I Think Things Are Getting Back To Normal

I haven't thrown up since Monday!  I still feel sick all the time, but I'm not throwing up in the morning anymore. I think this is the longest I've gone without throwing up while being pregnant.  On Monday I went to a doctor appointment, and when I told him that I was down to just throwing up every morning, he literally jumped out of his chair and exclaimed, "That's wonderful!"  I really, really like my doctor.

So without throwing up each morning, my nausea has decreased a notch throughout the day, and I find that I'm functioning almost like a normal person.  I made a meal plan for the week and went grocery shopping, and then I've actually made those meals I planned.  We're back to cleaning up and running the dishwasher after dinner each evening, which leaves me with a clean kitchen to start the morning with the next day.  I love it!  Plus, I've done the most genius thing I've ever done and gave Alyssa the job of cleaning out the dishwasher each morning and Ethan the job of setting the table each evening, and it's funny how not worrying about those two little things takes so much stress off my shoulders.

We've also started to do "Two-Minute Tidy" each evening in the family room and the kids' bedrooms where we set the timer for two-minutes and clean like crazy.  It's actually kept the family room clean and the kids' rooms under control.

We've gone back to having family scripture study in the quiet room instead of on Brian's and my bed.  It used to be that I'd feel so sick in the evenings that I laid down on the couch right after dinner, barely supervised the kids getting ready for bed, then I laid down in my bed and we'd have scripture study just before bedtime.  With it being on my bed, Ethan and Marcus would climb up and down, and run to their rooms for stuffed animals, and cause quite a ruckus.  Now that we're back to reading in the quiet room, the kids are all sitting on the couch with their scriptures, and it's so much better.  Just FYI, we call our living room the quiet room, because I decorated it with just gospel related things: pictures of Jesus, pictures of the temple, etc.  We keep all our religious books in there, and we also put some of Brian's German religious books on display.  We have glass votives with eggs in them that I set out for Easter and left out because I liked that they symbolize the resurrection.  We have antique keys that Brian got from Germany out, to represent the keys of the priesthood.  We have Alyssa's baptism picture on the shelf, next to her baptism certificate.  Anyway, when I first decorated the room, we sat the kids down and had them look around.  We told them that this is the room that we want to keep special to most feel the spirit in our home.  We're Home taught in that room, we have scripture study there, and we sometimes have Family Home Evening there.  We said that it is a quiet room, and the name kind of stuck.

Moving on.

Now that I'm feeling better, I'm also ready to take on all of our projects.  We had two contractors come to give us estimates on concrete brick fences today - too expensive.  We'll be doing a wood fence ourselves.  It's much better on the budget.  I went to JoAnn Fabrics today and bought material for crib bedding for the nursery.  (We actually have room for a nursery this time!)  I'm planning a woodland theme with pinks and greens and creams.  If the nursery turns out anything like I'm imagining it in my head, it will be gorgeous.  There's other projects running around in my head right now: putting a mantel on the fireplace, decorating our bedroom, decorating the downstairs bathroom, etc., but those things are going to have to wait until we have the time and the money to do them.

I don't consider myself to be an overly emotional person, even as a pregnant lady, but today the kids were watching Phineas and Ferb - the episode where it's their mom's birthday - and I actually caught myself crying when Candace sang the "Mom It's Your Birthday" song.  Sad, I know.

The kids are all about babies right now.  Alyssa, who is not and never really was a "toy person" has been carrying around a baby doll and taking care of it.  She even had the boys guard the baby while it was taking a nap while Alyssa was playing outside, and the boys paced in front of it, saying, "Hup, two three four," for about five minutes, until they got bored and ran off.  The boys have been wrapping up their zhu zhu pets in blankets much too big for the little rodents and carrying them around as well.  It's fun.  Ethan named his Dowpia, which I love.  It's so cute.

Oh, I think that's about it.  School is going well.  We did a whole unit of Science yesterday, so we took today off to get started on our house projects.  We learned about the digestive system and grossed Alyssa out.  She actually said, "Mom, do we have to learn about this?  It makes my stomach sick."  We kept going, though.  We learned about all of it, all the way to the excretory system, much to Alyssa's dismay.

