Mischa's in bed early tonight :)
I get to shower alone. Yay for shaved legs (if I can reach around my belly), and feeling somewhat normal and feminine again!!

I hope she wakes up nicer tomorrow. This morning was pretty horrible, and she didn't improve until after lunch. I'm not just talking about cranky. She was back talking, mimicking, screaming, crying, hitting, kicking, pinching, throwing herself on the floor to do some of the afore mentioned outbursts, and I'm pretty sure she thought about biting. Oh, and this is because Dusty got her Captain Crunch (which she asked for!), but when she saw I had Cheerios, she wanted Cheerios, and wasn't going to be pleased until her cereal was swapped out. I'm sure there were a few other triggers as well, since this lasted from about 9 am until noon-ish. But that was the first big one. Drove. Me. Nuts.

I've realized today that it shouldn't be too difficult to throw myself into labor with this one. Dusty and I have already talked about once it starts cooling off and I'm in my 30ish weeks, we'll start taking walks. Just short ones at first to build up my tolerance, then gradually make them longer so that when we're around 38-40 weeks, if it's not too cold, we can go for decent walks and maybe get some labor progressing. Well, this afternoon, the three of us went for a very short walk, around two blocks, and back. We weren't to the first road before I started having some pains in my lower right side, and I could definitely feel my legs and arms working from pushing the stroller. Then we were about halfway through our walk and the pain in my side spread across the whole lower part of my belly and I was cramping for the next quarter of our block. Then it all stopped as suddenly as it came on. I'm glad it stopped, but it also kind of worries me for how quickly my labor will come on when it's time. I had to be induced with Mischa, but once the cervadil did its thing, I was right into labor and didn't need the pitocin. And it was about 12 hours from the time they put the cervadil in to the time she was born! So I'm pretty sure this labor will be quick as well, I just hope it's not too fast. Dusty is worried he'll be at work when I go into labor. Why am I even going on so long about this?! I'm only 28 weeks!!

Ugh, I'm going to go shower and just enjoy some hot water. Then maybe get Emery's blanket progressing again. I swear I'm never using this stitch again. It's the puff stitch, and it's pretty and soft, but it's a pain in the butt and takes a LOT of yarn! I'm sure it doesn't help I modified the pattern a little from what the video shows, but it'll be worth it. I'll post pictures if I ever finish it.

Ok seriously, on to a fabulous shower, then some crocheting in front of the TV!

I just remembered, she's also breech and sitting Indian-style on her feet. I hope she flips soon! And her heart rate is between 137 (resting) and 148 (totally awake).

28 Weeks

Yesterday was my 28 week appointment, and it went great :). (And yes, we did find an easy alternate route to Mom's house, and made it to my appointment early)

We got there, checked in, went downstairs to drink the lovely orange drink, went back upstairs and paid Tracy for the ultrasound, did our ultrasound (pictures will follow, hold on), went back downstairs and had my blood drawn (I should have the results by tomorrow), went back upstairs for my appointment and waited for an hour for them to call me back. I'm pretty sure they called my name while I was getting my blood drawn though, then just forgot to check to see if I was back. Anyway, everything in my appointment was fine. I've gained a total of 6lbs so far, which my doctor is just glad to see me gaining. I've graduated to biweekly appointments now. I go back on the 17th.

And here are the 3D pictures :)

She was sucking on her fingers a lot, and we even saw her sticking her pinky up her nose. Lovely huh?
She's measuring about 4 days small, and she only weighs about 2lbs 4oz, so I've got another small baby :).

After my appointment, I went to get lunch, or I would have gotten sick, then off to get Mischa. I took her over to a friend's house, because she was throwing a kiddie pool party. It was nice to have some mommy talk and just let the kids run around and go crazy. There were a few pools and a sandbox, and the kids had a blast!

Well, Mischa is being her moody, pushy, clingy self, so I'll just leave you with a picture from Sunday that reminds me that she can be sweet sometimes...

Here's my verbal spew for tonight. No particular order, rhyme, or reason..

I gave up my dresser for Emery. The girl isn't even born yet, and I'm making more sacrifices than I remember. But I love her, so it's easy. What's not so easy is living out of boxes again. All my clothes are either in diaper boxes, or hanging, and it's really starting to get to me. I've had things offered to me (I had a vanity I was using for a while, and Mom offered me a dresser), but I just don't have the room for anything but a chest of drawers. It's got to fit in my closet, or it's not going to fit in our room. This is what I'm hoping to get:

It's just a cheap dresser from Walmart, but it's something! But for now, it's boxes on the closet floor... Sigh....


I have to stay up late every night catching up house work because I can only get so much done with  Mischa running around. Last night I was up almost until midnight folding and putting away 4 loads of laundry. Dusty was supposed to help me with this (I asked him before Mischa went to bed), but even though he saw me toting laundry baskets across the house, he stayed planted on his butt in front of the TV and only helped when he came in the bedroom to actually go to bed and there were piles of laundry covering the bed. And I'm getting behind on dishes again... This house will never be ready at this rate. Especially with him being gone so many weekends in September and October.... Another sigh...

