Hanging in there

I have no idea how long it's been since I've blogged but I know it's been a little while.  Everything is going well but I'm exhausted.  I suspect the third trimester is just taking a lot out of me.  I don't think I've ever felt this tired during this stage of a pregnancy before.

Last Friday I had an ultrasound and the baby, who is still a boy, is doing well.  Based on the measurements they did they estimate that the baby is already 4lbs 5oz.  They tell me this is around the 50% percentile for a baby at 32 weeks but it just seems huge to me.  As of right now I have about 7 1/2 weeks until my due date.  I'm really hoping that this little one decides to come early, or at least by his due date.

Saturday I had that awful tearing muscle pain that I experienced with Katie for several months.  This time it was on the other side of my belly.  Not fun at all, but I'm so glad that it only persisted for one day.  I'm hoping that it doesn't happen again.

We had a few days of nice weather so I got to go out and walk around the neighborhood.  I'd love to have nice comfortable weather for a few weeks straight so I could walk every day.  It seems so crazy that it was in the 50s and 60s on Friday and Saturday and by Sunday night it was snowing yet again.  I cannot express how tired I am of snow.

Since the ultrasound tech on Friday told me that the baby is definately a boy and this is the fourth time the baby's gender has been confirmed, I decided to just go ahead and wash the clothes I bought for the baby.  So between Friday and Saturday I got all of the baby clothes washed and organized in the closet and drawers.  It's funny.  I did my best to make sure I only purchased what we would need and I still feel like we have too much.  I did have a few people give me some hand me downs so that's probably why I have a bit of a surplus.  I am doing really well with not buying more clothing for the baby.  It's so hard to resist cute little baby outfits, but I'm doing it!

I realized the other day that I've been doing a dismal job of taking pictures of the kids lately.  I guess it's another thing I can chalk up to being so exhausted.  I am trying to grab the camera here and there and take pictures.  It's just not happening very often.

On the VBS planning front I've made some headway.  I finally got things together and registration is open.  I have a friend who graciously offered to do all of the data entry associated with registration.  Another friend is helping me to find resources that work with this year's theme, and two others are giving me input for the crafts portion of the program.  I really just need to come up with a design for the camp tee shirts and get those ordered and I'll feel like I can relax a bit.  Oh and so I don't have to run around like a crazy person the week of VBS I have not one, but two assistants!  That makes me feel a lot better about running VBS with a two month old.

Lent feels like it's slipping by pretty fast.  The girls are filling up the bean jar and covering up our merciful cross with flowers for each work of mercy performed.  Our Jesus tree on the other hand is still bare.  We just haven't found the time yet to read the stories for a single ornament.  I keep telling them that we're going to have to do a few days where we cover several stories so we can catch up but it just hasn't happened yet.  The third trimester is really kicking my rear!

Once again I'm doing the 40 bags in 40 days challenge for Lent.  I'd say we're already off to a good start.  We have already given away, donated or tossed at least 15-20 bags and boxes of stuff.  I suspect we will have a lot more than 40 bags before Lent is over.  I'm purging a lot of household items that we don't need duplicates or even triplicates of as well as a lot of clothing.  I'm coming to realize that we can't save all of the girl's outgrown clothing.  It's piling up way too fast and I'd rather see it go to people who can use it now rather than box it up with the hopes that some of it will get used by one of the younger girls.  I have a lot of clothing to go through, but my goal is to keep only the items that I know will get used and give away the rest.  I'm also trying to pare down the amount of games and toys we have since I've come to realize that the less we have the more the kids play with the toys and the easier it is for them to manage putting their toys away when they're done playing.  It's a work in progress and an exercise in detachment.

I don't think I even got around to blogging about my nephew's baptism on the first Sunday of Lent.  Bryan and I are his godparents.  It was a really beautiful baptism and I was just struck when I followed my nephew's gaze as he was being baptized and realised that he was looking at the painting of St. Therese who was right above the baptismal font.  It was a moment that just left me saying "Wow!"  As I held him for the baptism I just knew by the the look of wonder on his face that he was looking at something and I had to look over my shoulder and find out what it was.  I'm really glad I did.

Soon I hope to be blogging more and also sharing some pictures.  Right now I just don't have the energy to edit my pictures and go through all the steps to get them uploaded and added to the blog.  Provided I don't continue to feel completely run down I should be able to get back into blogging.