Kicking off the New Year

Kicking off the New Year

It's been a stressful year. And it's sad too because it's only the 5th day. lol

On New Years Eve, I was so sick with a sinus infection (and fairly certain I just could not wait two more days for my dr's office to re-open) that I did the hassling hassle of calling doctors on-call, waiting for their call backs and trying to get medications sent to a pharmacy I normally don't use. But it did save me and by Jan 2, I was starting to feel much better.

So the nesting phase of pregnancy set in. And I decided that the kids need a good play area in our unfinished basement. The basement is currently housing an unused pool table (a hand-me-down given to us by a friend several years back), a cubicle-sized desk (Hubby's old computer desk), Christmas trees and decor, tons of outgrown baby/kid clothes, several tubs of craft projects and supplies (I'm a craft junkie at heart), baby contraptions like swings and exersaucers, an overflow area for cleaning supplies (because we shop at the club warehouse), our deep freezer, folding tables and chairs and lots of other odds and ends. But if I could organize it all and use the space well (someone send Mission:Organization my way!), I'm convinced I could put down a cheap large rug or two, paint some walls and make a nice play area for the 5 o'clock crazy hour.

What is 5 o'clock crazy hour, you ask? Well, let me tell you. This is the time of day, somewhere between 5 and 6pm, when my children go nuts. I hear them revving up right now in fact (they're running a little late today). They start by getting louder with their play. Then they go into chasing games and running the "circle" (the path between the breakfast room, living room and dining room). Jade is getting into the festivities now as well and things are louder than ever. Inevitably, some toy is picked up (today it's a wrapping paper tube, used as a lightsaber) and will be the object of their obsession. When one drops it, it's a mad dash to see who gets it next and then the chase ensues. Kind of a King-of-the-Hill game but not. So the running gets faster and louder and inevitably, one or more will get hurt at some point but the craziness always continues fairly quickly. This crazy hour usually lasts for about an hour, give or take. And this is the time that family drops in. They're on their way home from work and stop by or call and I can barely hear them above the fray. Many times lately I just let the phone go to voice mail and call them back later...much later...when children have calmed down. I've asked myself many times why they do this around 5-6pm every night. It's not that Daddy is coming home because he's not that consistent about getting home and they do it on the weekends too. Are they trying to get hungry? Have they been so sedentary all day that they just can't be still any longer? Is there something in the air? I don't know. What I do know is that someone will get hurt (in a minor way) and my ears will ache for a while after they're done.

I also have to explain to some of you what it's like to have two girls. One girl and a boy isn't bad. But you get two girls squealing at *that* frequency and you just wanna tear your hair out, buy earplugs and lock yourself in the garage until the hour has passed. It's worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. (They're now in FULL squealing mode and they are running so fast that the breeze is making me want to go find some socks to put on. Rose runs up to me with her hand on her heart and says, "Mommy, feel my heart beeping!")

I've often wondered why God called me to be a mother. Surely He had the foresight to *know* that annoying sounds like squeals and pots banging and loud things actually hurt my ears and WHY would he give me those extra sensitive ears and make me a mother? Surely in His divine wisdom, He knows He should have given me a little hard-hearing instead. ;)

Now most mothers probably just wouldn't put up with it. Sure, I could pop in a movie and they'd settle down immediately but there must be a reason they need to do this and why should I try to make an American kid even MORE sedentary? So I let them do it. But, in *my* divine wisdom, I've decided that I should make a great play area in the basement for them. And when I feel them revving up, I can send them to the basement for screaming hour. (Now the game has switched to "run the circle AND crawl under Mommy's legs while she's on the computer.)

So yesterday, in the midst of nesting and realizing how FAST I need to get this done before baby arrives, I decided to start on the basement. Actually, I started reorganizing kids clothing by size and sex the night before but last night I started moving boxes around. Lots of boxes. Labeling them, dumping this half box of toys into that one to combine, shoving Cmas decor boxes under the stairs (while leaving room for us to crawl incase of tornado, of course), etc. When I had thoroughly exhausted myself quite literally, I headed upstairs to start dinner. About halfway through dinner, I realized my mid-upper back on the left side was KILLING me. Sharp stabbing pains when I turned a certain way or lifted something. I overdid it, though I didn't really think I had at all. So I spent the evening on the couch with a heated rice sock on it. This morning the pain seemed better but definitely still there.

I spent the day just relaxing. I watched tv and read. No housework. An official "sick day" for a SAHM! Though lunch for kids still had to be prepared and some other duties I couldn't shirk but I didn't do a load of laundry or dishes or sweep or any of the regular stuff. I just rested my back. Around 1pm, I realized I had broken out into a deep sweat - for no reason whatsoever. I hadn't eaten anything yet that could contribute. I hadn't even been doing normal housework. My temp was almost 100 and it got me worrying that it was something more than a strained muscle, especially since I'd been on antibiotics all week (and still am). So after talking to my OB, who assured me that my kidneys were much further down, I took some Tylenol and am going to try to wing it this weekend. Why do illnesses always hit me on Fridays?? It seems I'm always wondering if I should go see my dr Friday afternoon or wait and see if it gets worse - and then I'm stuck on Saturday night wondering if I should go to urgent care or not. 'Course none of them would touch me with a 10ft pole since I'm pg but I could try, I suppose. Anyway, wish me luck. ;)

So this year has been full of illness and injury so far. PLEASE don't let it be the theme this year!! I have MNO (mom's night out) with my best buddy scheduled for tomorrow and babysitting her youngest on Sunday for a couple hours, along with a weekend with Hubby that I'd rather not waste by being sick/injured. My mother has had car trouble out the wazoo the last few weeks and I'm equally praying she isn't setting up her year to follow in this week's footsteps as well.

I suppose it will be late next week until I can get to the basement again, which isn't very pleasant on this nesting feeling I have. Wow, can you believe it's only 3 months until our last baby arrives?? And my best bud and I agree - I currently look more pregnant than I ever have before. 'Course I lost 60 lbs with the first two and 30 with the last one and only about 10 with this one so far. Sooo...I guess it stands to reason. ;) But I feel really huge for the first time while pg. Usually people guess me about 4 months pg when I actually only have a few weeks until delivery. I'm guessing that's not going to happen this time. :(

Sooo...I hope your first week of the year has been better to you. Not that I can only complain. We've had fun playing with our new toys and the weather has been very mild, almost spring-like (not that we've been out enjoying it though). And I even won a $25 Starbucks gift card today! So the year is definitely starting to look up. :)