Tomorrow morning is my glucose test, 3D/4D ultrasound, and 28 week appointment. Mom was supposed to come pick Mischa up at 7:30, because I have to leave at 8, but Dad's Jeep won't start so he's taking Mom's car to work. So I have to find a way through construction in the opposite direction to drop Mischa off at their house, then make it to the north side of Terre Haute by 9. I might be able to do it. Then, Dusty has to try to nap in the afternoon because he then has a 12 hour shift tomorrow night. Poor guy. But Mischa has a kiddie pool party tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully that will provide him with an opportunity to nap, and maybe that will count as my "break".

I totally forgot about Dusty helping out with Kairos, a prison ministry, until he reminded me tonight (of all nights! Seriously, he couldn't have waited until tomorrow?). He's going to be gone all day every other Saturday starting September 11th, then there's some overnighter at some point, all for training. Then he'll be gone for 4 days, 3 nights, towards the end of October for the actual Kairos weekend. And I'll be almost 36 weeks and miserable. Alone. Taking care of our 2 1/2 year old. Alone. Can you feel my stress??

Babies R Us is having a huge trade-in deal until September 17th I think, where you can trade in your old baby gear (car seat, high chair, stroller, play pen, etc.) and get 25% off of anything, as long as they are from the list of accepted brands. So we can trade in our moldy stroller and old car seat for new ones (which will never be stored in the garage!), and hopefully a high chair. We never had one with Mischa, so it would be nice to have one this time around. This is what we're shooting for:

We at least need the stroller and car seat, so we're going to put our 25% off towards those. 

Well, Dusty is out trying to find a path through the construction to make the morning easier. I need to get to bed since the alarm is set to go off at 6:15. I think I might die tomorrow. Just from sheer exhaustion.

I kicked butt. I cleaned the kitchen, living room, Mischa's room, bathroom, did some laundry, and even got Emery's bag started. I'm awesome.

Last night didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, but you can just revisit the picture I posted at the end of my last post and know why.

Mischa didn't even want to go. Seriously?! My parents are pretty much her favorite people in the world, and she didn't want to go over there. I asked her if she was ready to go, and she says "Not really." What two-year-old says "Not really"?! She was busy riding her bike and couldn't be bothered. So we took the bike. Then on the way there, she tells me that she doesn't want to sleep there (which was the plan!). So I told her we would talk about it when we got there and see how she felt. "Ok Mommy." After we were there a while, I informed Mom of what was said, so we asked Mischa if she wanted to sleep there or at home. She said she wanted to stay with Dza dza (my dad, and for future reference, "Bousha" is my mom). So I thought we were set. Until I told her that I needed to leave soon and she told me she didn't want to go with me. Which means, it's still been on her mind. Which explained why, when I told her I needed hugs and kisses bye-bye, she then threw herself to the floor and said she wanted to go with me. So we enticed her to stay a few hours, eat chocolate Cheerios and watch Finding Nemo, then when Dusty and I were done eating they would bring her home. I checked up on her while we were eating, and I guess anytime she heard a noise outside or at the front door, she would ask if her mommy was back. Well, I'm not really sure what happened, as she isn't home yet so I haven't had a chance to ask my parents, but I got a text later on saying Nevermind, she's staying, we'll talk to you tomorrow. So, they still have my child. And, of course, I was still up at 9:30. Not a whole lot of sleeping in, but it's been nice to just sit here and sip my coffee. And I didn't have to share my Cheerios this morning :)

I'm hoping to leisurely finish my coffee, which may not happen since I don't have Mischa to interrupt said coffee break, do dishes, and get at least the living room picked up before she gets home. I may need to ban all food from the living room because of this chick. She likes to travel too much!

Well, I'll leave you with the most recent belly shot, taken Monday at 27 weeks, featuring Mischa in her new Colts jersey. Which she refused to take off for two days. What a kid. I love her :)

Does the exhaustion never end??!! Ugghhhh.....

Anyway, I did my cousin Samantha's senior pictures Wednesday. It was a lot of traveling (eight locations) and lots of work, but very worth the outcome. It was fun too, I'm not going to lie.

And here is how the past week has been for me:

Over EVERYTHING. I'm not kidding. The pictured meltdown was because she ate all the top crust off of the Hawaiian bread the day before, and the bottom crust wasn't good enough. And it's really been that wonderful. My parents are taking her overnight tonight, and I am looking forward to it, but I wish she wasn't like this all day. She's in a good mood for the moment, but who knows what that will drastically change. Her fits have gotten dangerous lately. She doesn't seem to care how many spankings she gets, she keeps kicking (which is where it gets dangerous, she's been kicking my stomach accidentally). I know she needs more sleep, but she won't nap, and when she does, she wakes up more mean than she was before the nap! I can't win!

And she's started copying. Oh. My. Lord. 

She will copy everything Dusty or I say, even when we start counting, until we get to "3", then she immediately covers her booty and whines that she doesn't want a spanking. She is such a two year old.

Supposedly, Dusty and I are having a date night tonight, but now I'm not so sure. I'm already exhausted from dealing with Mischa's tantrums all day (she had a few meltdowns in Dairy Queen. Lovely.), and he isn't able to leave work early like he was hoping. So that puts us having dinner after 8pm. I'm not sure I can do that.

I'm too tired to think anymore right now. I think I'll go snuggle the couch... If Mischa's feeling nice enough, maybe she'll join me.