Oh, and...

I forgot to mention... I found out that I have life long immunity to Human Parvo (Did I mention that Chase got Fifths Disease a while back? And that it can cause serious Pregnancy complications? So I had to be checked to see if I had it, and looks like I had it at some point.)

And so much for the swelling being better in the mornings... today it is TERRIBLE.

So bad in fact that the first things that Chase said to me this morning were.

"Whoa! Your legs are way weird."

and then a minute or two later...

"Mom, is it possible for someone to be so swollen that they have a second chin? Because I think that you are..."

Yes, Chase it is... and thanks a lot for pointing it out. Good Morning to you, too.

34 weeks 4 days (in which I comment a lot)

Lots going on here at the Godale house.

This week I had a two day event with nearly 75 attendees. Ellis has been attending Safety Town (in the mornings), Chase and Ellis have been attending VBS at Grandma Marge's church (in the evenings), there was an evening visit with some of Mark's out of town relatives (we hadn't seen them since our wedding 11 years ago), Chase passed her Red Cross Level 3 test (second time is the charm and she is THRILLED), Chase spent the evening last night puking (just in time for our house guest), we are hosting Valmir Nunes at our house (very sweet man, does not speak English) and we will be topping the week off with Mark and Valmir running the Burning River 100 mile race (USTF Trail Championship). Oh, and I am very pregnant.

Today I got to take troops with me to my check-up (Ellis was at Safety Town so at least I didn't have the older two fighting...) Chase was helpful and played with Avery.

Baby's heartbeat is strong, my blood pressure is low (so not worried about all my edema), baby has turned and dropped (I always have nightmares about breech so this is good), contractions are what they are (can you say painful and annoying), measuring small (always have), have gained 25 lbs (looks like my goal of staying under 30 is attainable... and considering how much water weight I am carrying in my puffy face, arms and legs... I am hoping I'll be sweating a lot of it off at the end.) Doctor noted that I am pass the point of steroid intervention should we have to deliver early so we are just in a holding pattern at this point. I go back in two weeks.

Medically I might be considered holding steady, but I am honestly pretty miserable. Sciatica is so much worse now that baby has dropped. Swelling in hands is more painful than the feet, but both are making me cranky. Getting an average of three- four hours of sleep a night. 3am you would likely find me crying on the couch cursing the same old "Paid Programming." Days are better, simply because I am too busy to dwell on how I feel (and the swelling is usually less before 3pm).

I am hoping that I'll be able to relax a little next week. Next week the girls only have one morning scheduled with activity and I have two days scheduled to be in the office. Sounds down right calm... can't wait.

Check, Check and Check

It may only be the middle of July, but I am happy to report that most of the big "Back to School" tasks are done. Out of the way. Checked off the list.

School supplies are bought*, labeled, sorted, and boxed for both Chase and Ellis. Check. Check. Check.

New book bags have been ordered and should arrive this week. Check.

There are a few things left on the list. Chase and Ellis both have to have gym shirts with their names on front and back. We got inexpensive solid color tees (green for Chase and purple for Ellis) and although the school says you can write your name in marker, when your Daddy is an artist, this JUST WON'T DO. Mark is designing iron-ons. Chase and Ellis think that flowers would be nice. And, I want to wait until the last minute for shoe shopping. It seems like both of them have massive foot growth in the summer.

But for the most part, I feel like I can say--Done. And it feels pretty good.

I am working on finding ways to make our mornings a little easier come school. I have hung a 10 cubby canvas sorter in Chase and Ellis closet. The top five will be Chase's and lower five will be Ellis'. I explained that on Sunday evenings we'll place Monday through Friday outfits-- complete from undies and socks to shirts and pants--one in each slot. So in the mornings, they can each just grab an outfit, get dressed, and go. All of the outfit sorting drama (Ellis is the one for this) can be saved for one evening. Keeping my fingers crossed that this works!

Nothing like the pending threat of a baby born the first week of school to get things organized and a plan in place! I suppose this is a form of nesting.

It feels great to check things off this list!

*Finding tubs of Wet Ones was the most difficult task on the list! After no success at three stores, Mark cornered a Red Shirt at Target. It took three employees and a computer look-up to find them. They are not in the baby aisle. Nor the health and beauty area, and not even the cleaning area. Nope. They are with paper plates. Seriously, who planned that one. Considering that they are on every back to school list we have ever had, I would think that moving some to the school supply area might be in order.

