Thankful:

There are three things that I'm thankful for today.  I know there are lots more I SHOULD be more thankful for, and many more things that are on my mind on different days, but this is what I've been mulling over today:

1.  I'm thankful for what a healthy winter we had!  The past two days have truly felt like spring, so I feel like I'm not jinxing our entire state to call it spring now.  It's been wonderful, and we've been outside, and the windows have been open:  bliss.  Anyway, considering how much we were cooped up inside this winter, WOW am I thankful for how healthy we all were.  We had 2 very mild bouts of croup, only one which required a hospital visit (New Years Eve, for Cora), and none of it spread among the siblings.  We barely had any cold or coughs even!  No flu, no puke nonsense (other than the plague Finn contracted for 24 hours when we were all in VA...haha).  As a pregnant woman, who generally hates being pregnant, the only thing WORSE than normal pregnancy woes is being pregnant AND sick, and you can't take anything for it.  I think it was an act of mercy for me, this healthy winter.  So I'm thankful. 

2.  This may be the lamest thing to ever be thankful for, but I'm very thankful that my belly button made it ONE MORE PREGNANCY without becoming an "outie."  Guys, I think outies are the grossest thing ever.  I know I shouldn't think anything about how the body changes in pregnancy is gross, but come on...let's be real.  Some things are just gross!  My main issue with it is aesthetics:  I hate panty lines for this same reason, and I hate bra straps showing or bras creating back fat bulges for the same reason as well.  You want your eyes to travel over a smooth, clean surface.  Anything that breaks up that surface and draws your eyes to one particular place is a failure, in my weird mind.  :) Yes, I know, I'm totally owning that this is crazy.  But I'm actually thankful I've made it an entire 6th pregnancy without having to be annoyed at looking at my own belly daily!!  Haha.

3.  I HAD three things I was thinking about.  But in the time it took me to type the first two, I've forgotten the third one.  Maybe it was that I just took my last shot for a few days, until I start up again post labor?  Nah.  It was something else.  I'll update when I can remember.

For now, here's a picture I JUST took with Layla:  she came into my room crying, remembering when I was taken to the hospital by ambulance for the blood clot, and dealing with a lot of fear for me going back there again.  We talked about it a lot, and in the end I at least got her laughing about all the things she's looking forward to doing with her new baby brother.  Sweet, SENSITIVE little girl.  *sniff*

Okay, off to bed for me so I can get good enough sleep to finish my to-do list in time for D-Day tomorrow!

This past week:

Phew.  We're so close, folks.  As I type this I've just taken my last shot for the night, so that means I only have THREE shots left to take before baby comes:  3 on Sunday.  My last shot will be Sunday night, then we'll go in Monday for the induction.  I have many more *feelings* around the whole induction and labor process than I have in the past, and I think it's a combo platter of the stress involved in this pregnancy (most notably the blood clot at the beginning) and then the more I learn each time I'm pregnant and go through labor.  On one hand, I'm pretty calm and confident about my ability to 1) let my body do what it knows how to do, 2) be a huge advocate for myself in the hospital and the things I want and value, and 3) muscle through a fair amount of annoyances.  On the other hand, this time just feels *different* to me...and I don't operate well in the world of "feelings"...but I'm just going with it and trying to prepare as best I can for the things my "feelings" are concerned about.  So, this time I have a pan written up for what I want if it comes down to having a non-emergency c-section, or an emergency c-section.  In the past I've just trusted that it likely would not need to happen, and if it did, the Drs. would probably do just fine on their own without me telling them what to do.  This time I've written up some wishes...haha.  I'm sure I'm the FAVE type of patient of all doctors. 

The final 3

 This week has been very...*extra*...for me, because of a bunch of silly things I tried to squeeze in before baby comes, some health issues for the family, and because of all the birthday madness around here.  :) 

Wednesday I finally got my teeth cleaned, like 3 months late, because it had been rescheduled 4 times due to weather and random things happening (like J's car breaking down).  It felt like the universe wanted me to have unclean teeth long after the baby was born, so I was thankful to be able to get that in.  They were kind enough to not tilt me back very far so I could still breathe...something I hadn't anticipated dealing with on my originally scheduled cleaning date, haha.

