I had kind of a funny day yesterday. It was a really lovely kick off, with my mom coming to hang with the littles so I could take Dekker to school without everyone else. Normally we spend the rest of that one morning together, but it was my day to help at the preschool, which was completely fine, but I missed hanging out with her. She stuck around through lunch but had other things up that afternoon. Which, again, was fine. I hung out in bed and rested a little. I was feeling a bit emotional yesterday and needed the reprieve just as much as the kids did. But a certain child was bucking the system hard and ruined naps for the whole bunch. Keep in mind that all of the kids have colds. So a nap was pretty stinking necessary. But, cool. *sigh* I picked Dekker up from school, and thankfully he seemed happy. But once we were outside, he slipped on some grass. He aaalmost didn’t even go down, but in his general upset, he plunked down on the ground, and wailed like a crazy person. He couldn’t even really point to a spot that hurt. He was just wounded, somehow. And guys, he WAILED. Like, other parents came over to make sure he was ok and hadn’t broken anything. And he hadn’t. He had aggressively sat in grass. And I even say “aggressively” lightly. There is no bruise. No grass stain. No nothing. Nothing happened. After naps had been such a bust, and everyone was already wrecked enough for the end of the day, I had a pretty low level of patience. But, as always, I tried my best to roll with it. I kissed his leg and we walked to the van, him limping dramatically the whole way.

Because of the afternoon’s disobedience, the kids lost any tv privileges. Its been DAYS without any tv, and while I know lots of people’s kids don’t watch any tv, ours do. Its so handy for a little rest, to give their brains a rest and to slow everyone down. No one is running laps around my feet while the tv is on. No one is fighting when the tv is on. Its a nice calm time. This entire week, we’ve been without that nice, quiet stretch of entertainment.

The house grew chaotic once everyone was back in it, and I needed to do something. I’ve been trying to picture the house decorated for the baby party, but its always such a mess that I just can’t see past it. I TRY, but its just hard. Especially the kitchen! Yikes! WHAT a mess! Even with the dishes all done and put away, too many things live on my counter, or on the fridge, or on the island. Not to mention how dirty the cabinets are! Yikes! So I went on a rampage, which is logical, right? I got all the dirty dishes tidied and put away, and made an easy, practical plan for where things that have to live on the counter can go during the party. I went to put a couple of things in a cupboard, and that grew into a HUGE project of gutting the cabinets and deciding what actually needs to stay and what can really go because we never ever use it. We’re donating a ton of stuff to our friends’ garage sale, and this random purge added so much to that load!

When Brady got home, I was up on a chair, digging random pumpkin carving tools out of the back of a cupboard. I greeted him and then spouted off a hundred different things about what I wanted to get rid of and where things had moved that we were keeping. I had a list of other things that had popped into mind that I wanted to get rid of but hadn’t gathered up yet. I started talking party stuff and plans and he very politely listened and responded as he went around and hugged and kissed his whole family. Once my rant was over, he excused himself upstairs to go wash up and change, and my annoying, needy self followed him up moments later. I was SO ready for him to be home. The moment I plunked down on the bed to talk to him, I was finished. He lovingly told me that was fine, and encouraged me to take a rest. I couldn’t wind down, and kept spouting. I admitted how hard the afternoon had been and that I was struggling. He sat and listened and understood. He is truly the best man for me.

As we chatted, I heard the clinking of dishes. Real dishes. I thought about it. I wouldn’t put it past my kids to do the dishes on their own, honestly, but I had just done them, and there were only a few dirty ones in the dishwasher. Less than a minute later, Dekker showed up at our room and knocked on the door. He presented me with a bowl of Cheerios.

Now, to clarify, I hadn’t been crying, or yelling, or really showing any signs of struggle. I was in business mode, but that was the worst of it. So this was less of a “save mom’s life” move and more just a love move! I thanked him and kissed him and he scampered off, very happy with himself, as he should’ve been!

I stayed upstairs and ate my Cheerios while I watched some YouTube and made a list of things that I can buy in advance for the baby party. Basically all the non-food stuff. While I did that, Brady informed me through text that Dekker had tried to bring me a second bowl of Cheerios. He also insisted on taking our carpet sweeper to the living room rug. He showed up at my bedroom door one more time to bring me a cozy blanket from the couch. It was SO sweet.

Thankfully, after kind of a strange, overwhelming afternoon, Dekker really softened the blow. He will make an excellent husband one day. But until then, I’m VERY grateful to have him as my little man. I hope he does these loving things for everyone in his life. And with that, I hope I start liking cereal along the way…

I was waiting to take pictures of everything I bought in Edmonton to post them here, but I’ve done that in the past and they’re sometimes just long and boring. So rather, I thought a list would work too 🙂 Hope that works and isn’t even more boring… I make no promises. I’ve already put some of it to use so hopefully I don’t forget anything!!!

