Nesting

Well the nesting bug finally hit me a couple weeks ago and I've been plugging through {the list} ever since. It just seems that with every thing I cross off, I think of 2 more I could add on. And of course the laundry and cleaning and cooking never end. Why can't all that be put on hold? I would love to have a sparkling bathroom and kitchen floor and no clothes in the hamper the night I go into labor. Right. I have a feeling that once I feel my first contraction, I'll be making a mad dash for the mop bucket. As it is, I feel pretty good about what I've gotten done so far...

1. Go through all the baby clothes, separate, organize, and store appropriately (this included dumping numerous grocery bags out and actually folding and storing everything neatly in bins)

2. Wash all covers of carseats, swings, seats, and bassinet.

3. Set up pack 'n play and bassinet in room along with changing table. (This turned into completely rearranging our bedroom and moving all furniture within)

4. Buy diapers, changing pad cover, and baby book (still need the book)

5. Fill out and mail pre-registration hospital form

6. Clean!! Everything. Including dusting cob webs from 2 years build up, dusting, vacuuming, de-junking, and the like.

7. Clean and organize/file the office. I should have taken a {before} picture. The office is the place that gets dumped on. I had a filing pile from 6 months of mail. I HATE looking at it. Getting that done was a big sigh of relief. And as I was adding to our ever increasing pile of loan statements, I couldn't help but be amazed. Do you think that Direct Loans is afraid we'll forget that we owe them our lives? And this isn't even all of them. I just started saving them a year and half ago. We'll get three at a time. I think the Postal Service could stay in business just thanks to DL.

 8. Make car seat cover.

 9. Finish Valentines Day craft.

This bugger took at least 4 hours to complete. It was cheap, but tedious. And no, it wasn't on the original nesting list, but was one of those extras that I wanted to fit in. My V-day decor is seriously lacking.

And really, the list goes on and on. I was happy to cross off visiting teaching, grocery shopping, mending temple dress, registering for the Family Room and paying some bills, but I still need to cut Trav's hair, reapply for insurance, pack a hospital bag, possibly prepare another SS lesson, and do a new round of cleaning. And if I don't have the baby this week I'll be able to fit in Book Club, celebrating Valentine's Day early with Trav on Friday, a get together with friends on Saturday and having over some friends for dinner on Sunday. I'm not even due until next Saturday, but this dumb dilation thing has me all ready for an early delivery. And now that my back starts aching on cue at 4pm and I've reached 3 potty breaks now during bedtime, and I can only fit into my larger sized garment bottoms, and a new stretch mark appeared yesterday, and I seem to be selling crack every time I bend over because my pants won't fit any higher, I think I'm ready for a baby! :)

I do wonder how and when he will come and how it will affect this guy and his school....

He's been doing lab work at home a couple different times, and of course I had to take a picture since it sort of fascinates me.

And as I've already said, I keep wondering how all this change will affect THIS guy!

Each day that I don't have a baby, I think I treasure just a bit more, knowing it's one of my last with just {me and him}. He is getting pretty good at saying Weston and likes to pat my stomach. He is also getting good at imitating my exasperated "Uggggggghhhhh!" when I've had it with him. He's right on cue... when I finish my grunt, he starts his. He's probably as fed up with me as I am with him at those points anyway. :) But at the end of the day I don't know what I'd do without my Collinator.

GiRL's NiGhT!

This past weekend was a fun getaway... no boys allowed :) Destination: Toronto!

3 of the 4 pictured here are pregnant (which ones??!) and with me due in two weeks, we knew we needed to make this trip a reality before more babies entered the world. I had a doctor's appt. right before we left and he told me I was dilated the same. When I told him about our trip he raised his eyebrows and said I better turn the car around quick if my water broke or I started having contractions. I'll admit that the farther away we drove, the more secretly anxious I became. We joked that at least we had 2 nurses in the car that totally knew how to clamp an umbilical cord and my only real concern would be the mess left in Rachel's car. Yuck. Well, I'm happy to report that no fetus's became newborns and we had a great time :)

We pulled in to Toronto around 8pm and had dinner at a nice restaurant called Casey's Bar and Grill. Then we checked into our hotel before going to the theater to see The Dilemma. It was a comedy with Vince Vaughn and was really pretty funny. Unfortunately for Megan, she must have caught some sort of bug earlier, and missed the last 15 min. of the show, generously giving her dinner back to the bathroom. Poor Meg! :(

 We went back to the hotel after the movie to binge on treats (ok, so maybe only Rach and I were the oinkers :) and what else... talk! Many a {Truth} question was asked and answered....

 ... and some pillows were thrown. (We had to continue the cliches, right?) 

And even sweet Megan stayed up with us until nearly 4am. She deserved some sort of award.

 The next day we slept in, then went to the Toronto temple. None of us had been there before so it was fun to be at a new temple! It's a "big" one so it was nice to have many session times to choose from, although our session was very small and there didn't seem to be many workers around. We were completely by ourselves in the Celestial room for like 20 minutes! Then we had to wander around until we found the dressing room again. I remembered a story about my parents being out of town and at a temple, and my dad being embarrassed because my mom decided to help herself to her own tour. So my mom! :) Of course she was hounded down and  reprimanded by the workers for being where she shouldn't be. I felt like we could have easily gotten away with doing just that!

 This is the closest IKEA to where we live, so we had to stop in and do some shopping! We are such moms though.... the majority of what we bought was for our munchkins.

 Driving into downtown, we saw the Hockey Hall of Fame and I rolled my eyes.... why would anyone care about that?!! Then it dawned on me where we were.... Canada. Duh, Stephanie... obviously a very important structure. :)

 This massive mall is the Eaton Centre. Dummies close at 7pm and charge $8 for parking! Not impressed.

