Monday, December 29, 2008

Still No Baby

While I was at church yesterday everyone kept asking me what I was doing there. I should have been having a baby apparently. :) I'm not really in a big hurry I guess. I feel great other than getting up every couple of hours to use the bathroom at night and not being able to put on my own socks and shoes.
I had a doctor's appointment this morning including an ultrasound. Everything looks great. Fluid levels are great, baby's heart is going and he's breathing (sort of anyway). Doctor stripped my membranes and hopefully that will get me going. I can tell that I have had some contractions since then, nothing major though. If I don't go in on my own then I'm scheduled for Thursday to be induced.
We'll keep everyone posted!!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Construction Update!

The entire downstairs has been drywalled!! It's looking like a real space again. The first coat of mud has gone up, dried and sanded. Alex is downstairs right now putting on second layer of mud.
After the girls got home from school today we went and picked out carpet. It's so nice to have that done! Now I get to pick out the paint I want. Getting one thing done always relies on another thing being done. Isn't that how it always works? The kids are anxious to help paint. Since the room is so big and open, and we won't have carpet in, I have been telling the kids they can help paint. They only thing they could get paint on that would be a problem is the fireplace. No doors or trim to worry about. This is the best time to let them help paint! We are looking at Monday to get our carpet laid. We have to contact a carpet guy to make final plans. I can't wait until it's done. I'm sure Alex feels the same way. Poor guy, he stays up until at least 11pm working downstairs and that's after he's worked from home on his computer all day! I feel bad that I can't really help. I plan on getting that new Fresh Air paint so that I can at least help paint, which I enjoy anyway.
I'm getting close to getting my laundry room back!!!!

Baby Update

So the inducing on the 21st is a no-go. Doctor told me the 23rd. That's cutting it a bit close! I have another appointment on Monday the 22nd and if nothing has progressed I'm going to just wait until after Christmas. I feel fine (just getting tough to get shoes on), everything is going good and I'm sure I'll make it! I just have this paranoid feeling that I'll go into labor and have to miss my kids opening gifts on Christmas morning. Going into labor that night wouldn't be the end of the world, just not that morning!!

Late Night in the Snow!




All week the kids have had a two hour delay. I think that sets a record here!! We've known each night before they go to bed that there is a delay the next day so I have been a bit lax on bed time. Tonight I got the boys to bed and the girls decided to test the snow fall. It was about 10:30pm. I don't think they have ever been out in the snow that late at night. The snow flakes were HUGE!! They didn't want to come in and go to bed. These pictures remind me of the song "If all the snow flakes were candy bars and milk shakes....."

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Getting close!!

The baby countdown is getting closer and closer!! At my appointment last week I told the nurse (doc was gone) that I didn't want to be in the hospital on the 25th. She didn't think the doctor would have a problem inducing me a week early, possibly on the 21st. That would get me in, deliver and be home before Christmas. I'm sure he doesn't want to be at the hospital on Christmas either! I have always felt pretty good after having all my other kids so I'm not too worried about it. We have enough family here to make it easy on me. So I could be looking at a week from now! It's amazing how fast the end of a pregnancy goes, especially at this time of year.
So tonight I was getting the boys in bed and decided I needed to make a list of things I needed to get done before the baby was born. I realized that I have WAY more things to do than I was thinking. Granted, if I went into labor tomorrow everything would work out fine but I would worry about it. This list didn't even include what Alex has got going in the basement, besides the fact that I need that space to make room for baby. Most of my to do list is things I can do, some of the things require a small amount of assistance from Alex. I hate to make his list of things to do any larger than it is!!
I have a doctor's appointment on Monday afternoon and I'll keep everyone posted of any decisions that are made that day.
Oh, I went and got a pedicure today since I can't reach my toes. It was so nice!! They were busy so they got me set up in the pedi chair and got the water on and then left me. I got to sit in the nice massage chair for about an hour total today. It was so nice not being in a hurry. Alex took the kids shopping and I was all alone. ANYWAY...The gal sitting next to me was also pregnant and she looked about the same size as me. I asked her when she was due and she said not until May!! I'm sure she gets the look I gave her quite a bit because she immediately let me know that she is having twins. How fun!! Plus, she already has twins. Isn't that funny. Twin boys that are 6 and this time she's having a boy and a girl. Her mother was with her and said that there's at least one other set of twins in their family. WOW, that gene really hit them. The funny thing was she gave me the same look I gave her when she asked me if this was my first and I told her it was my 5th. It's always interesting how 5 kids to some seams like so many kids and to others it's not. 8-10 kids sounds like a lot to me but not 5.

Friday, December 5, 2008

More Pictures


Laundry room and bathroom gutted.


Front window with a pile of rubble outside.

Alex replaced the large window on the back wall with two smaller windows. That's the TV wall!


Daddy's little helper Mason!
Electricians came today and got just about everything done. I think they are coming back Monday morning to finish up before the inspection happens. Alex has to get some windows in, plumbing done and a bit more framing in a few places.
I went looking for carpet the other day and found that all the carpet that I liked, for color and feel was the GOOD STUFF, of course costing more. So we'll have to decide what we want. There's some really nice polyester carpets out there that feel so nice!!!


Thursday, December 4, 2008

Demolition Pictures


Laundry room. See how cramped it is in there?!!!


Front of the family room.





Back of the family room. I'll post more pictures later. There's some new windows in the back now! Plus, there's not any drywall in the room. Everything is bare.



Wednesday, December 3, 2008

We have no laundry room!

Actually, we have no family room or downstairs bathroom either. Alex started on Thanksgiving with the demolition of the downstairs. Pulled up all the carpet and pad then started in on the take down of the half bath. Today, we have no drywall at all downstairs. It made for a great place for the boys to drive their remote control cars one day though!
Alex is rebuilding the wall between the laundry room and the bathroom to make room for the washer and dryer to be turned the other way. That will make it so much nicer in the laundry room. It's a very small room to begin with! He couldn't take out the wall all together because the plumbing wouldn't cooperate. He's also building a couple of soffits so that we can install some more lights. Plus he's got an electrician coming to redo some wiring and move some outlets. He's got everything mapped out for each day, how many hours it's going to take him to do certain things. He's got Thad over here tonight helping him out, hopefully that should make it so he's on him time schedule! Tomorrow I'm supposed to go pick out tile and carpet.
He plans on having everything done by the 20th. He tells me I'm not allowed to go into labor before then! I don't plan on it, but you never know. If that happens it will make it difficult to get downstairs done. It will be nice to have everything finished! We already have a new tv that's going down there sitting in the box patiently waiting to be opened. We'll move all the boy's toys down there and half of the room will be a play room for them. That way we'll have room for baby number 5 in the boys room.
I have taken lots of pictures I just don't have them on the computer yet. Check back and you can see all the progress!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Doctor Appointment Update

36 weeks and counting! I'm just hanging out waiting for something to happen. According to the nurses and my doctor I'm boring, but boring is good. My doctor thought I was measuring slightly big but I tend to have children on the larger side. He had me get another ultrasound today just to see how things are going. Yep, still a boy! Everything looks good and he said he was happy with where I was (or the baby). The gal that did the ultrasound said she put the baby a little over 6 pounds.
So like I said, I'm just hanging out trying to get things ready for Christmas plenty early so I don't have to worry about them. I even got a batch of gifts wrapped today!