In no particular order…

We hit Old Navy twice. I bought myself a striped sweatshirt with a pineapple on it. Laela got a dress that I have yet to try on her, but I bought a size up, so 🤞 we’ll see! I also bought Bambina a romper with happy lemons on it, as well as some denim ruffle bum “bloomers.” I do not like the word “bloomers” at all, but I wanted to find her some real denim shorts and this was the closest I could find. They’re cute! I bought Brady a nice new pair of chambray shorts, as he wore last years pair into the ground, and a grey tshirt. Nothing too crazy.

We also went to H&M twice, but I had some things on my list there. I got two maternity tshirts, and one maternity long sleeved shirts. All will translate to post-baby clothes also. Win! But Laela needed a few things from there, and she got them! A new hoodie, a couple of dresses, and some other little cheap dresses that I buy her each year to use for nighties. Bambina also got a little set of soft spaghetti strap tank tops.

I bought a pair of distressed dark jeans out of Motherhood for only $20! They’re the super duper low rise cut rather than the full belly panel, which I’m SO happy about! The belly panel can eat me. I’m just not a fan.

The Gap was good and bad. I LOVE their maternity stuff but its almost never actually in stores :/ Regardless, Laela got a tshirt and a romper off the clearance rack, and a new pack of underwear that I wish I could show you because they’re SO cute, but I’m pretty sure there are rules against that, so nope. I got myself a pair of floral stretchy pants that are just way too cute!

We tried out a new store called Cloud Nine Pajamas, and before I even saw the pajamas, I saw a wall of those ultra-absorbant underwear that I’ve been thinking about getting for my postpartum “fun” to come this summer. They weren’t quite the brand I had my eye on, (they were more spandexy and less soft) but they are a completely reputable brand, and they were on sale. Since they weren’t exactly what I was looking for, I decided to buy one pair and try them out. So we’ll see how that goes.

I could have spent a FORTUNE at Bye Bye Baby! Everything was SO cute, but SO stinking expensive. I just can’t justify a romper for $40. Just can’t. But I bought Bambina a headband. It has bananas on it. I love it.

I bought the Modern Renaissance palette out of Sephora! I’ve been drooling over that thing for a while now!

Also, I bought my first ever pair of sparkle balls out of Hillberg & Berk. I chose the Amethyst color, because surprise surprise! Purple is my favorite.

A quick stop in an Indigo for Starbucks reminded me I have a book I wanted to buy for the baby party. I’m hoping everyone will write something inside of it for her. Its called “I Prayed for You.” And boy, did I ever! I think many of us did.

Last but not least, I hit IKEA, and did WAY better than I thought I would! My best, biggest purchase from there was my third (and final, I promise, Brady!) white drawer unit that I use to hold my makeup. I’m SO stoked to have this last one to really store everything I need it to. No more boxes of things living under my vanity table or just randomly stashed throughout my room. All the extras can live in these things! Its perfect!! Besides that, I bought Brady a new lamp, because the one on his side of the bed is pretty ripped up. I bought a little runner to put on our piano so people can feel more comfortable to set food and drinks up there. I bought a ton more kids sized hangers. I bought napkins for the baby party, as well as two little lanterns to add to the decor for the party. Oh, and a whisk. Also that.

But really, guys, thats it!! I feel like I’ve been WAY more impulsive in the past, but was considerably more calculated and careful this time. I love EVERYTHING I brought home. I think its safe to say I made pretty good choices. *pats herself on the back*

Whew! NOW I can put it all away!! Yay for a tidy bedroom once again!

Today already feels WAY better than yesterday, though in some ways that makes no sense. Dekker and Laela have been a bit snotty the last couple of days, and today, the little boys have joined the fun, with an added dry cough. Ugh. Poor kids. Thankfully, though, two loving friends of our family came by this morning to help out! This goes SUCH a long way, because I can get a few things done without a snot monster clinging to my ankle, and/or actually SIT while drinking a hot coffee.

This morning, I did a bit of both. I took Dekker to school without having to bring everyone else along. I finished up some dishes and made my bed, as well as the kids beds. The job of chopping enough vegetables for an army was done for me. I boiled a bunch of eggs up for Brady’s lunches.

Yesterday, I made a few of the appointments on my list, but not all. The ones I still haven’t done are only waiting because I’m not entirely sure when to book them for. I did a handful of other things off of the list yesterday, and it feels WAY less ominous now! I still have some things to look up and make decisions about.