Thursday was Mr. Finn's birthday!  He turned 7.  That morning he woke up early, which is unusual because that's Cora's claim to fame around here still.  He hopped into bed with me and Jonas and snuggled with us, just the 3 of us for a while.  I gave him a small gift in bed:  a head lamp, originally $20 on Amazon but a lightning deal perfect for Finn at $6.  He loved it, of course...Mr. easy-to-please!

 Here he is on his birthday morning, doing his "I'm 7" pose.  This boy seriously has a future in theatre. 

Thursday morning I also went in for my last OB check, NST, and BPP.  All was fine, of course.  During the ultrasound they left the 4D dopplar on baby's face for a while, and we caught him smiling...for a good 5-6 seconds!  It was such a crazy thing to see in-utero!!  Nothing about that day being the "last" made me emotional, but that kind of did for sure. 

The end of a smile!

I forget who said this, but some friend suggested I enjoy my pregnant belly for the last few days, because she was surprised how much she missed it after she gave birth.  Nah.  Not me.  Haha! :) FIRST of all, my pregnant belly doesn't go away for quite some time, so I'll have plenty of time to still "enjoy it" even while baby is outside of it!!  Second, there is almost nothing...NOTHING...that I ever miss about being pregnant.  I'm just not that girl.  I'm thankful for pregnancy, and for the beautiful children it has brought me, but man is it murder on my body.  No thanks.  I'm happy to be done soon. 

38.5 weeks.  SO bad at taking any sort of body pictures this time around.  Hair back because I had a hair appt scheduled for Saturday, so why try to do your hair in the meantime, right??  Right.  

 You know what the one thing is that I may miss about pregnancy?  The clothes.  Not that the clothes are super cute or anything, but many I love having my wardrobe seriously limited.  What's that ? I only have 7 outfits to wear?  Well, good enough!  Rotate them through 7 days of the week and call it GOOD.  Boy I love not thinking about it.  PLUS, pregnancy pants have not buttons or tight waists.  Guys, that's kind of heaven.  Real jeans suck compared to pregnancy jeans.  So, I think I'm destined to be a capsule wardrobe kind of girl...too much clothing in my dresser or closet just drives me nuts.  Here's to the one thing I rather enjoyed about pregnancy:  limited clothing choices!  Ha!

 Thursday night we had a very simple, very quick dinner together as a family, and Finn opened a gift from Cora and Layla after eating a few cupcakes. 

Then we rushed off to Cora's preschool for "Ice Cream Social" night.  Now, believe me, there was absolutely nothing in me that wanted to go to this thing.  But Cora had been practicing to serve our family all week, and had been learning all about cows and farms and ice cream I guess, so it was a big deal to her.  I barely muscled up enough *caring* to go, but go we did, and she was pretty happy with the whole thing.  She had a little apron and a hat, and a menu she had made for us with topping choices, and then she served us all ice cream. 

Here she is, so excited to give Layla her bowl. 

I'm pretty sure we were the first family to leave.  We maybe stayed 15 minutes...haha.  Good enough.  39 weeks pregnant.  That's about as much as I can take of that. 

Saturday evening we had Finn's first "friend" birthday party.  But the thing is, Finn doesn't actually have a ton of close friends at all, so it was pretty simple and small still.  It was VERY simple, ala 39 weeks, but even so it still managed to stress me out mentally.  I just don't like kid birthday parties, folks.  The only one that was not stressful for me was Layla's party last year, where all we did was go to our friend's house and the kids went swimming.  The end.  I didn't have to "entertain" them at all.  I just had food ready, and that was it!  Perfect.  Thankfully, Layla wants to do that again this year, and Cora is too young for a friend party, so I'm in the clear until next year.  Phew.

Here is what we did for Finn's birthday:  Pizza (NOT home-made of course), a few cakes and cupcakes that were just dyed blue with no decorations on them (home-made, because it was cheaper and easier than going to a store to buy something), and then a scavenger hunt/treasure hunt put on by Jonas...so the only thing I had to do for that was regularly remind Jonas to PLAN it for the last month.  :) Basically the easiest birthday party in the world, right?  Right.  But I still managed to stress about it a bit.  Sigh. 

