Are we there yet?

The third trimester is really doing a number on me this time around.  Keeping up with a two year old, trying to keep the house in order and get everything ready for the new baby along with making sure we stay on track with homeschooling is a lot of work.  Most days I feel like I'm going to fall asleep while I sit in the parking lot at Ellie's school waiting for her to come out.  Saying I feel exhausted at times would be a huge understatement.

I feel like our plans for Lent never really took off.  I had planned to do the Jesus tree readings with the girls each day but the closest we ever got to doing it was me hanging up the felt tree and taking out the ornaments.  They'll all still sitting in the basket waiting to be used.  Aside from the kids just being busy with soccer practices and everything else that crops up, I just couldn't find the motivation to dig out the list with the daily readings and the picture bible that went with it.  I feel so lazy with regards to this, but I keep reminding myself that the bean jar and merciful cross Lenten activities are going well.  And, the girls are at daily Mass with me most days so that has to count for something.

I decided once again to do the 40 bags in 40 days thing for Lent and that's going really well.  I've detached myself from a lot of material things and I'm still not done.  I've lost track of how much we have given away, donated and tossed but I know we've gone past 40 bags or boxes.  I just started going through the baby girl clothes today.  My goal is to get through all of the sizes Katie has outgrown before Easter.  I'm trying to whittle down what we have to a reasonable amount of clothing in case we ever have another baby girl.  For the new baby, I'm trying not to buy more clothing that what we would reasonably need.  I have a hard time resisting cute baby clothes so this is a bit of a challenge for me.

I'm almost ready for Easter.  Candy is purchased and most of what I need for the baskets I have already procured.  I still have a few items that I need to order and I suppose I should do it soon.

Tomorrow I'll be 36 weeks along.  I've been feeling really off the past few days.  I can walk a mile around the neighborhood and feel fine but going up a flight of stairs makes me feel like I'm going to pass out from exhaustion.  At my doctors appointment yesterday they were concerned that my blood pressure was elevated but after having me lie down for a few minutes and taking my blood pressure again they were able to get a slighly lower reading.  So I'm wondering if perhaps I'm on the brink of having some sort of issue.  I really don't feel right and can't recall ever having felt like this with the other pregnancies.  I go for a non-stress test and an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid level tomorrow.

Madeline's third marking period is behind us now and she's working her way towards the end.  I have most of the lessons plans for the rest of the year finished.  If we're able to keep everything on track even with a newborn in the house sometime in the next 2-5 weeks, she will be done before June.

Not knowing just when the baby will arrive makes me anxious.  I really wish I knew when labor was going to happen.  It would make things easier if I could just add it to the schedule. I'm hoping he makes his entrance sooner rather than later.  Things are getting a bit cramped and uncomforable in my torso and I sure would appreciate the breathing room.

I still don't think Katie gets that we're going to have a baby in the house soon.  We talk about the baby but it all seems to just go over her head.  I'm really not sure how she's going to react when we bring her little brother home.  She really loves babies so I'm hoping she will be happy to have a baby in the house but I'm bracing myself for what I suspect could be a difficult transistion for her.

I think this pretty much wraps up all the things I've had swirling around in my head that I haven't been able to blog about.  I have pictures of Katie enjoying the nice spring weather we've had the past week or so and also pictures from the older girls' soccer games.  I've gone to four soccer games in the past week!  I'm trying to get to as many of their games as I can before the baby arrives since I don't know if I'll be at many or any for the rest of the season once the baby is here.