Threes

I have heard it said that things come in threes. For Chase, this summer has brought stings. First was a Yellow Jacket, then a Brown Wasp, and third was your run of the mill Honey Bee. I always thought that honey bees were supposed to be milder, but Chase had the strongest reaction to this one.


This is a cell phone pic (but it give you the basic idea) that I sent to Mark's cousin the doctor to decide if it merited a trip to the pediatrician. This is day two of taking Motrin and Benadryl. Her toes aren't dirty here... just purple. Her advice was to try Claritin first (getting her to take this required treating her like an angry cat) and see if we had any improvement. I guess that sometimes some people respond better to different antihistamines. If we don't see any improvement, she suggests going to the Pediatrician for steroids.

I'd love to turn down the drama dial here for a bit...

Oosh

I think it is somehow ingrained in the DNA. I have my third lover of Oosh.

All three girls have used this particular sounding word to mean Shoes.

And Avery started the day with an arm flapping tantrum... screaming OOSH... when I removed her from the shoe closet--where she had been busy tossing every shoe out into the entry way--so that we could have breakfast.

18 Months

***Updated***

I forgot to mention... the doctor pointed out that Avery is slightly pigeon toed. I asked if this would correct itself or if we would need to do something about it... his comment was "If she doesn't outgrow it, it will probably just make her a faster runner." Mark will be excited to hear this one.

***********

AKA a year and a half...

I have thought that Avery seemed bigger. And she is... she has jumped a percentile ranking!

Length: 29.75 inches (5th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs even (3-5th percentile)
Head: 18 inches (25-50th percentile)

No shots. Thank goodness!

Chase and Ellis were HORRIBLE at the appointment. Wrestling, fighting over the chair, whining and crying. My favorite is when Chase decided to start contradicting me when the doctor was asking me questions. They are lucky that I choose to bring them home with me... I almost left them there. They fought and cried all the way home.

If you find my last nerve, please return it to me. It is going to be a long day without it.

Busy Fourth

The Fourth of July was a busy one for the Godale family. Even if nearly all of it happened within steps of the Library Gazebo. (So nice to live only five minutes from the Library!)

We started out the day with the 27th Annual Aurora Fun Run. This was Chase and Ellis' first official race--complete with bib numbers and bananas afterwards.

Avery wanted to run the race.

Sisters at the starting line.

Halfway to the finish.

Celebrating the finish under the sprinkler.

We dashed home to eat pancakes and change clothes and were back to the Library in about an hour. There we set up camp (with Grandma Jean, Grandma Marge, Grandpa Chuck, Uncle Steve, Uncle Phil and crew, and Kam) to watch the parade.

There was only ONE float (lots of cars, trucks, bands, etc... but just ONE float-- done by our development. And I didn't get a picture of it.) ANYWAY.


After the parade we hiked up the hill to the tiny festival for our $4 corn dog and $6 lemonade and watched Jungle Terry share his snakes, alligator, turtles, chinchilla, albino skunk, and hedgehogs with us.

At that point, I took my swollen legs and tired kids home for naps.

We capped off the day with a trip back to the Library lawn (where we sat to watch the fireworks.)

Contaction Action

31 weeks. I haven't updated in a while. Probably because there is nothing new or exciting about this pregnancy.

In standard (for me) fashion, I have been the contraction queen. They are getting seriously old. And seriously painful. Nothing like trying to sleep and contracting every 5 min. Couple that with sciatic pain shooting down my legs and my hands swelling at night to look like baseball gloves and you have a recipe for a tired and cranky mom.

The good news is that the edema is unrelated to blood pressure. Still holding steady at 110/70. The swelling is a new thing for me, and I guess I'll blame it on summer. I have cut as much salt as possible out of the diet and am drinking lots of water, but it doesn't seem to matter.

The baby has a nice strong heart beat, and is moving well. I think she has turned and suspect that she dropped this week (has happened in all three other pregnancies between 30-32 weeks) I suspect this because I can finally breath again... and have to use the bathroom about every 5 min.

There it is folks. Can you see why I don't force you to hear updates on a regular basis? Just sounds like a lot of whining.