35 Weeks | Almost Done!

I just cannot believe we are at exactly one month until our C-section date. I also cannot believe that technically he can be here ANY DAY. I go back and forth on being ready, but for now I feel very ready for him to come. Although tomorrow I might get nervous again about the reality of it all.

I lost my nesting drive last week and it drove me crazy. I had ZERO energy. May have also had something to do with my low iron levels. I'm back to my normal insane nesting self and I feel so much more normal. We needed to get a lot accomplished...not much that was baby related necessarily, but trying to get the rest of our boxes purged, sorted, and re-packed. I know packing with a newborn won't be fun, so we are trying to be ahead of the game for whenever that day comes. I am loving clearing out all of our stuff. It has been so refreshing and I think will help me stay relaxed a little more with two kids. Currently our lives are a BIT on the crazy side (that's an extreme exaggeration) so any sort of calm during the chaos is welcomed with open arms. 

Eden is getting so excited about her baby brother. Whenever I doubt that she fully understands, she ends up amazing us with her comprehension. She practices putting brother to sleep in his bouncer (she also practices putting herself to sleep in there...). One unfortunate event is the amount of times we find her sneaking into Israel's crib. The girl is going to smother that baby. She is a sneaky one. 

Either way, we are ready. And even if we weren't, we better be. I had braxton hicks contractions with Eden, but what I am experiencing with him is something completely different. These hurt. Like, stop and breath through them painful. I get them at all sorts of times, but a lot when I am walking and a lot in the middle of the night. It's okay, sleep is non-existent anyway. I have to pee every five minutes. It is obnoxious. Good thing I am someone who works just fine without sleep. The only complaints I have right now are mostly just dealing with my back...and wearing clothes. My back is in pain non-stop and clothes just exaggerate the pain. Otherwise, this pregnancy has been so much better than I expected and I am so thankful for a mostly drama free last pregnancy. 

Hopefully I'll get to update one more time before the little man makes his debut!

The Great Organize and Purge: Games

You guys. Getting rid of stuff is addicting. Like honestly, don't start if you actually want to stop. Sure, there are times where I get to a complete stand still and feel unmotivated, but then once that motivation comes back. Oh boy, watch out. I become a complete mad woman once I get into purging mode. The other night, Eden went down extraordinarily early (never happens) and the wise thing to do would have been for me to follow her lead. Ask Josh if that happens (answer: never). So, in one of my crazy rampages I decided the board games must be dealt with.

Our board game collection is not very large by most standards. The sadder part to that is...we haven't even used them more than once in over five years of marriage. They have all been stacked up in closets where pulling one out meant having the rest topple out onto your head. Not ideal and definitely not something I looked forward to. So, they sat. And sat. And sat some more. Since moving into my parent's house, they have been housed in an Ikea bag way up high to where no one could reach them. I had known I was over the whole cardboard box thing since most were falling apart or just large and annoying, but hadn't done anything about it. I knew changing our current system could only result in good things so I went for it. This isn't magazine worthy by any means, but I'm posting it in hopes that it will help someone out there get motivated to look at a system in their house that isn't working, and change it. 

I started off by pulling each game out of its box, which resulted in a giant stack of cardboard. 

Excuse the phone photos. I've turned lazy and no longer use my big girl camera for projects. 

I thought taking the games out of their boxes would be painful. I am so weird about stuff like that. But nope, it felt great. One box literally was so huge and all it held was a small game board and a handful of marbles...the rest of the box was filled with a filler piece of cardboard. Seriously?! What a waste of space. 

Once I had the games out, I put all the small pieces into snack sized baggies. I then put all of the small bags of parts with the game rules and any larger items from the game into a gallon size baggie. I used a permanent marker to indicate what the game was and moved on to the next game. 

Can you believe that the giant stack of cardboard boxes resulted in such a small pile of game materials? It felt so relieving. At this point I was left with a few large game boards and a stack of plastic bags filled with games. I knew we had an extra basket that we had from Ikea in our living room and I knew it would be a great spot to store the games for now. The game boards that didn't fit into the basket are living in our ottoman so we can grab them out as needed. 

Sweet relief. The games are now easily accessible and hardly take up any room. I love knowing that when we move the amount of space the games will take up in a box is so minimal. I'm all for an easier move. So, I know it's not the prettiest sight. I do have plans to add cute labels to the bags and the game boards, but for now, it works. The goal was to only use what I had on hand to make this work, and I am proud to say I didn't spend a penny. It was such a quick project and I am so happy with the results.

Here's to more family game nights! 

The Big Three Zero

I decided my favorite thing about being pregnant is the nesting. Wow, do I ever get a lot accomplished during this nesting phase. It's my favorite. I have organized every corner of every room we have (which is only 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room), but I am excited. I get rid of everything and I clean everything and it feels amazing. I hear adopting mama's nest today and I sure hope that's true because my best work happens when babies are coming...otherwise our house will be perpetually messy after Israel is born (yeah that is going to happen no matter what I do). 

The bad news in pregnancy? My hormones are off the wall insane. I don't feel like myself. I find myself totally losing my cool over the craziest little things. Granted, there is a lot of stress in our lives at the moment, but seriously I do not like the way I am acting. I am getting up every morning and spending some time in God's word to try to help shape my attitude for the day. The fact that my crazy nesting keeps me awake until ridiculous hours of the night probably isn't helping me at all. I am overwhelmed, but that is no excuse for attacking my loved ones so much these last couple of weeks. 

I just want Israel to be here.

32 weeks pregnant means 7 weeks or less until this baby arrives. Yes, I am very late in posting this 30 week update, but you expected that right? Crazy that I'll only be posting 2 more updates I would guess before the little stud makes his debut. I'm starting to really think he will here sooner than the scheduled c-section date. I mean, does anyone seriously believe that I will walk in at a perfectly scheduled time and have this baby right when I expect to? If you know me you know NOTHING happens according to my perfectly planned schedule. Despite my best efforts. The good news is I am neurotic and have had the infant car seat cleaned and ready to install for weeks (yes I kept myself from installing it), his bassinet and crib are ready, the hospital bags MIGHT already have some items in it, his clothes are cleaned and put away..I mean seriously, he could come today (please don't buddy...it's not safe) and we would be more than ready. Okay, obviously I still have a giant list of things I would love to do, but hey, a baby trumps the perfect organized house any day. 

Oh, and Saturday was my baby shower! It was so beyond perfect. Can't wait to share more details!