Jason left for Cincinnati today. This is one of his longer trips, 8 days I think. Due to my cousin's bridal shower this weekend, we aren't immediately going over to my Mom's. We're doing a combination of things... staying by ourselves (eek), Jenni here for two nights, then eventually over to Mom's for the last 4 days or so. I hate being home alone at night. Hate. I'm hoping that a Tylenol PM, my heaviest rolling pin and a long line up of reality shows will help me sleep tonight.

Do you realize that I'm now 1-3 weeks away from being at a point that if I went into labor they probably wouldn't try to stop it? I'm not sure exactly what Providence's policy is, but I've read anywhere from 34-36 weeks they won't attempt to stop labor if one starts. Obviously I don't want to go into labor this early because of side effects to baby Scarlett (though emotionally I'd be totally down with being done early!), but its just another one of those milestones you reach and say, "Uh, wow, this is almost over".

So all my strips are finished for my patchwork skirt and now I need to sew them together. I was going to serge all the seams too, but we'll see. That's always something I can come back and do later if I want. I'd just love to have the skirt done by this weekend, but again, we'll see. With Jason gone and us being busy every single day, I don't know if I can pull it off.

Yesterday we went grocery shopping and I bribed the kids into the store childcare by promising them I'd buy them a movie. They're really getting into movies. They adore Toy Story, so I bought Toy Story 2 and also Cinderella. Classic Disney movies are almost impossible to find in stores so I grab them when I can.

We had to watch Toy Story 2 right away. Ethan loved it! After nap and right before dinner, we watched Cinderella, which they both really liked as well. I was tucking Gwen into bed and said that I hoped she dreamed about mice and birds making her a pretty dress. She responds by taking out her pacifier, crossing her arms, rolling her eyes and saying, "Yeah, but my sisters will rip it apart and ruin it!". I said, "No no, those were eee-vil stepsisters, not sisters". She replies, "No! I hate sisters, they ruin pretty dresses". I'm like, uh.... great. She thinks sisters are horrible now.

Well, we're halfway into my second day of lots of crying. Yesterday it was thinking about my Grandpa and how its been nearly a year since he died.

Today its because when we went out to leave for school/gymnastics I found that my car had been broken into and my cell phone and charger stolen. "Broken into" is a relative term I suppose as the doors weren't locked (we sometimes forget. Oops). This, on top of a major headache, no sleep and nausea kept me on the verge of tears all morning.

The project I'm working on now is my patchwork skirt. I'm making a large square peice of fabric (70in x 70in) which will be cut into the skirt pieces. That's 14 squares by 14 squares, in other words, 196 squares! That's a lot of cutting and lots of sewing of squares together. I've discovered that patchwork is done out of thriftiness (using up scrap fabric) and not ease. I've used up 2/3 of my scrap bag, but its bunches of work, especially the cutting. Today however, I was able to whip out 7 rows with fairly little effort. See? Each strip is folded in half for easier photographing



My biggest problem is stressing about the randomness of the patches. I mean, the whole point is that it be random and that means me not organizing them into randomness. It just means that they are randomly sewn together. This is VERY very hard for me to let go. I want to count of how many of each patch I have, then divide them equally between each strip and space them equally. Usually I'm not a perfectionist, at all. For whatever reason, this project is bringing it out big time. 90% of this fabric is designer... Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Robert Kaufman, Joel Dewberry, etc. I'm really glad that I'm getting full use of this very expensive fabric that I was addicted to for a few months :)

April is a hard month for me, emotionally.

Three years ago, my great-Grandma Hazel passed away a week exactly before Gwen was born, on April 18th. Though her death was not unexpected, or even dreaded (she was so ready and willing to leave this world and be with Jesus), it was a sad day to see her joyful and caring spirit leave us.

One year ago, 5 days before Gwen's birthday, on April 20th, my Grandpa died. Long time readers will not need a recap on what a terrible and trying event that was for my family. The last time I saw him alert and awake was April 8th, which was Easter. I remember what he was wearing and the few words that we were able to pass between us. Ethan was very sick with pneumonia and so I didn't get to spend a lot of time with my Grandpa. I regret that. I am so happy that the kids remember their Poppa and speak of him often. Just a few nights ago, Gwen told me that she really missed her Poppa and wanted to see him. I reminded her that one day we'd see him in heaven, but she sorrowfully told me that she did not want to wait... she wanted to see him NOW. I told her she could ask Jesus to pass along a message to Poppa, but that didn't soothe her either. She wanted to play and talk with him and have him here. I couldn't agree with her more.

