet. :) Plus I have loads of clean laundry that is waiting to be put away. Here's the furniture for Lydia's room:
My sinuses are slowly getting better. I still have one clogged sinus on the right side that was making my jaw ache. This morning I actually felt some relief so I think the decongestants are finally working.
I'm looking forward to the great weekend. I have Friday and Monday off so it will be extra long, and the weather is supposed to be amazing. I want to get a few annuals planted and Lyds was very excited when I told her she could help me with that.
I still need to remember to call mom to pick a day to barbecue...and we really ought to plan a fun family day with Lydia. I know Springside Farm has their festival this weekend...and it's probably even nice enough to consider hitting the beach. Decisions, decisions.
The bathroom is finished.I am buying new towels and towel bars after work today.I need to touch up the trim and put the room back together and we'll be officially done and ready to move on to Lydia's bedroom.We have to take off the boarder and prep the walls.We probably won't get to that until Friday.Pete is working late 2 nights this week and I have my MNO dinner on Wednesday.I have high hopes that we can get her room painted this weekend.I am anxious to get things done.I have 58-days left!
I am still congested and my sinuses ache all the way down to my teeth. The decongestant works but I can certainly tell when it wears off. The pressure is insane. My throat no longer hurts so that's a good thing. This cold is distracting me from any pregnancy aches and pains I may have.
Overall, this particular pregnancy is going much better than my pregnancy with Lyds. I feel a million times better this time around. I have no joint pain, no carpel tunnel, and no rash. I pee myself a bit more than I did with Lyds. Jonathan has a thing for putting pressure on my bladder at inappropriate times, usually when I am furthest from the bathroom. Occasionally he moves and hits a nerve that sends a shooting pain that stops me in my tracks. He's a roller and seems to sit low and Lyds was a kicker who liked to get stuck under my ribs all the time. It's interesting how these two pregnancies are very different. I am still gaining the weight of a cow, as I did with Lyds. The difference this time around is I won't wait a year and a half to get myself to Weight Watchers. I can't believe how easily that program worked for me and to think I had waited so long to give it a try! Tsk. Tsk.
Lyds and I went to the library last night. She loves going and we try to go once a week...or at least I make it there once a week to do a return and get new books. I have to admit that I am sometimes lazy and make my library run before I pick her up from daycare. I can be in and out in less than 15-minutes that way. It generally depends on the week. Since we didn't have many playgroup activities this week, I thought she'd enjoy the time and she did. She loves picking out new books. This morning she woke and immediately had Pete read her two of her library books. I don't think Pete even had the chance to sit up in bed before she had plopped the books on his stomach.
This past quarter I earned $34.94 from using ebates! I think I like it better than mypoints. With mypoints you have to redeem your points in gift card form. Ebates will send you the actual cashola!
This head cold is kicking my tush. I haven't had a cold like this in a long time. Thank god, they are few and far between. My series of recent sleepless nice have less to do with my pregnancy and more to do with this cold! I'm either waking to blow my nose, or to drink some water to sooth my razor sharp throat, or to pee from needing to drink so much water throughout the night! It's an endless battle that I am not winning.
Still and all, I'm forging ahead and working on the house list. I think we're going to finish off the bathroom after church today, which means, ideally, we should be starting in on Lydia's room early next week. I am eager to get to Jonathan's room since it is currently a disaster from clean laundry waiting to be put away, stuff from getting the garage sale items ready, and Jonathan's things that currently have no particular place to be stored since the room isn't arranged yet.
