We Have a Crib Skirt!

I am so excited - we found a crib skirt yesterday for $8!!! It's a denim blue and I found it at a baby store here in Houston. The down side is that we had to brave the store when it had no air conditioning, so it was dark and hot but it was completely worth it. I am beside myself - I found all the baby's bedding for a total of $20! I love, love, love me a good deal.

Then we went to Babies R Us to look at carseats, where the girls proceeded to be just about as naughty as they could be - so I finally got frustrated and we left.

As I write, Leah is upstairs in her room (supposed to be napping), yelling "Sissy! Daddy! Sissy! Daddy! I'm awake - come get me! Anna Cware!" Sigh. I don't think I'm going to get a break today. Fortunately, Gary took Anna Claire out for a bike ride so she could burn off some energy.

My Newest Love - The Steam Mop

I have a new toy. A steam mop. I'm in love with it.

I hate the feeling on my floors after I've mopped them with a traditional mop - they tend to be sticky, no matter how much I dilute the cleaning solution in the hot water. And I just wasn't able to ever really get our tile floor clean...it has a lot of little grooves. And because I hated to mop (because I usually had to do it after the kids went to bed), I just never did it.

Until I bought my Shark Steam Pocket Mop. With the extra fun attachments. And I got it with a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond. But wait! It gets better. It's purple...a fun color. And you don't need any cleaning solution. Just water. And the floor is dry almost immediately, so I can mop while the kids are awake. And it comes with washable steam pads that you can throw in the washer. It's super-fun, I'm telling you!

Stream of Consciousness

We finally have a name for our baby boy! We're not sharing it until he's born, but Gary and I have finally agreed on a name that we both really like. Trust me, this was no small feat. We had several names on our list but I just wasn't passionate about any of them. And neither was he. But now we have a great name that we both love and now I can't wait to meet him!

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When we were getting ready to move here, I looked on the internet and found some cool wooden letters to hang on the wall that spelled the girls' names. I was so excited to have found painted wooden letters that cost less than $15-25 per letter - not such a big deal with Leah, but a huge expense if you're trying to spell Anna Claire's name! Now I can't find the website again and I wanted to find some cool letters to spell our baby's name as we're getting the nursery ready. I'm hoping I can find the website again...

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Amazingly, Gary was able to get Leah to eat chicken stir fry for dinner tonight. He understands her better than anyone, and even got her to eat a couple of bites of broccoli! I couldn't believe it. She practically breaks out in hives when something green is on her fork.

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I am really enjoying having Gary home this summer. We are having a great time together as a family. It's fun sleeping in, making breakfast together, playing with the kids, going to the pool and the $1 movies, and even running errands. It's especially fun to have this time with the 4 of us because the end of the summer brings a new little person. We're making some great memories together.

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I got the cutest baby bedding at a local consignment shop - it's very "baby boy" which is fun. However, it didn't come with a crib skirt. I was thinking, "No problem - I can easily find a cheap crib skirt." Especially because the linens have a bunch of different colors in them. I was obviously wrong - I found a cute one, but it's $59!!! For a crib skirt? I just can't justify that. Not when I only spent $12 on the rest of the bedding/curtains. I love to decorate, but I don't like to pay full price for anything. So I'm still looking...

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I still haven't found a hair stylist I like. I tried to make an appointment today with someone who had been recommended to me, and she can't take me for a haircut until July 23rd! Seriously? A month from now? Does she know that a hair crisis cannot wait a month? I've been growing out my bangs for almost a year and now that they're grown out (along with the rest of my hair), it just kind of hangs there. Could have something also to do with the 100+ degree heat but still...it's lacking a real style. Must get that fixed.

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We're moving the girls in together to make room for the baby. I'm so excited that I was able to find reasonably-priced matching linens at Target - and they match the paint job in the bedroom! The lady who lived in the house before us had more creativity in her little pinky than I have in my whole body...the room is so cute. So here's what the new linens look like...it's called "Happy Flower" and has blue, lavender, pink, yellow, green, and white. The sheets are adorable too. Anyway, it will give us lots of accessorizing options.

