Day 75

Today was seriously so awful and full of so much anxiety for me.  I found out I barely didn’t pass my gestational diabetes screen, so now I have to go in and repeat the whole thing on Wednesday morning, but this time it’s a 3 hour screen.  I was having such a hard day, so I made myself this chart counting down the days until the kids are out of school and we can move back to Utah.  Granted, we may have to wait a little while longer to get the house sold so we can all be together as a family, but this will be the beginning of the end of my awful stint in Texas.  I did the same thing when I was counting down the days until I got married, and it’s a way for me to have something concrete so I can visualize my end goals and keep perspective.  It’s mostly just a way for me to keep my sanity when I’m having to endure something that is very, very difficult for me because it shows me “here, there is an actual end to this, and you can count down until it’s here.

Day 74

Emma got diagnosed with strep today, so I only had these 2 down at the table eating their cereal before bed.  They usually fight so much, but other times they just are silly and have so much fun together.  This night was one of those times when they were chatting together and in great moods.

Day 73

This week was insane.  I ended up having to wash all of the girls’ laundry in their drawers because Hadley put her dirty strep throat laundry in with the clean laundry, and it got all mixed together.  Emma ended up getting strep 2 days later, so I guess it was all in vain, but this laundry pile is about 1 of 20 that we did that day.

Day 72

This game makes me crazy.  I love to play it with the kids because everyone understands how to play, but it’s problematic because these little fruit pieces are always getting lost.  I make the kids search for them so we find them all, and they set them up like this so you can see every piece.  It’s so funny how an adult would just count the pieces and a kid lays them all out and actually takes time to enjoy the task.

Day 71

This week just got worse and worse.  On Thursday morning, Hadley was acting really sick and then threw up all over the den.  I had to haul her into the doctor with Gavin in tow, and she had a positive strep test.  John was still home and very sick, so this day was in general just really hard.  This is a picture of the throw-up tupperware soaking in the sink, after it was barely used (why is it that 90% of the throw up always ends up around the tupperware?)

Day 70

Today I put on a show (I think it was “Winnie the Pooh”) for Gavin because I had to get some work done on the computer, and he really got into it.  He was laughing and very engaged, and it was fun to see him enjoying something so much that I had watched when I was a kid, and still love as an adult.

Day 69

This day was the first time I actually missed getting the actual picture taken on the day I should have. The first week was so insane, and John was very sick and we were trying to get him better.  We ended up having to borrow some milk and bread from our friends, the Thompsons.  This picture is of the milk tupperware, and although taken a day late, is a great representation of our entire first week of the girls starting school.  People got sick, things were hectic, and life was generally just insane.

Day 68

School started today, and it was so hectic trying to get everyone out the door with lunches made and everything ready.  This is a picture at the end of the day with all the school papers, the next day’s lunches, and the general mess and chaos after the first day.  The first day was particularly chaotic because John had to be driven home from work by a co-worker, and was sick the whole day.

Day 67

Here is a picture of the girls sitting on their beds all ready for school.  They laid out their clothes and were so excited for the new school year.

Day 66

I went in to check on the girls before bed and noticed they had hung all these party favors they got earlier in the day at a friend’s birthday party on their dresser knobs.  Then, they had put little animals in them.  I guess these were the high class beds for their animals (maybe Panda has a fever today because he had to sleep in the open air!).

Day 65

I have been wanting cookies all week long, but I’ve been so tired.  Finally, I broke down and made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.  These are my favorite type of cookies, and it’s always good to have a decent supply on hand.

Day 64

Today I forgot about my picture until really late, so I got a picture of the oven in the kitchen with the time on it (10:32 p.m.).  I had already been in bed for 20 minutes or so, so the point of the picture is really to show that 1) my brain doesn’t work very well when I’m pregnant—I forget a lot of things and 2) I go to bed very early when I’m pregnant.  I never go to bed this early unless I’m pregnant or have a newborn.

Day 63

Hadley helped Gavin button up his shirt today.  I was amazed, and happy that they have these little moments where they get along.

Day 62

Today was did “G” day.  We had a gourmet lunch (tuna fish—hooray) with grape juice, and read 4 books that start with G, played a bunch of games, and then did a G project where they cut and colored a big G.