Yesterday mom introduced me to a new consignment store near her work and I bought Jonathan's bassinet. I think the prices at Curtain Climbers are better than the prices at Jack and Jill's. From a shoppers perspective Curtain Climbers is the way to go! The store is large and has a lot of items. It's a much larger scale than what Jack and Jill offers. I have always thought that Jack and Jill's were a bit overpriced but if you caught one of their "sales,” you were generally good to go. From a consignors perspective you'd think since Jack and Jill's tend to be a tad over priced, you'd fair better, but my gut says that Curtain Climbers gets much more traffic, giving you more opportunity to get your consigned items sold. In addition, it appears that Curtain Climbers will sell your items for a longer period. I'm guessing the size and location of the store gives them that opportunity, whereas Jack and Jill's is a bit more limited in that regard. I think I'll still shop at both since Jack and Jill’s is right down the road from me, but I'm going to try my next consigning gig at Curtain Climbers. I've consigned at and Jack and Jill's a few times, selling about 50% of the items I've brought in each time. It will be interesting to compare my sales at Curtain Climbers. The other bonus Curtain Climbers offers is that they will take 100 items per consignment appointment and Jack and Jill’s would only take 25 items--which meant you had to arrange multiple appointments if you had more than 25 items you wanted to sell. For a woman that has better things to do with her time, that is an awesome bonus! Since I'm having a boy, I have all of Lydia's clothes to sell that she has since outgrown. I was hanging on to bins and bins of clothing on the chance that our #2 might have been a girl!
I did sell close to $100 of Lydia's clothing at mom's neighborhood garage sale, despite being a rainy day. Not bad for 4.5 hours of work! I think the rain set in around 1:30. I went home with one completely empty bin (I had brought over five bins)--just in time to store Lydie's outgrown winter clothes! Mom didn't sell so it was just a few tables of girls clothing, 0-2T, that were being sold. I think I'll borrow her garage each year for that sale. I don't think my neighborhood has a sale and I live on a street that is not a through street. If you're on my street it's because you live there or took a wrong turn, so selling at my house wouldn't be as beneficial.
Next week is rather uneventful outside of working on the house to-do list and getting some things washed and pressed for consigning. There is a mom's night out (MNO) with one of the mommy groups on Wednesday. I'm not sure if I'm doing that or not. It's at the Coppertop, a restaurant I love. Pete is not so fond of it because he doesn't think they have enough 'steak dishes' offered. I'll probably go so I can order one of their fun specialty pizzas! Plus I particularly like the women that are going. ;)
It's Memorial Day weekend so I do have next Friday and Monday off from work. Pete will work on Friday so Lyds and I are headed over to library for an event and then to lunch with Brenda and Grace! I also plan to get a few annuals planted this weekend. I'm not sure what else is on the weekend agenda. Perhaps a cookout or something with mom and Jim. We could have it at our house since we finally have the room--it's our first Memorial Day in the new house. Mom deserves a break and a thank you for the garage sale hosting. Pete should have Monday off so if the weather is nice, perhaps we'll go off and find something nice to do for a family day...although Pete may be itching to fish by then since I am keeping him pretty busy with that house to-do list! Perhaps he can fish in the morning and then a family lunch picnic with Lyds in the afternoon...gotta keep the husband motivated to keep getting those house projects done!
This mama is super tired today. I think I'm getting a head cold...or it's just really bad allergies. Either way, it just needs to go away.
There are 4 1/2 weeks left of school which is followed by NYS Regents Exams-- 8-days of proctoring hell for me. The kids are starting to get unruly. It's making me a little insane. 3:00 can not roll around quick enough most days! I'm sure being big and pregnant is not helping me be more patient during this time either.
I think tonight is the night we're going to get started on the bathroom. I at least want to get it taped off and the walls prepped. This should be an interesting process with an inquisitive three year old who always needs to be involved in everything that's going on.
Pooping is going well. When I picked Lydia up from daycare she was very excited to tell me that she pooped on the potty. Woo hoo for ballet. We're getting closer to those dance classes! Also when she got her haircut the other day, I told her she had a "bob" to which she quickly insisted it was NOT a bob. Hmmm, OK, so it's not a bob. Even after trying to explain that it was the name of the hairstyle she had, she still refused to think she had a bob. Welcome Miss Jekyll and Miss Hyde. A teacher reported that Lydia was very excited about her new hair cut and made it a point of telling everyone it was a BOB!
Today Lyds is having one of her "parties." I think we have 8ish kids coming to play today. It should be nice enough to play outside.
