.

We had a nice three Christmas's but now it's so nice to be home! We got home late last night from our last shindig and this morning when we got the girls up to go to church Abby started to whine and said 'No home!'. It is very UNlike her to not want to go to church, they love church... and it was kinda sweet that she just wanted to be home.
Anabel seems to pretty much be over her sickness. She still has a cough and a little runny nose but she is getting back to her normal self. She was a tad moody today and got in trouble several times for giving attitude but i kinda understand that after being away from home so much and then being sick. The more rest they get and fall back into a normal routine the better they will be i think.
They were so blessed by everyone and all the gifts they got. They got a ton of new gifts and have been having a blast playing with them!
Me and Bob got some awesome things too and have totally been using them! We were so blessed!

I have been suffering for a couple days of a head cold i believe. Can't hardly breath and sneezing a ton. Then on top of it tonight i'm suffering from double terrible leg aches. Finally broke down and took some pain pills. But Bob has been a dear, he's rubbed my legs for some time and then went and made me a chai tea smoothie. Hope this goes away soon!

Today i was able to do quite a bit of cleaning before the leg aches kicked in. I'm so glad to have gotten things moving in the 'clean' direction. It's been pretty messy here lately. I feel like i type that a lot 'messy' 'finally got some cleaning done'.... that is how it goes, good one day, bad the next... hard to keep it up! Haa

Soon Bobby will be going back to work and things will fall back into the normal way. I adore having Bobby home, love it! But it also makes things quite different. Sometimes more things get done because he is there to help watch the girls and then other times.... well things just don't get done at all because i would rather be by him. It's all been good though. I will hate it when he goes back to work. I guess i should look ahead and be happy that not to far away from now baby Matthew will be here and he will have another break to be with us :)

Oh i haven't written anything about this weeks pregnancy so here goes:

26 Weeks

I'm HUGE! I started out at 108 and last week i hit the biggest i have ever been EVER and now i have tipped the scale and continue to grow. I'm 131 now :'( I can't believe it!

I've been suffering from the loose joints. Hips and legs are causing me a ton of issues. Not only have i gained a ton of weight, which yes is going to the baby and belly but i know a ton of it is going to my buttocks and thighs... not my hips are spreading on top of it. I'm scared to see how i'll look once this child comes out of me. Glad i got some suppose undies for after birth to hold in all this jell-o. LOL

Matthew kicks very very hard now where my belly will jiggle and bulge out with the kicks. I'm so not a fan of the kicking of the butt... it doesn't feel good at all!

Belly button is getting super close to popping out... that will be funny. Never got big enough for that to happen before.

Sleeping is starting to get a harder... been waking up a lot and not being able to get back to sleep. I woke up at 6am today and laid there trying hard to go back to sleep cause i knew the alarm was set for 7:30 and i just wanted that little bit more of sleep. Well i fell asleep right before the alarm went off... that is just how it goes. Oh well. I've been tempted to move the position of my side of the bed but i'm worried i will just screw it up and not be able to get it back to the right place again. I wonder if i ever will be able to sleep in my favorite position, on my belly. Even before having this huge belly my arms were causing me issues with sleeping on my belly.... oh how i miss it!

I've been trying to take my iron pills as much as the midwife told me too. It's been really hard to remember each time. I am feeling a ton better since i got them from her.

Yesterday i felt really bad with the shakes and dizziness and i haven't been feeling that well for the last couple of days so i finally emailed my midwife. She wanted me to let her know if i started feeling bad so i did. She didn't really give me any advice yet but she made an appointment for me to come see her today at 3pm to talk to her and so she can check me.

I looked up some things this morning and it seems my symptoms go with being iron deficient. I wonder if she will go make me get blood work... which means more money to spend :( I hope she doesn't try and make me take pills cause that is just not going to work very well. Pills make me sick and it's really hard to get them down... it's a huge process. I'm hoping it's just something i can control with a diet change.