One big thing is that I really want to get invitations made for the baby party, mostly so I can hand them out at church, as I don’t have my entire church family on Facebook. I have a prototype made up already, and I think it would be worth it to have them on hand early so I can literally drop them in mailboxes the day we get home. Would be best for us, anyway, as the party will be less than two weeks after that. But!! Brady and I are suddenly less confident on her middle name, and obviously her name is on the invite!! Ack! So that waits, but hopefully not for long. I’d love to have that nailed down as soon as possible!

As tends to happen (hopefully not just for me) as I’ve been crossing stuff off my list, I’m adding more. The list will NEVER quit, haha! But most of the added items are things I need to purchase, so thats easier to swing in any regular errand day. Those things don’t freak me out as much as things I have to do. Hopefully the to-dos are wiped off the list soon enough!

I thank you SO MUCH, my friends who lovingly come over expecting to lend a hand!! Help looks different to lots of different people, and it is legitimately helpful to come and do jobs, read to my kids, visit with me, etc. There is ALWAYS work to be done. My kids will ALWAYS ask for a story. I will ALWAYS welcome adult conversation. These things all go SUCH a long way!

A friend is now on her way over to talk some baby party details with me! Eek! If you hadn’t picked up on it, I could talk about that party ALL day! I anticipate I’ll go through some withdrawal when its over and done with. Don’t forget to let me know if you’re AT ALL interested in coming! I may just keep randomly inviting people but I’d hate to miss anyone! It is NOT a “ladies only” event, either. Think less “baby shower” and more “brunch party.” Everyone is welcome! There will be men, there will be women, and there will be kids! I’m so excited!!!

I have an ominous list of things to do starting at me. Some of it was done yesterday, and I’d like to finish the rest asap. Some of it really doesn’t have to happen this week, but its written down so I don’t completely forget about it.

Today, I have to boil up a dozen eggs, do dishes, fold three hampers of laundry, and ideally I’d unpacked and organize my bags/purchases from this weekends trip.

I have a ton of things I’ve put off getting done that I should call and make appointments for, but what is it about making phone calls that just feels ominous? And thats the ONE job you can’t really call people in to help you with. No one can make my calls but me!

I need to book a pre-delivery physio appointment.

I’d like to book my nails/wax appointment for right before baby comes, as well, so I don’t forget and then get stuck without because of grad season.

I need to call Dr. Guselle and see if she’ll agree to remove Brady’s stitches at our prenatal this week, or if she doesn’t have time, to book with someone else, or just ask Brady to hit up a walk-in.

I was thinking I should book Dekker and Solly haircuts for the end of June, but maybe mid-July would be better. I’m not sure yet. And that one CAN wait. I just don’t want to forget.

On top of these things, I need to pick up a few more things for the baby party. I know its still a good ways off, but the things I CAN do in advance, I want to. So I have to gather up some more fake flowers and a TON of hot glue sticks, haha!

This is also the week leading up to garage sale day, and we’ve been talking about purging a haul out of our garage and donating it to one sale or another. But that’ll take time in the evening, which is our only real chance to actually spend time together. So we’ll see if we get there.

Oh, right. I’m helping at preschool on Thursday. Thats another thing.

And picking up fundraiser stuff after school today. Shoot. Don’t forget that, Hailey!

I just thought of something else as I was finishing that sentence, but now I forgot it…

Prenatal on Friday! Maybe Brady’s stitches removal. We’ll still have to see about that.

Just ALL kinds of things to remember, and I have to buckle down and do them!! I read something the other day that basically said forget waiting for motivation and just rock self discipline! It was written considerably more gently than that, but this is my version 😉 Maybe everyone thinks that way, but it resonated with me. I can’t count on being motivated all the time, because when that stuff doesn’t get done, its still on me! I have the gift of self discipline, as we ALL do! Not everything is going to come easy. Sometimes we have to make it!

Time to go get Laela from preschool, and then get a few things done while everyone is contained and eating lunch! Wish me luck!

My goodness!! That weekend FLEW by and that means another week of pregnancy down!! With Edmonton done, that means one more thing off the list of whats happening before baby comes! Eight weeks left! While I was in no way anticipating Edmonton being over, it does signify time moving forward! I cannot believe this whole thing is coming closer and closer.

Size Comparison: So I hear the baby is the size of a romaine lettuce heart, but I also read baby is the size of a coconut. So maybe she’s as long as a romaine lettuce heart but as heavy as a coconut? Guys, I really wish I knew more about her :/ But these weird comparisons are all I have to go on!