So, yeah, things are getting to be pretty normal around here.  I'm twenty weeks pregnant now, and the baby will be here in about four and a half months.  I'm getting pretty excited to be half way there and starting the countdown.  When our little one makes her debut in July, I'm sure things will get pretty shaken up again, but for now I'm going to enjoy the peace of a reasonably clean house and mostly followed schedule.

Edited to add: Is there any way to knock on wood on the internet? Both times I've posted about feeling better, I've had a relapse.  Last night I woke up at one in the morning, feeling absolutely sick, and I lost my dinner. Then I threw up again when I woke up this morning.  Craziness.  Brian brought me a bowl of granola in bed, and I just took my medication, so I'm feeling better now.  I hope it lasts.  Maybe I'll knock on the monitor.

Maybe This Will Help

Would Everyone Who Ever Needs To Inspect Noodles Forget Or Remember About Noodles Under Low Trees? Really, After Sharing Our Umbrella Noodles, Don't Tell Others. Different Amounts Yell, "Ahoy!" Nobody Deferred For Other Umbrella Noodles, Despite Others Under Trees Telling How Attempts To Win Every Awesome Rally Escaped. However, After Viewing Informal Noodles, Go Ahead. Lastly, I Told Them Loudly, "Everyone, Go In Really Low And Noodles, Don't Waver." Except After Rehashing Everything, To Honestly, Really Inspect, Lay Low Enough Down.*



We got back from California yesterday, and we're excited to be back together as a family again.  It was fun to have Ethan come snuggle in bed with us when he got up this morning.  But you know what?  We had SO MUCH FUN!  I admit that Disneyland without kids is missing that little bit of magic you feel watching your children experience the magic of Disneyland, but even though I missed our kids sometimes, I never regretted going on a special trip without them.   Running around Disneyland with Will and Nelsa (and Will's sister and her husband sometimes - we were surprised that they were there too!) without kids had a magic all it's own, and we had a blast.

We went on ride after ride, wandered around the shops, ate yummy yummy food (the Monte Crisco sandwiches in New Orleans Square are just as good as everyone says they are), watched the fireworks show (my favorite!) and the World of Color show (Brian's favorite), watched the Aladdin show, slept in as late as possible, and just had a fabulous time.

*2-25-11 Edited to add: We went in for an ultrasound today and found out that we are having a little girl and we are thrilled!

Letter/Word Puzzle

Would everyone who ever needs to inspect noodles forget or remember about noodles under low trees? Really, after sharing our umbrella noodles, don't tell others. Different amounts yell, "Ahoy!" Nobody deferred for other umbrella noodles, despite others under trees telling how attempts to win every awesome rally escaped. However, after viewing informal noodles, go ahead. Lastly, I told them loudly, "Everyone, go in really low and noodles, don't waver." Except after rehashing everything, to honestly, really inspect, lay low enough down.

Feeling Alive!

See the clean floors and counters?

The groundhog said Spring is coming!  Yea Spring!  I can't wait!  I'm tired of being cold, especially since I can't button my coat all the way 'cause my belly is too big, and I can't wait until we can play outside all the time and work in our yard and put up our fence and all those other wonderful things that Spring brings.

The sun is shining outside our window right now, and it just makes me happy.

I started feeling better yesterday, too.  I'm back to a low grade constant nausea that is pretty easy to handle.  Yesterday I felt good enough to clean the kitchen and family room, which really really needed it.  I even cleaned out the microwave - it was nasty!  And while I was cleaning I tossed out our old yucky dish scrubber and started a list (a list!) of things we need to buy at Target.  I am a huge list person, and you know things haven't been right by the fact that this is the first list I've made since before Thanksgiving.  I even called my mom and said, "I'm making a list!"

I'm excited to decorate for Valentine's Day, too.  I think our house might end up being more decorated for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day and Easter than it was for Christmas.  We have very few V-Day decorations, but I cut the word "love" out of construction paper and taped it to the old window hanging in our family room, and I set out our little hugging monkey stuffies on a candle holder by the kitchen.  i do have a TON of paper hearts that we can hang in the windows and from the ceiling, and I think we'll head to Hobby Lobby and Craft Warehouse in the next few days and see what they have for cheap.

Also, 11 days until Brian and I leave for Disneyland.  Woo hoo!