So far feeling a tad better then yesterday but still a little off.

I've been watching 'Baby Story' on TLC and this last one today really hit home for me and it just made me cry. Haa i feel this ladies pain, in labor for 25 hours and only at 4cm and just feeling hopeless, overwhelmed and extremely exhausted. She wanted to go drug free but at 25 hours got an epidural. When it's your first and you feel those contractions they hurt so bad and you think surely this means you are close to over because they get so intense so fast and when you find out, nope you are at just the beginning and it's going to get 10x worse... it's overwhelming and you feel like you are going to lose it.

I'm sure to a certain degree i have forgotten the extremeness of contractions and labor but i still remember most of it and it's not something i'm looking forward to. I could live without feeling that pain again. But i also remember that feeling when the baby pops out and the relief and the joy!

I'm scared about the impending labor but the actual delivery i'm looking forward to. I can't wait to see my little baby but it also is very scary!

I'm hoping this time i will be able to do better on pain management. I hope that being in my own home will help me. I hope that Hubby will be able to maybe participate a little more... like maybe catch the baby? I know that freaks him out but i'm hoping that happens cause if this is our last then i want him to be able to experience that.

Today the girls were taking balls and sticking it up their shirts and saying that it was a baby in his stomach. They would take turns with the baby belly and they would take turns kissing each others baby belly and rubbing it and going 'Awwww'. It was so cute!

Tonight i ordered my sister a gift.... i think this means i am totally done with my Christmas shopping! I can't believe it! I'm so excited!

And then i think i finished up what else i wanted to get for the baby. I was able to purchase a set of 6 sleepers, 2 onesies and 2 pants in preemie size. Relieved to have that.
I bought something special for me for after birth on Totsy:

Then i bought two nursing bras and 4 sets of cloth nursing pads on ebay at a very good price! No these aren't used, they are new of course :)

So i think at least for awhile i will have everything i will need for me and little Matthew when he comes.
Lets see if i can recall what i have gotten:

• Cloths (Preemie up to some 6-9m)
• Shoes
• Some Socks
• Cloth Diapers
• Diaper Bag
• Carseat Set
• Infant Bath Tub
• Crib Bumper (to recover)
• Nursing Bras
• Nursing Pads

Haaaaa i think i can sigh in relief!

This morning i headed off to take the girls to their dance class at the YMCA by myself because Hubs wanted the stay behind and work more on the girls bunk beds. Well again no dance instructor showed up and the YMCA gave us another free gymnastics class instead of the dance class. She also credited us back a full month of dance classes for next month. She was very upset about the instructor being a no show again (wonder if she will be fired). She said she would get at instructor found for next month so that she hoped their wouldn't be any more problems. The bummer was that Abby was to young to go into the gymnastics class so she just was left of everything that morning, which i felt really bad for cause she was excited about doing dance class.

Then after YMCA me and the girls headed back to Wal-Mart to pick up the few things i forgot about yesterday. And i still forgot about getting wipes >_< which sucks! Hopefully our wipes will last until Monday cause tomorrow is going to be way to busy and i really don't want to make another run into the store.

Once i got home i was so tired and worn out! I had to hurry and get the girls food and then up to nap. Once they were up i ended up crashing on the couch, only to get woke up not very long after that because the girls were awake. A short nap... just what i DIDN'T need.
I was still horribly tired, felt sickish to my stomach and my emotions were off the chart. I was finding myself snapping at my poor girls and wanting to cry at everything. I ended up going down stairs to where Bob was working... checked on him to calm myself down. I ended up telling him how i was feeling and broke down crying.
He immediately told me to go get some snacks, my favorite girly movie and head up stairs to our room for some alone time and that he would come up and watch the girls for me. So i got some snacks, my Red Ridding Hood movie, and my nail kit and headed up stairs. It's just what i needed. A while where i didn't have to get up and down, up and down and where i didn't have to think about anything! I ended up eating snacks and then trying to do my nails while watching the movie. I ended up doing my nails a couple times because i was trying some new pinterest idea and i failed terrible. Hey at least i attempted something creative right!?