Appointments: I have a prenatal on Friday, so I’m anticipating that. I have a few questions I want to ask, and some anxiety I need to get a handle on. Hopefully they can help with a few things, anyway. I’m looking forward to the appointment, because this was my last one that I would have to wait a month for! Smaller stretches from here on out!

How am I feeling emotionally: I think my mental health isn’t quite acing it recently. I didn’t realize that I was having a drop that way until recently. I haven’t seen my baby girl in an ultrasound for ten weeks, and while I know thats completely normal, and that I was totally spoiled in the beginning stretch of my pregnancy, seeing her so often, I’ve found myself in fear that something has changed, and we’ll miss it. I have no reason to actually think anything is wrong, but I do waste some time wondering. I don’t even know what I’m specifically worried that we’d “miss,” but I’m worried. Sigh. I’ve been entering a contest for the last few weeks to win a free 3D ultrasound. I had in 15 entries before they made the draw. There were only about 110 entries total. I was so hopeful, but of course, I didn’t win. That felt weirdly like a bigger hit than it should have been. I was kind of counting on that being my chance to see her again :/ But frankly, now, at 31 weeks, its likely to be a bit too late anyway. With Ro, I believe we had a 3D scan around 32 weeks and could barely see anything. So sadly, I think my chance to see my beautiful little miss has passed. Until she’s born, anyway. I’m bummed, and a little worried, but it’ll be ok. If you remember, the last time we had an ultrasound was around 21.5 weeks, and the printer was down. We finally went and asked for the pictures the other day. The tech and receptionist gushed and said they missed us so much. ❤ I miss them too. And seeing my baby. Here are the best pictures from the batch they gave us.

First is that glorious profile shot!

If you can see it, this is her little nose and mouth.

And a strong little leg!

Sigh. She is SO beautiful!

How am I feeling physically: Honestly, I feel good considering how far in I am. Sore and tired, but thats to be expected. Dare I say, I feel “normal?” I think I feel how I’m supposed to, anyway. My feet and legs get quite tired after a lot of walking, I have a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions when I move around too much (or at all.) I sleep hard but wake up to pee a lot. All the normal stuff. Nothing too crazy just yet. 

Wish Lish/Purchases: The most EXCITING purchase in the recent past is our new-to-us stroller!! I was dreaming of getting a nicer double stroller, but the ones that are SO nice are also SO expensive. Even if I had the money to fork over and buy a one new, I just couldn’t imagine doing it. (No burn on those who do, though! A good stroller counts for a LOT!) I’ve been watching Kijiji closely for a while now and I saw the exact stroller I was dreaming of! It was out of our budget, but it was the closest I had seen! I messaged the seller and poured over a very careful message that said I didn’t want to low-ball her, and I knew how expensive those strollers were, but if she decided to drop her price, I asked that she’d contact me first, please, before posting it online with a lower price. She responded how I secretly hoped she would, by giving me her lowest price, which we took! We are now the embarrassingly excited owners of a City Select double stroller!! Woot! I can’t wait to push my little ones around in a stroller that doesn’t feel like a shopping cart!! Still remaining on our wish list are some small things. I’m hoping to get my hands on a few soft, cloth headbands, with the twist in front, or something like that. Just soft little headbands. Also, a liner type thing to stretch over her car seat to make it a bit softer. I have a SUPER bright one that I don’t love, and my other grey one is beat up and threadbare. Lastly, I am in the market for a beater old garage fridge!! It seems like a dumb thing to include in the wish list of baby things, but I’m thinking ahead to the baby party and I need a fridge to store things in! We’ve needed a second fridge for quite a while, but we will need it for this summer! If anyone has an old second fridge they’re thinking of getting rid of, please get rid of it over here at our house! Or if you know of someone selling one for super cheap on garage sale day this weekend, please tip me off! That would make the baby party prep SO much easier than having to ask people to store stuff for us, and then running all over town to gather it all up on the day of. 

Pictures: Bumpity bumpity bump bump bump…

These were just taken freshly today by my girl, Cher. So they’re totally current! As is my cute shirt from H&M!

How are the kids feeling: Rowan (singing): My God is so BIG! He’s so STRONG and so MIGHTY! There’s nothing my God cannot do! Foooooor… (runs over to me and pokes my belly) YOU! 😭 Amen to that, Rowan! He’s totally right!

Getting to know the baby: I feel less and less like I know anything about her. I just want to confirm all of my suspicions with the real her when she’s born and here with us. I know that, often when I’m relaxed, she is relaxed. She slept through the drive home from Edmonton, just like I almost did. She only really got peppy once we tried to wake ourselves up with more upbeat music. Maybe she’ll be just like me. 