Its only 11am, but man, have we been working hard!

The kids got us up at 6:30 and we had a huge breakfast of homemade waffles, bacon, grapes and lattes. Ethan didn't eat much, but he ate some, and best of all, he didn't throw it back up!

After eating and cleaning up, we all got dressed and headed out to the hardware store where we got a bunch of soil, some planter boxes for my square foot garden (peas and tomatoes this year, my starts arrive end of the month) and a pair of kid sized shovels, which greatly thrilled the children.

We cleaned up the back yard of all the toys and stuff that had accumulated and then used the dirt to create a smooth transition from the edge of the patio to the grass. We also filled in various holes and the muddy spots from where the concrete peeps made ruts in the grass. I then put down grass seed all over those areas. I need to go back out and put a bit more soil on top to keep the seeds in place, but my body wore out before I could do it.

The yard and gardens need WORK. Lots of work. In my defense, there really hasn't been much opportunity to do much... the weather has been SO rainy and damp this year and that doesn't encourage the gardening bug. Its mainly weeding and reorganization of some materials (like the edging bricks that were removed for the patio. I know there is no rush. It could even wait till after the baby is born, but once I get the itch to do something its hard for me to ignore. If the weather is nice at all this week, I may just go out there and do it. My body will hate me for it though!

Gwennie is going to be the flower girl in Michelle's June wedding and to match the bride, she needed to have red shoes. After doing a lot of looking, I found these very cute shoes



I hesitated showing them to Gwen because she's a little shoe horse, but I did want to try them on and see how they fit. They are large for her (I got them about 1 size too big on purpose), but she adores them. Just LOVES them. She was all, "Ohhhh.... Mommy... they are so pretty. I love them. Thank you! Thank you!".

She didn't like the idea of me taking them off. In fact she clutched them to her body when I tried.



So I told her after their movie was over they'd have to come off. Then I will hide them!

We had a great time last night with April and Gregg. She has some pictures up of what we ate and a group pic. We had just enough energy to finish watching our movie after we got home, and then zonked out for the night.

We headed out early for our Bradley class and ate at Patty's Eggnest in Monroe. We've been to the Mill Creek one before and thought it was decent. The Monroe one was too, and we were able to get in and out in 30 min, which was really great (we were running short on time because Toby ran away right before we left).

Right after we arrived for our class, my Mom called and left a message saying that Ethan had been sick all night and wasn't doing so well. Our teacher graciously hurried through the class and let us out 45 min early. We immediately went to Mom's and found Gwennie pretty perky and Ethan dead asleep on the couch. He'd been throwing up constantly since last night :( Poor baby. We packed everyone up and came home. Ethan was begging for food and water, so we gave him a few crackers and a wee bit of milk. We thought all was well because he didn't show any signs of sickness for a long time. Then we put him down for nap and he did eventually throw it up. He's such a trooper. Not even freaking out, just matter of fact. He said, "Mom, the crackers and milk wasn't a good idea". After that he took a huge drink of water before I could get his cup away and then zonked out. There's been no word since.

Mom, Dad, Jenni and Shelly, thank you so much for watching the kids and dealing with the grossness. You guys are awesome.

Since this is Jason's birthday, I made a lemon tart for him while the kids napped, and will be making a dinner he's fond of tonight. The kids picked out a gift for him earlier this week so he'll have a present to open as well.

I also finished my other sewing project. A nursing friendly nightgown. Now this item is relatively pointless. I usually just wear one of J's tees to bed. But I wanted to make something and so I did! It was based off Simplicity 3573, but I modified it. I made the sleeveless version without the lace or ruffle. My button-hole foot seems to be broken, so instead I put snap tape in and sewed buttons on top so it still had the look of the original piece. Looking back, I wish I'd used Velcro or something else that opens more quickly (perhaps instead of snap tape, just 2 or 3 snaps). In any case, it came out well. It fits now, even over the tummy, so it'll be big for me afterwards. But that's not a terrible thing, as I like my nightclothes to be loose and comfy. And since I used the uber-cheap fabric from the local craft store, it was good practice if nothing else!