Then when i came down Hubs had defrosted some ground beef and i made some patties out of it. He ended up grilling the hamburgers and we ate outside around the fire pit (which was our first time ever lighting it). It was so nice out there! A little chilly but heck it's December... there should be snow! But nope! A fairly warm day today. It was a nice little time out there. The girls got tired fast though and we called it over once Abby fell and scuffed her chin. It was time for the girls to go in for bed, so because it usually takes a while to get the girls settled in their room and asleep we just decided to go in for good for the night. Poor fire pit, i will miss you!

On a side note, i am very excited. Tonight i found on the facebook swap site a lady selling a few preemie boy cloths, which was the only real thing i was wanting (cloth wise) before the baby came! So i bought them and we are picking them up tomorrow! Woot! I am happy to have that checked off my list!

Hubby got a lot done of the bunk bed today. He has the steps frame all put together and connected to the bunk bed frame.

Now i am sitting in the recliner with my feet up watching Chopped with Hubs. He just suggested hot chocolate too which sounds great :)

I'm just so grateful for my Hubby! That he was willing to give up his time for me to have some alone time. He is such a great guy.

I <3 best="best" friend="friend" my="my" p="p">Love you Babe!

I hope these braxton hicks/contractions don't become a nightly thing, it sucks! They hurt! At least heating pad is helping a little bit. I hope this doesn't mean i will have back labor this time, since these are mostly in my back and sides, making me get leg aches because i tense up my legs when i am in pain. Trying to drink extra water hoping that will help!

Had an interesting even last night. I hadn't been feeling good most of the day yesterday and at lunch time i cooked myself some eggs and sausage thinking maybe some protein and more protein would help me feel better. After a few hours it did seem to help. I got up and started cleaning. Bob got home and we talked for a long time about several things. He had had a really bad day and we were just talking about that and then it lead into other things, not bad, just chatting. Then i started feeling a little worse again and made myself a chai tea smoothie. I kept cleaning after that and let bob take a little nap on the couch. I made a simple dinner and got tons of cleaning done in the kitchen... it's looking really good by then way!
I woke Bob up for dinner. When i tried to eat it started turning my stomach and then i started getting fairly bad pains in my back. I did start crying but i think it's just cause i was tired, had a day of feeling bad and just didn't want this on top of this! Bob would stop eating and massage my back a couple times when the pain would get the worst. I ended up not being able to eat and i tried different positions to relieve the pain... i laid down, slightly on my side, sat up, used Bob to kinda crouch on the couch (which terrible) and then it dawned on me.... i have had this before with Anabel.

With Anabel i had waves of what i called 'cramps' or brax and hicks which hurt and we ended up driving to the midwife to get checked. They hooked me up to a machine and told me to hit the button when i felt the pain. After awhile they had came in and checked the machine and said that i was having contractions but that they were so light that i shouldn't be feeling them... but boy i was! She told me that it was very normal for woman to have these sorts of contractions while pregnant but that they usually have no idea they are having them. And we all agreed that i guess i was very sensitive for me to be feeling them and causing me this much discomfort.

So this time i paid more attention and concentrated on the feeling of the pain. I could feel that the center of my back would start to tightened and it would slowly get more intense and start to wrap around my back until it was very very uncomfortable.... i would say 'hurt' but i know compared to real contractions this would be labeled 'uncomfortable'. lol
I wasn't worried because i had been there, done that, before. Now if they had gotten worse i would have started worrying but after a little over and hour they started getting better. I still over all felt like crap.
Bob got the girls up to bed then offered to take me up stairs to get comfy in our bed (our amazing ergo tempurpedic that i'm so lucky to have hehe) and turn on a movie. I knew there was a show that was going to come on soon that we usually watch together but we only have cable on our downstairs TV not our bedroom TV but he assured me that he was fine missing it and he just wanted me to get comfortable and would come with me up stairs and be with me. He is so sweet!
So we got everything shut down and all the lights unplugged down stairs, got some snacks and went up stairs. It was so nice to get in our bed!