Crescent was looking for some jeans and I think she found the perfect pair at H&M! :) I don't think this picture fully portrays the nasty {80'sness} of this denim number. 

 On the way home I tried to take a picture of the CN Tower but this was the best I could do. On their website they claim to be the tallest building in the world, but I thought some building in Dubai held that record. Upon further research it seems that title is subject to very specific definitions which vary by organization.. highest observation deck... % of useable floor space, etc. Lame. But according to the Guiness Book of World Records's definiton, they hold the title of Highest Building in the World.

 It was my white trash idea to go see the Monster Trucks at Roger's Centre that night, but by 7pm we were all yawning and it was snowing pretty bad so we decided it was best to head home. I do think it would have been quite memorable for all those classy citizens to see 3 pregnant ladies cheering on the Grave Digger. (Apparently I was the only one even familiar with this famous truck). Darn. Maybe another time! :) We saw lots of cars spun out on the side of the road on our drive home, but thankfully we made it safely to Buffalo and our sweet hubbies who had held down the forts while we were away. My only regret is that we haven't done this more often over the past couple years! The 4 of us have been wanting to do this for a while now, so I'm glad we finally got her done! :)I'm so thankful to have such great friends. It was a trip to remember.
(Apologies to Rachel for all the many bathroom breaks we had to take... blame the pregnant girls!:)



Pencil Grip

Yesterday, while Collin was busy coloring, I happened to glance down and notice he had switched from {cave man grip} to quite a decent pencil grip! I have to be honest, the teacher in me was overflowing with pride. :)

On a different note, Collin cracked me up last night. When Travis gets home from school and we hear him at the door, Collin usually jumps up and runs to greet him, excitedly shouting "Dadas!" along the way. Well, Trav's brother, Marcus, has been staying with us since last Wednesday and Collin says his name perfectly. Probably better than any other word he can say. Well, last night when I heard Travis at the door, I turned to Collin and said "Oh! Who's at the door?!", expecting the usual routine. His eyes lit up as he jumped off the couch and yelled, "Marcus, Marcus!!", running at full speed to the door. I died. It looks like you've been replaced, Trav. 

Prego Update

If he doesn't have enough hair on top of his head, how about a goatee? :)

I love the look he's giving the camera. I get this look frequently throughout the day. He's quite a tease. And really hit the jackpot on desserts today... nothin' wrong with a chocolate cupcake before bed, right?

So it may not be too much longer before this little munchin has a little brother!

I'm due Feb. 5, but have been mentally preparing myself for another baby who wants to cook well past his expected arrival. I knew I didn't want to start the {nesting} phase until after Christmas, but have still found myself dragging my feet with getting things in order. I guess I figured once the nesting was over, the impatience would begin! WELL, I went in for a doctor's appt. today and while he was checking me, he raised his eyebrows and said that the baby was low... VERY low- his head was in position and I was dialated to a 2 or 3! Then he told me I better not leave town. Now I know that some girls will sit at a 3 for a month, and that could very well happen to me, but I just can't believe it! I didn't dialate 1 stinkin' cm with Collin until I was in labor. And now when I'm really not ready for a baby, mentally or otherwise... it seems he could be making an early appearance. What gives? And now that I'm stressing about it, I'll bet he doesn't come til after his due date. He's just messing with me and he hasn't even been born! I think I might even NEED him to be late because I'm quite nervous about 2 kids. The more I pull out widdle baby clothes, the  more my stomach turns in knots. Am I ready to start a no-sleep lifestyle again? How will Collin react to the new addition? Will this kid be a good nurser? Will he be healthy? Will I end up with a C-section? Will I go fast and not have time for an epideral? (I kinda secretly hope so). I'm starting to have abnormal fears about Collin not feeling loved enough once the baby comes. That I'll be cranky and tired and not a good mom. And just as I'm about to lose it all to panic, I berate myself for being so paranoid about two children when girls my age have 3, 4, or 5! I think I'll just start my deep breathing exercises now. :)

Not Sledding

Today, playgroup was meeting to go sledding. Since I've yet to do any {fun} snow activities with Collin, I thought we'd give it a whirl. We were 1/2 hour late (had to get snow boots at Wal-Mart) and by the time we showed up, the two other girls were loading up their cars to leave! It was snowing and blowing and the kids were crying. Well I didn't spend 20 min. getting both of us all bundled up for nothing so we had our fun snow day in the driveway. He couldn't hold anything with his mittens on, so we touched the snow, kicked the snow, and hated the snow when it started blowing in our face!

 A little 4 wheelin' down the tire tracks of the driveway. Fun on the way down... not fun on the way up with the snow blowing in our face!

 All was better when we came in for a sweet treat.. snow doused in Juicy Juice. I was enjoying it as much as Collin! Who knew snow had the most delectable texture? :)

I love this picture... it's like he's licking his lips and closing his eyes in shear pleasure. Ahhhh.

 On the third cup, his poor body started shivering, and even this pile of blankets didn't cure it, so I figured some hot chocolate was in order. Yin and yang. He seemed pleased with the day's activities. I just hope he doesn't remember all this and want to do it again tomorrow!

Footnote: Yes, the poor boy got a hair cut. It had been well over a month and hair over the ears drives me BANANAS. His last two haircuts have been over the top dramatic. He screams and cries and you'd literally think he was being dismembered, so I thought I'd go short and save myself the headache of doing it again very soon. Well now I regret it! I call him bald baby. It's so sad. I keep telling myself, hair grows, hair grows. HAIR, GROW!