We were going to buy bunk beds for the girls, but knowing Leah's love for climbing and jumping, I just didn't think I could handle a newborn and several trips to the ER for a broken arm because she'd jumped off the top bunk. So, for now, we're going to do 2 twin beds side by side. I can't wait to put their room together!

Can you tell the nesting instinct is strong right now? I'll tell you tomorrow about my new plans for the master bedroom...

The Vacation That Almost Was...But Wasn't

We departed on Sunday morning for the Frio River with some friends. We were going to rent a cabin for several days, tube on the river, explore a nearby state park, and enjoy each other's company. Seemed like a great idea.

We had a great drive there and unloaded the cars, then went to dinner to celebrate Father's Day. The kids were remarkably well-behaved all day considering they'd been cooped up in the car for so long.

We put the kids to bed, then finally turned out the light at around 10:30 pm. I woke up at 2 am, having Braxton Hicks contractions. I knew it wasn't real labor, but eventually they were coming non-stop. At 4 am, I woke Gary up because I was still having them. By this point, I was really stressed because we were staying in a place that had no landline phone, neither of us had cell phone coverage, and the nearest hospital was in a small town (i.e. no NICU) 30 miles away. Not a good combination. By 6 am, they were still going strong but I was able to finally go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

When we woke up around 8 am, Gary made the decision that it was time to pack up and go home. I felt so badly - but I agreed with him. I was nervous that the contractions wouldn't stop and that I'd end up having the baby way too early. So we left - after being there only 17 hours.

Since we've been home, I've been taking it easy, drinking lots of water, and the contractions have become almost non-existent. And my stress level is much lower knowing that we're back in a place that has phone service and a hospital nearby in case we need it.

I think the Frio River would have been a lot of fun if we'd (a) been able to stay, and (b) the water level had been higher. We're in the middle of a huge drought right now and the river level was so low that you couldn't even really swim in it. Apparently there are years that the water level is so high that some of the cabins are flooded - but you don't know that when you book the cabin the previous September, so it's hard to know what will happen.

Nevertheless, we've decided to make the best of it and do some fun things here at home, and we're having a great time.

Odds & Ends

Leah asked last week if I could take the baby out of my tummy so she could "pet him." Then she informed me that she has a baby dolphin in her tummy. After that she told me that it was actually a baby tiger and he goes "ROAR!" :)

I took Anna Claire, Leah and one of Anna Claire's friends blueberry picking on Saturday afternoon. It was really hot but I was desperate to get the kids out of the house so that they'd stop fighting. While we were picking berries, Anna Claire said to her friend, "Can you BELIEVE that it's only the second day of summer and my mom has already THREATENED me?" I had told her that it was going to be a long summer if she didn't straighten up and fly right... I thought it was so funny that at 7 years old, she'd said that to a friend.

We've been doing some fun things lately - Anna Claire has some homeschooling summer activities she does every day and we also try to do something fun each day - renting a $1 movie from Blockbuster, going swimming, going to the library, etc. Today was library day - we met some friends there and went to a "zoo mobile" - the Houston zoo brought some animals out for the kids to see and they did a little talk on animals from Texas. Leah quickly lost interest after she figured out she wasn't going to get to pet a hippo. She is totally into hippos lately. So she and Gary played in the kids area while Anna Claire and I listened to the talk.

I've been taking a nap every afternoon and it's really helping. I don't end up going to bed until midnight or later as a result, but it's making a big difference in my mood and my energy level. I like to think my family appreciates the difference in my mood, too. :)

Gary and I are both going to BodyPump class at the Y now - the only down side is that we're drawing straws to decide who has to put the kids to bed because we're both so sore that neither of us wants to walk up the stairs.

OK, I'm off to bed to read one of my new books from the used book store - I love that place! We traded in several bags of books the other day for a $50 credit and got to pick out some fun new things to read.