More Nesting Neurotics

Last night I had a terrible dream. I dreamt I was showing off my big, baby bump to my sister, Emily, when I noticed there was a small hole in my stomach. I could peek through the hole and see Thing 4 bouncing around and much to my delight, I discovered that he or she had a head full of black hair. I was ecstatic! Then things went bad. Thing 4 decided it was time to make his or her grand entrance, even though I kept screaming: 

No, not yet. You still have another ten weeks to go.

Like the rest of my children, Thing 4 did not listen to my counsel and as a result, was born ten weeks early. All I remember is calling Mr. Level-Headed and telling him the baby was born, but he or she was too small to live. I was crushed. I spent the remainder of the evening dreaming that I was visiting my friends, who all seemed to have brand new babies in their arms. It was a terribly depressing dream! 

When I awoke, I felt sad, but I knew it was just a dream and so I brushed it aside and started our day. As the boys were working on their math, I went into my room and began cleaning it up. As I peeked into the crib and saw all the sleepers I bought a few weeks ago, I had the most wonderful idea. I decided in order to really shake off that horrible dream I needed to wash all the baby's clothes and make room for them in my dresser drawers. (Thing 4 will be sharing a room with Mr. Level-Headed and I for the first two years of his or her life like all the other wee Websters did. It's how we roll!) I love doing laundry on regular days, but when my basket is full of adorable, tiny, baby paraphernalia, then I REALLY love doing it. I love smelling it. I love holding it up and imagining my baby wearing it. I love rubbing the animal faces on the bum of the jammies. I love folding it, and I love seeing all the clothes neatly piled along side one another in my drawers. It was a very therapeutic exercise for this neurotic, nesting mama.

Thing 4's basket of baby books on my bedside table. I may or may not have already began reading them to him or her . . . I know CRAZY!

My AppleCheeks stash all neatly tucked away.

A onesie I found hanging in my closet that I had bought four years ago, right after my surgery, as a baby shower gift, but could not bring myself to part with it and so I had to buy another gift . . . tee hee! Can't you see Harriet in it? 

The Patriot jersey all of our kids wore when they were babies during football season, and although it will be a tad bit too big for Thing 4 this year, I am sure he or she will still be wearing it. I am so glad I never parted with this jersey!

My laundry basket full of baby goodies!

All that adorableness neatly tucked away in my dresser drawers. I hate to admit it, but I have opened this drawer about a hundred times already today. I can't help myself!

I have a feeling that these next ten weeks are going to  be the longest ten weeks of my life (and probably the cleanest ten weeks my house has ever seen!)

Oh, and it is not just me who is super excited around here. The three kids started calling dibbs on who gets to hold the baby first. In the end, they have decided to pull names out of a hat the night before Thing 4 arrives . . . tee hee! Thing 4, we may not have a whole lot of room for you here at Shenanigans Inc., but I can promise you there will be no shortage of love.

They're Here! They're Here!

They're here! They're here! My AppleCheeks are finally here! Of all the baby supplies we have collected over the past few weeks, these diapers have really made it sink in:

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!

Okay, so you have heard me say that time and time again on this blog, but sometimes I just can't help shouting it out. There seem to be these precious moments that occur once and awhile, when all of a sudden it becomes very real to me and my heart overflows with joy. I become overwhelmed with gratitude for this miracle in my life, and all I can do, time and time again, is drop to my knees and thank Heavenly Father for being so merciful. I don't know why He answered our prayers. I don't know why He chose me to be the mother of this baby, and why He gave me another shot at being a mom when I have already been so richly blessed raising the other three children He gave to me. I don't know why so many of my dear friends have not had similar prayers answered. I don't know why so many of us have had to struggle through the pain of infertility and miscarriages. I guess I don't know a lot of things, but I do know this for certain: never give up! Trust that God hears your prayers and that He will answer them in His own way and in His own time. I have seen it in my own life, time and time again. He loves you, and He is mindful of all that you have endured. Please, never give up!

Now that I have dried my eyes, let me present to you my first ever AppleCheeks stash:

Eeek! I can't wait to swaddle Thing 4's cheeks in these adorable diapers. 

Of all the colours, this one is my favourite:

I can't wait to see Thing 4's chubby little legs sticking out from this one.

Here is some of the other baby paraphernalia that has trickled in over the past couple of weeks:

All I need now is a baby . . .

tee hee!