We have a low key uneventful week going on, other than today's play date. I am on a mission to get the house list done before Jonathan arrives, so I'm trying to be better about keeping my evenings free so we can work on the list. We went out and bought the bathroom and bedroom paints last night. Lyds was properly dressed in her turquoise taffeta dress-up skirt and matching heels with pink jewel hearts. Pete wasn't keen on her going out with the heels but I say, what's the harm? She's happy and she's three and she was stylin'. She also has a new hair style-- we went with a little bob. She never keeps the clips or ponies I put in her hair and by the end of the day she looks a little ragged-- so we decided to go shorter. It's chin length and looks very cute. It brings her curls up nicely. My fingers are crossed that her hair is still holding a decent curl when I pick her up this afternoon. I do think the length was weighing down her curl. I'll try to get a photo of her at today's play date so I can post a picture of her new 'do.
So back to Jonathan and the house. My mission is to get these things done in this order:
paint the bathroom; get navy towels
paint Lyds room; we just ordered Lydie's new bedroom furniture
put together nursery; take down queen bed and put up crib
build new back stairs (going into the backyard)
Pete needs to weather-poof the swing set and front bench with a clear stain-- but that can happen after the baby. #1-4 I'd ideally like to have completed before the baby's arrival. Well, by the end of June so I can relax a bit before I need to tend to two. July 16th is just 65 days away!
I keep forgetting that I need to order a diaper genie and a new co-sleeper. I also have loads of laundry to do from clothes that were given to me and my garage sale finds for Jonathan. I need to see what I have and what I still need. I think we're pretty good though.
Pete is working late tonight so tonight's evening mission is to continue going through Lydia's (0-2T) clothes to sell at mom's neighborhood garage sale on Saturday. That's actually my mission all week, sandwiched with starting on the bathroom.
Lydia loves having play dates at our house and always asks when we are having our next "party". Here she is enjoying one of our most recent play dates. Note that she is all decked out in her dress-up shoes and Fairy charm necklace.
Lyds and Pete both went with me to my sonogram appointment. It was a complete sonogram so it took a bit longer than I expected but it was quite cool to see the baby again. My placenta has moved back to where it should be-- no placenta previa! He is in vertex position and based on the measurements is approximately 3.25-3.5 pounds and measuring about 2-weeks ahead. It doesn't mean I'll go early, it just means I might have a bigger baby. All kids grow at different rates so who knows, perhaps he'll slow down a bit and be of average size. Right now he is measuring in the 68th percentile based on my due date.
I also planned our annual weekend with my brother's family at the camp in Fine. OK, to be fair, I didn't actually plan it, I just harassed my brother into getting it planned. I love doing this weekend and we have been doing this together for the past few years. I think last year was the best year so far just because it was so awesome to watch Lyds interact with her cousins and have such a great time fishing off the end of the dock. I am guessing this year might even be a bit more fun just because she is that much older to get more out of the experience. Here are some of the photos from our weekend last year:
fishing off the dock
oops! a dropped pole.
cousin Ava with her mom
(Ava is the cousin Jonathan will share a birthday with)
the pond
hard at work!
look at what daddy caught! (and right back into the water it went.)
Lydie's fish!
cousin Amelia
and this last photo is the most important of it all. that's my brother. he has inherited the breakfast man duty at camp from my father. this is the best of the memories!
And with that, thank you mom and dad for giving me all of the family memories I have from my own childhood and realizing how important it is to offer these very same kind of blessings to my very own family!
Jonathan Petar is officially scheduled for arrival on July 16th. I'm having a C-section. It looks like Jonathan will share a birthday with his cousin Ava. They will be 2-years apart! Today's OB appointment went well. No weight gain, but that's OK seeing I already gained 30-pounds! I have a follow-up sonogram on Wednesday to check for placenta previa. My last sonogram showed that I had a low laying placenta so they just want to check to see if everything is as it should be.
Yesterday's mommy brunch was awesome. A margarita basket continued to elude me. I won it an a mommy's group dirty bingo and it was promptly stolen by Becky...who enhanced the basket and used it for the raffle at the brunch. Even after leaving an obnoxious amount of raffle tickets for that, I still didn't win it. I guess it's for the better that I don't have that basket to taunt me until mid-July!! I did win an awesome photography package for JL Hill Photography. I'll use it for my maternity photos. With Lyds I used Picture Infinity who did an awesome job! I had maternity photos done with them, along with a series of photos throughout the first year-- newborn, 3-months, 6-months, 9-months, and 1-year. Here's the announcement they did for me with some of the first photos they took of her. I think she was about 12-days in these photos.