Then came the "managing Finn's expectations" part of things.  Finn is a DREAMER.  A grand dreamer.  And boy did he want things we just couldn't deliver:  like every room in our house decorated in a different theme, like jungle, space, science, etc.  What did we manage?  Thanks to Jonas, a black ceiling and Finn made 4 planets to hang from it.  If Mama had been the only one in charge?  Nothing.  So, we spent a good party of the day helping Finn work through some tears over how we were crushing his dreams.  Not stressful for me at ALL! ;)

But, the party actually went really well, and Finn had a GREAT time.  At the end of the day, what more could I ask for?  It was from 5:00-7:00 p.m., and by 7:30 it was all cleaned up and put away.  WINNING. 

Pizza boxes on table.  Paper plates with no cool themes.  #39 weeks.  

 Then came the best part of the night.  Jonas basically single-handedly made this the coolest birthday party ever.  He had the kids hanging on his every word, hook-line-and-sinker engrossed.  Jonas "found" these old plans and writings that a Russian spy had left at our house...evidently he was the previous owner.  The kids went running all over the house finding clues, then figuring them out on our dining room table. 

Here Layla is hugging a friend because she's so excited they figured something out.  

 In the end, a treasure box was found in our garage, full of real money AND chocolate coins...enough for everyone to take home far more than any parents wants to deal with.  :)

Going over the loot.

After having been cleaned out a bit by hungry kids...

Then it was cake time, and 3 presents, and then they ran off to play with their blue (Finn's fave color) glow sticks. 

A water gun for when the pool gets set up next month!

Star Wars legos from Tomas.  Perfect.  

This morning, Saturday, I went to get my hair cut at 10:00.  I barely woke up in time for it as I had been up in the middle of the night from 3:30-5:30, so when my alarm when off at 7:00 for my first shot I got up, took it, then tried to go back to sleep.  Success!  I woke up at 9:15, having not slept that late in ages.  So, I'm thankful for extra sleep at this late in the pregnancy game, and I'm so thankful I was able to fit in a haircut before baby came.  Because I am 100% certain I would not have fit that in again until next fall...haha.  Oh, how delightful to have the weight of my hair gone at every haircut.  Love it.  

Before I left I got a few pictures of Finn at his breakfast table perch, putting together his lego set from yesterday.  He's almost never happier than when he's doing this sort of thing.  

Tomorrow we have a birthday party for Cora, Finn, and Uncle Jon...rescheduled from LAST Sunday when the 20 inches of snow prevented us from traveling safely.  *eye roll at MN weather*   Tomorrow should be in the 60's, though, so we have no worries about a further delay!  

Then on Monday I guess we'll pack a hospital bag, finish up some cleaning and organizing because that's what makes us happy (well, us grown-ups at least...haha), and head off to have a baby.  So odd to know exactly when this happens, right?  

The end is near!  

A random photo mix:

My blogging is clearly slowing down the more pregnant I get, it seems.  And all of my pictures are taken from wherever I was sitting at that moment, without bothering to get up and frame the photo or fix the lighting...haha.  Sigh.  Ah, well.  Stages of life, right?

A while back we read the book "A box can be many things."  Then all 3 kids went down in the basement and scrounged up all the boxes we had emptied in some purging, before the recycling came, and had loads of fun coloring boxes for hours.  It was fantastic.

Tuesday of this past week I started the final phase (well, sort of...I will for sure still be taking shots for 6 weeks post partum, and I may end up taking shots for years because of breastfeeding issues with other blood clotting medications.  We'll have to see what the vascular Dr. says at 7 weeks post partum) of my shot routine.  I now take 3 shots a day, 8 hours apart, and I have to load them myself.  It's a bit more work for sure, but I don't mind so much...the needle is smaller, so it hurts less...and that's a win any day of the week.  Switching to this blood thinner also makes it more likely that I can have an epidural when I want one when in labor, so I'm all about THAT for sure.

Ah, the stage of Legos.  It's awesome.  We were going to have a birthday party with my family for Finn and Cora (and Uncle Jon) tonight, but it's been delayed a week due to the BLIZZARD happening outside my window right now, and for the last 36 hours.  It'd scheduled to go strong until tomorrow morning.  *MASSIVE eye roll at MN*   Anyway, Legos are awesome.  And it's ALL Finn and Cora are getting for presents from my family.  :)  I had no idea what to get Cora for her birthday...she never needs anything as the 2nd girl in a family, but then Renee reminded me that likely what she would want most is something LAYLA has that she is not allowed to play with all the time: her special Legos.  So, Cora is getting her own Legos, and the playing field shall be leveled once again!