18 weeks to go, but whose counting?

Oh, and if you have baby stuff that you are looking to part with, please let me know. My sister, Emily, is just two weeks behind me in her pregnancy and between the two of us, I am sure we can put it to good use. :)

Happy Thursday!

The Twenty Week Check-In

As of yesterday, I had officially reached the twenty week mark of my pregnancy . . . woohoo!  I am half way through, and only have nineteen weeks left to wait before I am holding Thing 4 in my arms, sniffing that newborn smell, and smothering those chubby newborn cheeks with kisses. I can't wait!

Thanks to the generosity of many friends and family, my baby stash is growing everyday. Thing 4 has a ton of baby books, wooden puzzles, some artwork, a stroller, and some clothes. The highchair and swing are on their way, AND . . . .  I just placed an order for Thing 4's AppleCheeks, the cloth diapers that will be swaddling his or her adorable baby cheeks in just nineteen weeks (eeeeek! I am so excited). With all this baby paraphernalia surrounding me and the constant karate chops I receive from Thing 4 throughout the day, I am really starting to believe that this is happening. I AM HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!!!!!  Excuse me for a minute, while I place my head between my legs and take some deep breaths . . . . I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

There, I am all better now. Where was I? Right, so Shenanigans Inc. is full baby preparation mode and we couldn't be happier.

As for my cravings, they are also in full swing, which is not a good thing because of all the foods I could crave, my body has chosen one of the worst foods on the planet - poutine! Ideally, I would be able to restrict this craving to a monthly indulgence, but I am weak, and it never fails that as the weekend approaches, I begin to dream, to fantasize and to salivate for some hot, greasy, oh so very tasty french fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds. Truly, it is the nectar of the gods. I am convinced there is poutine in heaven (along with cigarettes, Coca Cola, and muu muus) I am such a class act! 

Disclaimer: I hereby swear that I am not consuming cigarettes or wearing muu muus at this point and time. Unfortunately, the Coco Cola and the poutine are free game! 

Anyhoo, since my last post about my poutine craving, I have, embarrassingly, consumed my weight in this fatty delicacy. I have ventured down to our nearby pub to partake of their yummy version once or twice. I have been to Peddler's Creek to try their poutine, which was very good, but unfortunately, this was a take out order and according to Zoe, we waited too long to consume it in order to give it a fair review. By the time we ate it, the gravy had absorbed into the french fries and the fries were cool. I had no problem with it and enjoyed every bite of it, but Zoe was disappointed. Then, last week while we had our British soccer coaches staying with us, we discovered that none of the boys had ever heard of poutine, and that was all the incentive I needed. As luck would have it too, Mr. Level-Headed took the boys to the fabulous Kingston Market, which just happens to be beside the soccer field, for lunch last Saturday. I was home straightening up a few things and catching my breath from the crazy busy week we had just had, when I got a phone call from my dearly beloved hubby.

Krista! The market has a poutine shack. I am getting some for the boys. Do you want some?

YES! I will be there in a minute.

It took me all of three seconds to throw my sneakers on and to hop into my car. Let me tell ya, the poutine was heavenly! The boys loved it, and I savored every bite of mine.

Mmmmm . . . How many more sleeps are there until Saturday?

 So, at the moment, the poutine standings look like this:

1. Kredl's/Poutine Shack at Kingston Market - they are a definite tie.

2. Peddler's Creek - the gravy is so yummy!

3. Reed's Point Pub - you can't beat the price or the accessibility (3 min from my home)

4. Deluxe - really, this should only be eaten if you are in dire need and there is no other poutine available.

We are heading to PEI next weekend for Zoe's soccer tournament, and I will keep you posted on my findings in that province. I am thinking that gravy and cheese curds on top of homegrown PEI potatoes will probably be pretty hard to compete with. Oh, I can't wait!

As of my last doctor's appointment at 18 weeks, I had only gained 1 1/2 lbs so far, but I have a feeling that this number is about to dramatically increase. 

20 week bump

What do you think? I would say at least 5 lbs . . . tee hee! 

I seriously need help.

My Latest Obsessions

Sorry for that unexpected week off, but Mr. Level-Headed needed to take the laptop to work each day so he could finish up a project for school. 

In all honesty, though, you really did not miss much. Our days have been centred upon three things: wrapping up the school year (hallelujah!), kicking off the 2013 soccer season, and putting up with my latest two obsessions. 