There is just one more pending project to finish then I'll be done... oh wait, make that two. But I have a better idea of how to put them together and they should go fast. I also am modifying them, which I find somewhat exciting. Its fun to really stretch my mind and ability and try to make things look like I want. Its also very frustrating when it doesn't turn out. Wish I had my sewing room back!

Last night we went to P.F. Changs and had a good dinner. It didn't seem like we ate much, but we both felt so stuffed! After coming home we watched half of Casino Royale and then fell asleep.

I didn't really roll out of bed till 8, which is major sleeping in for me. Around 11:30 I left the house and ran some errands in the pouring rain. After getting home I sewed a skirt for a friend of mine (she made me a beautiful baby sling in exchange for the skirt) and I can't believe how fast I whipped that thing out. Generally any project takes me two days at minimum. Perhaps having the kids out of the house and feeling like I could really concentrate explains how I did the skirt in like 2 1/2 hours :)

Tonight we're joining April and her husband Gregg for dinner, which will be really fun! Maybe we'll be able to finish up our movie tonight too.

Tomorrow is our Bradley class, then we'll get our windshield filled (I didn't mention it yesterday, but a stupid rock hit my windshield and left a big chip. Breaking windshields seems to be a thing for me) and then go pick up the kids from my Mom's. Tomorrow is also Jason's birthday and the kids picked him out a present and I'll be making a lemon tart and nice dinner for him.

Thanks for all the name suggestions! We still haven't found a Rose name that really hits us as "the one", so perhaps we'll just let the kids call the baby whatever they want and eventually they'll come around to our names :)

Yesterday it was so nice outside, so I took the kids to a great playground at a local school (spring break so it wasn't in use). Ethan met up right away with another little boy and they ran around like crazy the whole time. We had lunch there, and although it was pretty cold, enjoyed the sunshine.

I only got two shots. They were hardly still enough the entire time to get any more.



Grammy, that's the Transformers hat you got him!


Later that night, we headed out to Providence for the hospital tour. I was really surprised by how different it was than Evergreen. For one, its very very spacious. And extremely quiet. I'm sure maybe during the day its nosier, but it just wasn't what I was expecting (but not in a bad way). I was thrilled to find out that every room has wireless internet access. You know you want it... Live Webcam Birth! I bet those last three words will bring a lot of traffic to my blog, hehe. In all seriousness, no. There will be no live webcam birth. Sorry to disappoint.

Today I brought the kids over to my Mom's where she will be babysitting them today through Saturday. Woo hoo, freedom! The funny thing about it is, I don't really know what to do with myself. My house is messy, so I should clean, but then I feel like I shouldn't waste my free time cleaning! However, if I don't clean, then I feel like I'm not being responsible. There are like 1 million and 1 things I want to do, but I can't decide which would be the best use of my time.

After dropping off the kids, I went to my 32 week midwife appointment. Everything was stellar. Really, it was. My blood pressure was 117/70. I'm measuring exactly dead-on 32 weeks. I gained two pounds (total weight gain: 7 lbs), and perhaps best of all, the baby was head down. YAY! I didn't even have a trace of protein in my urine, which I had last time.

Well I suppose I should go and clean a LITTLE bit, at least until I can figure out a better way to enjoy my time.

Does anyone have name ideas that include the name Rose?

The kids flatly refuse to refer to the baby as anything but Rosie. If I say, "Say hi to baby Scarlett (or Elsa or whatever)" they say, "Hi baby Rosie!". If we ask them what name they like best, its always Rosie.

We don't really like Rosie as a name, but perhaps a nickname. So we need some suggestions!

Something has been going on with my body the last couple of days. I'm not sure what, but I haven't felt right. There isn't one thing I can pin down. The baby is moving fine (in fact moving like CRAZY) and I don't have a headache or any other sign of obvious malaise. My brain is mushy (Kristi-speak for cloudy and hard to concentrate) and there have been a few bouts of dizziness, but other than that, nothing. I just feel wrong in some way.

Today we went grocery shopping after gymnastics and I took my blood pressure. It was 140/80 which isn't bad, but isn't great compared to majority of readings I get at the doctors (115/70 or so).

Bleh. I'm going to go lay down. Perhaps there has been a hormonal flux or something that is throwing me off.