Friday night ALL THREE KIDS went to my Mom's house for the last official sleepover in the Berube Dayton home.  Dad was in Ohio for a conference, so it was the perfect sleepover time.  Cora got to go for the first time and had a blast, but boy was she an emotional basket case the next night.  Jonas and I couldn't help laughing as she was WEEPING at 6:00 p.m. the next night about dresses she saw in old pictures that she could no longer find to wear (obviously because they are packed away or donated already...too small for her now).  WEEPING.  Off she went to bed!  Many thanks to my Mom for making these sleepovers so special for the kids with tea parties, special snacks, movies, and loads of crafts.

After we dropped off the kids Jonas and I went out for an early diner at the Longfellow Grill, then home to watch a movie ("Safety Not Guaranteed"...a funny indie film from 2012).  Likely our last pre-baby date I'm guessing!  We were both so excited to go to bed EARLY that night, haha.  We're old people, and we love it.

 Saturday morning Jonas went to pick up the kids.  The blizzard was just starting to pick up strength, so we opted out of taking Layla to ballet class, and thankfully her pictures for her performance were rescheduled for later this month.  She would have been SO sad to miss them! What did we do all day Saturday?  Well, mostly we just sat around, doing nothing.  That was awesome.  We also sat around staring out the window in disbelief and making comments about our neighbors strategies to snow management.  We made a fire, and sat around in front of it.  I read out loud a lot to the kids.  That was basically our day.  Forced rest is wonderful.  If you don't know how to rest in life, you are MISSING.OUT.

Church was canceled today, so we mostly did the same thing all day today as well.  Nothing.  We did nothing.  Jonas and I both took a nap while the kids watch a movie this afternoon.  Neither of the adults fed the kids actual breakfast or lunch, so they scrounged for themselves...it's encouraging to know they won't die if we don't make them "real" meals 3X a day...haha.  Jonas just called the kids downstairs because it seems like the perfect day to watch some Star Wars together.  Now I'm sitting in bed, updating the blog and getting reading to transfer all of my 8 years of JCP photos from the door to a photo memory book.  I've only had this on my list of things to do for 7 months, it seems, but nothing like an impending birth to make you think you HAVE to accomplish things NOW, right?  :)  Happy Sunday!  If you are in MN, don't be stupid and go outside.  Just accept this spanking from Mother Nature and stay home.  

Help

UPDATE:  We got 19.5 inches of snow in this storm.  FOR THE LOVE.

Winter has decided to kick us in the teeth on the way out...

We're getting 8-15 inches of snow over the next 24 hours.  It started snowing last night around 6:00 p.m. and is still going strong, with up to 45 mph winds.  And this is all projected to continue through Monday morning.

I have stuff to DO, people!  I'm getting my carpets cleaned on Monday!  I need to get a blood draw on Monday!  This next week is my last week of being productive for a very long time!  

Be gone, Satan!  Take your devil winter with you!  (And I better not go into labor this weekend...oh my goodness.  That would be the worst.)

Death and dying, part 2:

So, last night makes 4 nights in a row of high emotions over death.  :)   We need SPRING to distract us already, haha!  This coming Tuesday it's going to start raining, with higher daytime temps, and then it will rain for 7 days straight.  But at least it's not snow, so I'll take it.  April showers and whatnot, right?

So anyway, back to death and dying.  It always comes up now during read-aloud time at night, and at bedtime.  These are some of the things we covered last night:

Finn:
1.  What if our star (the sun) goes supernova??  What then?  How will we have light to see?  Will we even survive?
2.  How much does it hurt to die?
3.  Can you please pray that none of the Schaefers will die unless they are really, really old?
4.  Does Papa still have his sword (he has a random, ornamental sword in the basement)?  I'm worried that it's in the basement.  When the war gets to our house (we never talk about wars!) how will he protect us?
5.  Organ donation.
6.  Briefly touching on some topics from Revelation, like the new heaven and a new earth.  When will the earth become new?  Do we get to live on it?  What happens to all the animals?  Will we all have to DIE before we get a new earth?
7.  Decided that he will open up a dinosaur petting zoo in heaven. (the only moment of levity in the hours of conversation)
8.  Tons about wars.  Is there a war now?  Where are the wars?  Who fights in the wars?  Is it always two bad guys/bad sides who are fighting each other?  Do the good guys always win wars?  Do only adults get killed in wars?  How would we survive in a war?  Would we come back to MN after the war was over? etc. etc.
9.  At 3:00 a.m. Finn is standing next to my bed asking what happens the EXACT moment you die.  Do you immediately go to heaven and get a new brain there, if your brain stops working on earth?  Does this hurt?  How do I know? 
10.  MANY more from Finn.  I lost track.  I should have been writing them down, but that would have made me look even more mean than I did when I lost control at one moment and start laughing about one thing he said.  He was not amused. 