In times like last night it is nice to have some experience and know not to get freaked out :) Even though it sucked!

I haven't been feeling so good the last week or so, especially the last few days. Don't know how to describe it, it's not one certain thing. Yes i am more tired but not extremely more tired where it would worry me. I haven't even been taking naps sept yesterday when Abby fell asleep on me in the morning and i ended up snoozing with her for maybe 30min. because i couldn't move.
I have an almost total lack of motivation. I try to keep up the house enough where it doesn't tip over the edge of being terrible but it's really hard to make it nicer... luckily i'm keeping it fair.
I just feel icky... not sick really but icky. It's been hard to eat cause we are getting down to not much food that i like to eat during the day so that plays a part in me not feeling to good i think. It takes a long time for me to figure out something for me to eat, which means i start feeling worse and worse because it's taking me longer to eat.
It's just been difficult recently. Not sure how to turn things around. We are out of eggs and bagels and lunch meat and bread and thing that usually go into meals that i eat. I really need to go shopping  but the thought of that makes me all stressed lol. UGH!
I'm just praying things will start turning up for me!

Well Bob has the girls bunk bed cottage's frame put together, ready for me to give it a quick sanding and then some paint. He will be working on the steps and then the windows next i believe. So excited! We have some disagreements on some things when it comes to the bed... have different views on a few things but either way i think it will look cool!

I got more Christmas lights hung, garland on the railing going up stairs. I don't know if we will end up putting lights up outside, we are kinda running out of town. We did get lights on the two front windows of the house from the inside so there is a little decorations you can see from the outside.

Yesterday i got two of my Christmas houses finished and set up

We got lots of presents wrapped too. Think i have 10 people finished buying for.
I also got the girls leaspter 2's all sent up with their free game downloaded. Now i just have to get them some rechargeable batteries and they will be done too.

It kinda makes you feel good when your daughter see's a picture of Marilyn Monroe that was posted on facebook and says 'Dat you mommy?' LOL Sweet little thing.... i look nothing like her but it still made me feel good hehe.

It would seem... hope i'm not speaking to soon... but that we waited just right to potty train Abby. She hasn't had accidents at all this week while we have been potty training and i don't have to tell her to sit, she tells me when she needs to go. Even with undies on, which was hard for Anabel, she still has not had an accident. I am very proud of her. I bought her special undies just for her and she loves that, something different than Anabel.
So far so good! It's still only part of the day that she goes without diapers but it will get longer and longer.

So tonight was fun. Got the girls signed up for their classes and for the nursery. Abby loved playing in the nursery while Anabel was at gymnastics. It was adorable watching Anabel in her class. She looked like she listened well and did really good. I am curious about how dance class will be for them on Saturday.

Then after gymnastics i dropped Anabel off in the nursery and i went up and did some walking. I did a little over 20min and that was about .75 miles. I didn't want to over do it and by the time i was sitting in the car i could feel that my back and lower stomach was cramping/tightening up a lot. I figured that was how it would be. We were there about a total of an hour and Bob was wiped out too. I guess he jogged and did a lot of weights.

On the way home the girls talked about how much fun they had and they seemed really excited.

We came home and started in on dinner. Now the kids are in bed and we are sitting back relaxing. It was a nice night :)

12-3-12
Pictures and video

Ok well tonight will be the first family outing to the YMCA. We will first be putting the girls in the nursery while me and Hubby work out for a bit (my first time, a tad nervous!) but Hubby said he will give me the iPad so i can watch shows while i walk :) Hehe he is so nice! Then at 5pm i get Anabel out and go to her first gymnastics class. She has a church friend her age that goes to that class too so i think she will love it!

I'm excited! Nervous to see how my body will react to exercise lol