Quick Takes on St. Valentine's Day

~1~

I'm really not much of a Valentine's Day person.  It's just one of those holidays I don't get into.  I'm more inclined to go all out for St. Patrick's Day.  Does that make me a Valentine scrooge?  I'm not sure.    The girls really place a lot of importance on St. Valentine's Day so last night Bryan and I went to Target for bread, eggs, and Valentine gifts for the girls.  Apparently the foot of snow we got Wednesday night into Thursday morning meant that eggs and bread were nowhere to be found in the store.  So we ended up with a cart full of junk food, a couple of books and a small chicken.

~2~

I'm 28 weeks pregnant today.  Just twelve more weeks until my due date.  I feel like I still have a lot to do.  Katie still needs to be moved into her new room which has been painted for nearly a month.  I'm still trying to decide if I should paint Madeline's old armoire white (It's presently a honey pine finish.) and use Ellie's white headboard for Katie's bed, or if I should leave the armoire as it is and use Madeline's old four poster bed (which used to be mine).  Both Bryan and my Mother would prefer I not get into a furniture refinishing project right now.  I'm just not sure what I want to do.  Part of me really wants Katie to have all white furniture and part of me just wants to take the option that requires the least amount of work on my part.  After all, I already had to paint a room for her and it took a coat of primer and two coats of pink to cover the blue walls.  What do you think? Paint the armoire white or stick with the present finish.?

~3~

Since I hit the 28 week mark today I am able to pre-register for the delivery and the hospital stay that I would very much like to avoid.  I've had dreams where I've managed to deliver the baby by myself in the laundry room.  Strange, I know.  It's funny, but I really feel like if I can labor without anyone knowing, I could pull off delivering at home.  Bryan isn't amused and insists that I will be at the hospital with plenty of time to spare before the baby is born.  Not if I can help it.  I told him I'm good with delivering the baby in the hospital parking lot if need be.  The less time I can spend in the hospital the better.  He says I'm being selfish, but when it comes to this I'm ok with that.  I'd be more inclined to happily go to the hospital if I knew they'd let me and the baby go home two or three hours after I deliver.

~4~

Snow.  I'm sick of it!  We had twelve inches of the white stuff when we woke up yesterday.  It started to melt when it warmed up a bit (mid-30s) and began to rain.  The rain stopped, the temperatures dropped and we got a couple inches more overnight.  When will it end?  We're supposed to get a bit more tomorrow.  And thanks to all of this snow Ellie's last day of school is now June 30th.  That's just insane.  Imagine spending the whole month of June in school.  I can't think of anything less fun than that.  Madeline on the other hand was complaining that she doesn't get any snow days with homeschooling.  She stopped complaining when Bryan asked her if she'd rather be doing school when it's warm enough to go swimming.

~5~

I'm wondering how minimalist I can go with baby gear this time around.  I really don't want to feel closed in with tons of baby gear and toddler toys on the main level of the house.  I'd like to thin out some of the baby items we have and just use the things we really need.  My adversion to big baby gear has been triggered by a Fisher Price swing I'm presently trying to evaluate for an Amazon Vine review.  I've had to assemble and disassemble this thing multiple times in the past two weeks due to defective swing motors.  Three to be exact.  The third replacement motor was just delivered today.  Here's hoping that the 4th time's a charm.  If not, there's no way I can give this swing a good review when it's time for me to do a write-up on it.  If anything, the swing has convinced me that the older model that a friend gave to us is better and that I should stick with using the travel sized one that we used for Katie.

~6~

Katie is doing really well with the potty training while she's awake.  I had been putting her in pull-ups when we go out but we've had several instances in the past week where we've forgotten about the pull-up and she's been just fine with going to Mass, or the store or even out to eat.  I'm just amazed at how well she's doing.  She's not even the least bit timid about using public rest rooms which was always a stubling block for the older two.   I don't think we'll see any real progress during nap and bedtime until she's in her big girl bed and can actually get up and go to the potty.  

~7~

I decided that since just about everywhere in the house is a mess that I'd break out my camera remote and take a picture in the only room that doesn't look like it was bombed.  There's my big ol'28 weeks along belly.  I keep telling Bryan that I think I'm as big now as I was when I was full term with Katie.  He keep assuring me that I'm not, but I'm not so certain.  I'm hoping that the baby is born early and is 8lbs or smaller.