Layla:
1.  She was sad remembering going to my Grandmother's funeral and seeing Claire crying.  She realized Claire was sad because she KNEW Granny, and Layla didn't really know her, so Layla was crying last night because she was sad that she never really go to know Granny.  :(
2.  She mostly just listened to whatever question Finn asked, then was sad and would cry about his new thought or addition. 
3.  Asked to sleep with me last night...didn't feel safe unless she was next to a parent


I mean....GEEZ, guys.  I'm way over my head in this stuff!  My first thought was to head to the library website and get books on anxiety and fear in children (written FOR children, not me...haha).  That's likely not gonna help much I'm guessing, but I'll likely still do it, because...books help almost anything.

My second thought was we need more EXERCISE and OUTDOOR time in our lives right now!  Time to start dropping to sleep totally exhausted from the physical energy they have spent in a day, rather than living quite so much in our headspace.

But as I was thinking about this today I remembered my own childhood:  I totally went through this too, at almost their exact same ages, except I was far less concerned about my own physical safety or the spiritual aspects of things as my kids seem to be.  All I cared about was my parents.  My parents went out for a date every Monday night of my childhood, it seems like, and from the ages of about 7-9 (I think?) I was sure they had died and would never be returning.  Every Monday night.  Every time they went on a date I was pretty sure they'd never be back, and I'd be this anxious mess until they returned.  I'm not sure if I ever talked to them about it, because I was also old enough to know some of the logic of the actual situation:  they were safe drivers, they wanted to come home safe, they had ALWAYS come home safe in the past, they were rarely late, etc, etc.  I knew all that stuff in my head, but it 100% made no difference in my emotional response.  Based on this very anecdotal experience, I'm guessing there is something that happens around this age when it comes to brain development that lets kids ponder much bigger life experiences, grappling with fears in new ways, etc. 

I'm very passionate about research and knowing as much as possible about child development and brain development in kids, but most of my passion and interest focuses on ages Kindergarten and under.  I guess it's time to expand my research base a bit!



Very random, but this made me think back on two good books I've read on the topic of death and dying.  Both are very good, and both I'd highly recommend. 

1.  On Death and Dying, by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. 
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Dying-Doctors-Nurses-Clergy/dp/B0007OXTFW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523127848&sr=8-1&keywords=On+death+and+dying

2.  Being Mortal: Medicine and what matters in the end, by Atul Gawande
https://www.amazon.com/Being-Mortal-Medicine-What-Matters/dp/B00NPAJ32S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523127937&sr=1-1&keywords=Being+Mortal

Hello from #4

Dr. Visit today.  My usual Thursday activity.  All fine.  Still TONS of fluid.  Sigh.

Just hanging out, waiting for little man to move so I can click a button...

I can't even read much these days when I'm doing my NST, because he moves so much that I have now become an expert at re-adjusting the monitor on my own belly to find his heartbeat again.  The nurses were impressed today.  Anytime I can impress a nurse it's a good day for me...haha.  They weren't so impressed with what  *I* thought was my amazing ability to pass my glucose test so fast, and with flying colors...

18 days left.  Not like I'm counting or anything...

Uh...this one causes me a bit of concern...
Those aren't cheeks.  Those are like basset hound jowls!!
And that chin??? Yowza.  You could hurt someone with that thing! :) . I'm hoping there is some shadow there...
because, dang...

EMOTIONS and DEATH

Phew.  We've had some high emotions around here lately...mostly from the kids.  :)

Last night there were SO many tears while I was reading out loud to the older two kids.  Why, you ask?  Well, STUPIDLY, a few days before I had started reading a new book to the older two called "Treasures of the Snow" by Patricia St. John.  It came highly recommended to me, so I didn't do much proofreading at all ahead of time...just leapt right in.  It was written over 50 years ago, right?  What's the worst that could happen?  Sigh.  Live and learn, folks.  The worst that can happen is that in the FIRST CHAPTER a mother dies in childbirth while giving birth to a baby boy.  This, of course, did not go unnoticed by my sensitive-hearted children.  Both kids were in tears over this, so we stopped there for the night and talked through that.