Day 61

The kid set up this little miniature picnic for their animals using a bathroom stool and a shirt as a tablecloth. I had to smile because they are so cute with their animals.  Just today Hadley said “he has a fever” and I said “Who?” hoping it wasn’t Gavin, and she said, “Penguin" (how could I be so stupid?  Stupid mom).

Day 60

This is a picture of John as he was going to exercise, and I decided to use it as my photo of the day because I just am so surprised that he became so motivated to get in shape, especially when he has minor injuries and has to wear a bunch of braces to exercise.  I think in this picture he has 4 braces on.  Even though our life is hectic with little kids (hence the messy playroom), he still is dedicated to exercising. Every time I see him in work out clothes, it just kind of shocks me a little bit (in a good way).

Day 59

Gavin told me today he was a ‘spiderman dude.’  He had glued this “special symbol” to his shirt, and then put on his cape, and 4 different socks (2 were on his hands, but he took them off before I took the picture).  I love that when kids dress up, they really think they are truly that character.

Day 58

This stack of books is ones we are giving away.  It just is strange to look at a stack of something you thought important enough to buy at one time, and now you’re giving it away.  Most of them are used books from school that I didn’t think I’d read again, but the process of getting and getting rid of stuff is fascinating to me.

Day 57

This is Gavin being a nut.  He is playing t-ball in the house, with a hat on, and with an ice cream cone sitting on top of the ball (he told me it looked like a party hat).

Day 56

When I was a kid, it always seemed like we were missing pieces to games, and my parents used to get so annoyed because they had to buy at least 2 sets of Monopoly, if I remember correctly.  Now, I know why things get lost.  Do you see how many game pieces there are in this picture?  I make my kids pick up the pieces every day, because I hate losing pieces.

Day 55

Here is Emma reading me “Yertle the Turtle.”  She is so excited to know how to read, and although some of the words she doesn’t know, she has memorized the book and reads it near perfectly.  I remember the first book I learned to read was “Little Bear,” and also remember trying to read it to my mom while she got ready for a date.  Hadley and Emma are so excited about reading.

Day 54

Here is a stack of my study cards for my nutrition class.  I took the final today, and I always use index cards to study information.  It is much smaller than my Biochemistry pile, so I’m very glad about that.  I am glad to be done with studying for a while!

Day 53

It was late and I had put the kids to bed and I walked in to Gavin’s bathroom and saw this green dinosaur sitting in the bottom of his sink.  It fills up with water, and I told him he couldn’t have it anymore because he was squirting water on the carpet.  It was so funny to see it sitting in the bottom of the sink.

Day 52

Here is Emma holding a biscuit.  My Grandma Goodsell always used to make biscuits, and since Emma is her namesake, it seemed fitting that she should hold up the biscuit for the picture.  Biscuits are my favorite!

Day 51

On the way back from tucking the kids in bed, I looked down and realized they had made a tent home for their hippo.  Now that’s a happy looking hippo, and he was just sitting there in the hall staring at me.

Day 50

You know the kids have been to the doctor a lot when they start playing it and actually doing a pretty good job of imitating how a doctor’s office is run.  They even have the “doctor’s chair” in place.

Day 49

Here I am, 24 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  Hooray for me!

Day 48

We decided to have a day that revolved around the letter “N,” so we had nachos for lunch and made necklaces.  Then, I got tired and that was the end of that idea.  But, the kids still got excited, so I suppose that’s what counts.  Here is both the nachos and the necklace all in one picture!

Day 47

I had to take this picture of our messy, messy play room.  Ironically, we usually clean this every single day.  And when I say we clean it, I mean it’s nearly spotless.  And yet, somehow, every afternoon it is a huge disaster.  Today the kids were playing “Chip and Dale”, which is a game where they shoved toys down the little hole in the slide, somehow imitating a Donald Duck episode.

Day 46

Today Gavin and John were watching “Black Hole” together.  It’s such a nerd movie, but they both love it, so I couldn’t resist using this as my picture of the day.  Like father, like son.

Day 45

The kids wanted to play with the Lite Brite today, but I couldn’t find the black pattern papers anywhere.  So, they got creative and made their own drawings, and some of them were really good.  Here is Hadley with a self-portrait.

Day 44

Tonight I went upstairs to check on the kids after they went to bed and realized they had taken out a thing of play-doh and spread it everywhere.  Give me a break!  I found little blobs all over the upstairs.