Oooohhh . . . obsessions . . . please tell.

Okay, so many of you have probably heard that last Saturday I woke up to the first nudgings from Thing 4. Let me tell you, they rocked my world! It was like suddenly the entire pregnancy became real for me:

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!

And so I spent all of last week poking, pushing, talking and singing to Thing 4 in the hopes of feeling his/her ever so slight little kicks. Poor Avery at one point looked at me in exasperation and sighed:

Can you PLEASE take your hand out of your pants? You never let me do that.

I burst out laughing, and assured him that I was NOT doing what he likes to do, and that I was simply holding my belly to see if Thing 4 was kicking.

What a kid!

After a few sporadic days, though, Thing 4's nudgings have finally become very routine and are getting stronger everyday. Being the fantastic baby he/she is, Thing 4 gives me a couple of kicks in the wee hours of the morning and a couple more just before I go to bed. It's like he/she knows that his/her mama is a neurotic mess and requires these little shout outs to assure her that everything is okay.

And so that is how I have spent my week: with my hands in my pants, texting Mr. Level-Headed about every nudge, and giggling to myself whenever I feel these tiny bumps.

I am SO in love with this baby already!

My bump at 16 weeks and 5 days

My second obsession is also baby-related. No surprise there! A few weeks ago, when I visited a close friend of mine she referred to Thing 4 as my Bonus Baby, and that really struck me. Thing 4 is truly a blessing, one that I wanted dearly but honestly did not believe would ever happen. Right then and there I decided that I am going to thoroughly enjoy Thing 4's babyhood, and so I decided to do something I had always wanted to do, but never had the courage to do. I decided that Thing 4 is going to be a cloth diaper wearing baby. How exciting is that! I know many of you are gagging right now and probably rolling your eyes at me, but I am truly excited about this! After doing some research too, I learned that there is a cloth diaper company right here in Canada that manufactures all of their own products IN CANADA! Yes, companies like this still exist. They are called AppleCheeks and from what I have read and heard, they seem to be the cream of the crop in the cloth-diapering industry.

Sooooo, last Thursday my sister, Emily, and I went to a workshop on AppleCheeks cloth diapers, and we are hooked!

Oh, so here is where I drop a little bombshell. My sister Emily is exactly two weeks behind me and is expecting her first baby in the beginning of December. As if  being pregnant with Thing 4 wasn't already the coolest experience ever, I am also sharing this whole pregnancy thing with one of my sisters . . . yippee! It feels like I have won the jackpot of blessings lately!

Anyhoo . . .

Initially, Emily was adamant that although she was intrigued with the idea of cloth diapers, she really did not feel it was something she wanted to tackle alongside of becoming a first time mom, but I dragged her along with me anyway. About twenty minutes into the workshop and after hearing all the environmental positives of cloth diapers, Emily, who is a bit granola, leaned over to me and said:

Okay, I am totally using these diapers.

I wish I could say that like Emily my decision to cloth diaper is based upon a deep concern to care for our environment, but, unfortunately, I am totally shallow and am completely sold on this  idea entirely for the cuteness factor.

Look at these diapers:

How sweet are they? Oh, and they are the softest things you have ever touched. I can't wait to see Thing 4's tiny little bum all swaddled up in their fluffy awesomeness.

I thought I could sell Mr. Level-Headed on cloth diapers using the financial route because seriously, you save so much money using cloth diapers, but he wasn't falling for it. I tried the cuteness factor, but, surprise, no luck there. In utter frustration, I asked him what on earth would convince him that we needed to use AppleCheeks diapers, and do you know what he replied?

Will they make you happy?

Gosh darn it, I love that man! He is totally with me on this whole Bonus Baby notion. He never tires of receiving my texts, or having me interrupt a serious conversation  with "Oh, Thing 4 is on the move again", or having our bedroom slowly being taken over with all of Thing 4's belongings. He is completely in love with this baby as much as I am. I am such a lucky lady!

Speaking of belongings, Thing 4 is already accumulating lots of neat things: puzzles, books and artwork:

Thank you everyone for all your generosity. 

I think Shenanigans Inc. has truly hit the jackpot of blessings lately!

Have a great week everyone, and if you are ever wondering where I am, I am the one parked on the couch with her hand down her pants!

. . . tee hee!