And boy did we have to talk.through.that.  Will I die in childbirth?  How close to we live to a doctor? How do I KNOW I won't die in childbirth?  Will the baby die?  How can we be sure the baby is safe? etc, etc, etc. 

One thing I try very hard to do in my parenting is to never lie to the kids.  Sometimes I don't actively tell them the truth, but if they ask a direct question I never lie.  So, if we're going to the doctor, and they ask if they are going to get a shot...if I know the answer is yes, I say yes.  I'd rather they cry and trust that I will tell them the truth, always, then feel tricked and betrayed by me later because I wanted to save myself a few moments of emotions in the meantime.  So, no lies to the kids.  This also means no lying about Santa, the Easter bunny, etc.  I skirted the line of truth on the tooth fairy a bit, but in the end when they asked me the honest truth I fessed up...haha.  :)

Now, childbirth is the most dangers time in any woman's life, barring random wars and natural disasters.  So, this is something I think through myself as the time gets closer each time.  I know lots of stuff, lots of facts.  And then add to it my high risk status and blood clot complications this time around.  Sigh.  NOW have that talk in full honesty with your kids! :(  Gah.  I tried.  Who knows how well I did, but I tried.

On to last night...

As I was reading out loud Finn starts crying again.  When asked why, he's thinking about death still.  Layla gets her cues from Finn and gets all sad about death too.  Just death, in general.  Finn wants my assurance that he WILL NOT DIE until he is an old person.  I mean...what do you SAY to that???  Jonas wants to just say yes, absolutely...but I can't go there.  I can't promise that.  I can say a lot of other comforting things related to this topic, but I can't promise them their age of death.  And then I get sad thinking about my kids thinking about death so much... *sniff*

Lesson learned?  ALWAYS PREVIEW THE BOOK!

Gah.

Mercy, friends.  I have hit a pregnancy WALL.

The day after Easter I felt like a truck had run over me, and I was in bed until almost 10:30 a.m., laying low the entire day.  We did "school lite" this day, only reading and math and 1 other subject.

Yesterday it snowed a ton, and I'm very over all of that nonsense, despite it being expected.  I was again not feeling any energy at all, and my ribs hurt in every position possible except for 1, so I canceled going to 2 fun events that the kids love and again stayed home.

Today?  Same.  I. just. can't.  seem to do life anymore.  I'm done.  Over it.  I feed the kids breakfast and lunch, and then dinner seems like an obnoxious annoyance designed to just brutalize pregnant mothers.  We did school like normal in the morning today, but I didn't bring Cora to preschool (today OR on Monday).  Why not?  Because...snow.  And driving.  And being on time.  Blah.  Just don't want to.  Plus, it's preschool, right?  Not exactly crucial learning there.  Totally skip-worthy.  So I'm skipping if I feel like it.  I'm such a REBEL you guys.  Such a rebel.  ;)

I'm just tired.  Zero energy. 
Bending down is a strict no-no these days.
My brain feels fuzzy.
My right ribs burn and hurt ALL THE TIME because this baby is so large, and likes his feet there.
I can tell I'm carrying more fluid, just with how huge and tight I feel all the time.  (They've mentioned this for the last 4 ultrasounds, but what am I gonna do?  Tell me how to drain off some fluid, man, and I'm happy to do that.  They asked if I'm drinking tons of water. Nope.  I drink far less water when I'm pregnant than when I'm NOT pregnant, because of the stupid peeing thing.  They said that maybe if I ate less sugar or carbs it would help the baby not pee so much, and reduce the fluid.  Well, okay.  Fine.  But I'm not pounding sugar or carbs right now anyway, so I'm kind of doubtful this is going to work.  Sounds like crack science to me, especially anything that wants to limit my carbs and sugar RIGHT BEFORE EASTER. ;) Haha.)
I have contractions all the time.  It's annoying.  And painful. 

Thank you for letting me complain.  I feel better.  Sort of.  19 days, people.  19 more days.