And the Lyd-monster from Saturday DID NOT reappear on Sunday and we had a great family day that afternoon with ice cream and the duck pond. Too bad I'm not the kind of mother that plans ahead and thinks to have a charged camera for such days! Lyds had a great time! I certainly missed a few nice photo opportunities.
Mother's Day is this weekend so of course we'll be busy. I think we're going to try to take Pete's mother out on Saturday and with my family, do the typical Sunday Brunch--that we have done for as long as I can remember. I'm sure I was just a wee tot at my first Mother's Day Brunch. Mom can answer that, better than I could remember.
Also Pete thinks we should get some painting done this weekend. I think we'll start with the bathroom. If Pete can get the hardware off the walls and spackle/sand during the week, perhaps we can actually get that room done on Saturday. I'll need to pick up some new navy towels for the new color...Happy Mother's Day to me! Nothing says Mother's Day like a household gift!! :)
Lyds was a bit grouchy yesterday so we never did make our plans of the duck pond and ice cream. She is testing a lot lately. Strangely and thankfully she really only had one major meltdown while we were in Florida. (I really do need to get my act together and get some vacation photos posted.) Yesterday was just one big meltdown that never went away, not even with a 3-hour nap. My sanity was saved by the 3-hour nap and I even got my house cleaned. We did nothing else though, which is a shame, because yesterday was a great day to go out and do something.
Today I have a mommy's group brunch--a kidless and husbandless brunch. A happy mommy time! Too bad I can't enjoy a couple of mimosas. This particular mommy group is phenomenal. The organizer of the group takes our $10 annual dues and makes them work like no other. The group puts on a Halloween party, a Christmas party, an Easter party, and this year she's adding a Mother's Appreciation Brunch. We have a fund-raiser, selling the Taste of Syracuse books around the holiday time, plus she has group garage sale--you donate things to sell. For the brunch I believe she went and got a few sponsors as well as people to donate baskets to be raffled--and she has some GREAT baskets donated. I plan on putting at least $25 toward the raffles. All the raffle money will be put back into the group fund. I try to do my part and host a play date at the house once or twice a month. I wish I had more time to help with the organization of these events, but I don't, so I try to show my support of the group by donating when I can and offering play dates. Lydia really loves those play dates too. She has turned into such a little hostess! This morning she actually asked if she was having a play date this week. So far our only plan for this week is an art class at Shades of Orange. (and yep--this is a mommy group event.) She really does love all the activities we do. A typical response when I pick her up from daycare is, "Where are we going today Mommy?"
We're missing church today since it runs into brunch time. I thought we might try to go to the earlier service but I didn't have the energy to get up and going for an 8:30 service. Pete is still sleeping at the moment and I currently have a naked princess (princess shoes, tiara, and boa only) running through my house. We were going to church in DeWitt and while I loved that church, I already make that drive to DeWitt 5-days a week, so I was in search for something closer to home. We did find a church--about 5-minutes away from our house that we like. It is a mix of the church I grew up in and the DeWitt church, so it's certainly comfortable for me. Pete is Orthodox, although he's non-practicing. His family didn't really do the church thing other than the cultural connection to the Macedonian community it brings them--but they didn't attend a regular Sunday service. So every Sunday--mostly anyway, we go to church as a family. It's been great for Lyds--because this year she is out of the "baby room" and into the pre-school room where they actually have a Sunday School lesson. On Palm Sunday she sung with the Sunday School choir. She was quite hysterical and kept trying to steal the microphone off the stand. I have a few (very dark) photos of it...and one video. I didn't realize I had such a performer on my hands. I always knew she was particularly outgoing, but I didn't expect the performance I saw!!
I think, depending on the cute girl's behavior, we may try to go out and do something with her after my brunch--perhaps we will actually try getting to the duck pond and out for ice cream this afternoon...