A friend asked me the other day if I was "nesting." I realized I have absolutely no idea what this means, or what other people think it means.  I think this is something the ENFPs of the world do, not so much my personality. 

Am I loading up on tons of gear for the baby and getting everything set up right now?  Good grief, no.  Haha.  I added diapers and wipes to my Amazon subscribe and save list.  DONE.  But am I SO glad we got the whole basement and toy room cleaned out before Easter?  YES.  I am.  That was awesome.  That makes me feel great.  Is that nesting?  It had nothing to do with the baby, but boy was it great. 

Speaking of Easter...a quick Lent 2018 recap:
1.  40 bags in 40 days.  I did not make my quota this year, sadly.  Rather than doing at least 1 bag a day, as I did last year, I went in spurts when I had help or energy.  Sadly, the spurts of energy were few and far between...haha.  So, we only got to about 30 bags this year.  It was also evident to me that we simply had less stuff to get ride of, having done this last year.  I'm looking forward to Lent next year, though, and the following year, when I can get rid of so much baby boy clothes, and also baby items (like Bumbos, boppys, play mats, pack n play, etc.).  That'll be GREAT.  So, 30 bags...it's okay, I guess, for a #pregnantyear
2.  Social media and movies fast on the weekends.  The kids and I did this all of Lent, but Jonas only made it half way through before he decided that movie fasts were not for him...haha.  But it went very well for the kids and I, and I plan to do something like this regularly/again soon.

Easter 2018:

It was lovely to spend Easter with family and friends.  :)

This year at church the kids sang a song they had been practicing regularly in Sunday School.  Cora is not old enough to be in Sunday School yet (K and up, so she is still in nursery), but the coordinator of Sunday School knows Cora and knows her goal in life is to DO ALL THE THINGS THE BIG KIDS DO, so she offered Cora the opportunity to practice once with the older kids and then perform with them on Sunday morning.  Yes, Ma'am, she was for sure going to take that opportunity!  She likely had more fun than anyone up there.  Clapping on the beat is not her specialty yet, but she was pretty darn good with the lyrics and other moves!

Finn wanted me to take a picture of something he drew during the service...it may be Jesus rising from the dead, but he's got a hat on, so it could also just be Finn.  :)

On Easter morning I gave all 3 kids HUGE sticker books from Costco.  I treasure the memories of all the fun Easter baskets my Mom put together for us, for so many years, but man...this year was NOT my year to be Pinterest Mom.  Frankly, not sure if we'll ever get there.  But at least I remembered that Easter was coming, decorated the dining room with the older kids a bit, AND got them something from Costco.  50%...not too shabby for a pregnant year, haha.

The kids loved their sticker books and spent hours that morning, and that afternoon, spreading the sheets ALL OVER the living room, and happily playing QUIETLY.  Mama won that one for sure.

We didn't end up taking professional Easter photos this year, so no matching/coordinated outfits.  Instead, we went down to the basement and they all had great fun discovering NEW CLOTHES in the bins down there.  Niiiiice.  :)

There were sticker sheets ALL OVER the living room.

We headed over to my Aunt's house around 2:30 for an Egg hunt in their basement at 3:00 (because there is tons of snow on the ground here.  Thanks, MN.), and then dinner together at 4:00.  Jonas asks at every holiday "Is this a potato holiday, or no??"  What he means by that is "Will Aunt Peggy's gruyere potatoes be served at this holiday?" Because those are his FAVORITE holidays by far.  And, lucky for us, Easter and Christmas are "potato holidays."  Haha.  Jonas was the only one who got to take the potatoes home as leftovers, because his love for them runs so deep.

I got a few blurry shots of the egg hunt, but let's be honest...these are just place holders until I copy from FB Renee's photos she took.

Photos from Renee:

No one has more joy in the egg hunt than Cora.

All 3 kids love to play with Eamon.  Layla can't WAIT to have a "baby of her own" to cuddle.

Eggs everywhere...because snow and mud was everywhere outside...

opening all the eggs to see the loot

Finn certainly lasts the longest when playing with Eamon.
"Hey, buddy!" is what he's always saying to get Eamon's attention...

This CHILD.

Dan and Lauren brought fancy drinks made with champagne.  I had a little, because...well, fancy drinks are my downfall!
AND, the baby is fully developed now...it's just adding on fat.  No biggie.  ;)

The one true love for Jonas.