The BEST part of being pregnant: This weekend, I had a lot of fun ducking into a bunch of maternity stores and seeing what I could find. I think what I’m enjoying about being pregnant these days is that I’m somewhat “seasoned” at it, and things that might’ve bugged me in the past don’t bug me at all anymore. More so they make me laugh. In one Thyme Maternity location this weekend, I had an employee ask me how much longer I had left in my pregnancy. “Two months” I told her. She bugged her eyes out a bit and commented that I was already quite large. I wasn’t offended, and offered my usual “Oh, I know, but I’ve done this a few times before” answer, and we had a brief conversation about how a body remembers, and blah blah blah. I moved on and kept shopping. But thinking about it after the fact, I may have been pretty choked had someone said that to me in my first pregnancy. Also, from a totally shallow standpoint, I don’t look full term yet. Not at all. I do feel big, because my belly is big, as it should be. But not at all “full term” big yet. Nope. Just you wait until the end!! I had a good laugh with Jerilee later, realized juuust how off color her comment was, and how, as an employee at a maternity store, she should probably have known better than to comment on my size. But hey! At least she just said it to me! Hopefully she learns before she genuinely offends someone!!

Favourite thing: My favorite things is probably my U pillow. I own this beast of a pillow that is the shape of a long “U.” I’d take a picture, but I’ll admit that its yellowed a little and looks kinda nasty, and I’m embarrassed, lol! The bottom of the U works as my normal head pillow, and the sides run down around me. Its basically the length of a full body pillow on each side of me. The U pillow and I have a love/hate relationship because it is SO comfy and helps my body SO much. It makes rolling over so much easier because I don’t have to haul a pillow with me to arrange in between my legs, because there just happens to be one there already! I do not love how hot it gets in my pillow, and I also feel kind of isolated in it, haha! It sounds stupid, but its true. Its kind of limiting. But the fact that I get SO much more sleep when I use it cancels out the cons easily. I love that stinking thing! I highly recommend it!

Being that baby day is starting to feel like its actually going to come, and that the time crunch is on, I’ve begun the fun job of gathering a few things together for Bambina’s party! Mostly just decor so far. While I’ve tried to be as relaxed about the whole thing as possible, and keep it as simple as possible, I’m realizing that I at least need a ballpark idea of how many people are interested in coming! Not even committed, but interested. I know summer is a hard time to nail down schedules, and I know asking people to come out on a Saturday might be tricky, BUT I literally have no idea if we’ll have ten guests or a hundred guests. No clue. And I need to know a bit more specifically than that! I know some of you prefer to be quiet participants and don’t want me to know you read, and that is 100% your business! BUT! If you want to come, I need to know! Today, I’ll begin work on (and hopefully finish up) a Facebook event for her party. That way, you can know the dates and I can give you all my address without literally putting it out on the public blog. I don’t want to just add my entire friends list, so if you are even considering coming, PLEASE reach out to me somehow!! Like the post, comment here or on fb, message me, whatever you’d like to do! I need to start getting things together and some of them require rough numbers! Help me! And please help me celebrate my daughter when she comes. She is one anticipated little monkey and I just can’t wait for everyone else who loves her and is eagerly awaiting her arrival to come snuggle her at her party!!! PLEASE reach out, even if you’re just curious!

For our final day in Edmonton, we slept in a bit more that the morning before and got our butts in gear. By that, I mean we still sat around for about an hour before getting up. But when we finally did, it was a quick job to get our things to together and organized. We went down to the main floor and grabbed some breakfast. Yay for a hotel that buys muffins from Costco! After that, we packed up our remaining stuff and headed to the elusive outlet mall from the day before.

Regardless of the fact that we got to the mall 45 minutes before the stores opened, the traffic conductors were in place and aggressively waving us where they wanted us. They were so gung ho about it that they directed us right back out of the parking lot and onto the street. No joke. Sooooo we made our way back in and finally found a way to actually enter the parking part of the parking lot. Gong show.

We waited our 45 minutes out and the fun finally began!! I’ve got to say, we thought there would be a bit more to it :/ It wasn’t as impressive of a shopping centre as I had hoped. It claimed to be an outlet mall, but many of the stores were not outlets at all, but exactly the same as that store found anywhere else. We were the most excited for the outlet version of Old Navy, hoping for a big mess of old-ish clothes from other, overstocked locations. Nope. It was an average location, well stocked with all the current items at the exact same prices and sales that we had seen them at in West Edmonton Mall two days before. So that was a bust. What makes an outlet an outlet anyway??

Regardless, I did get a few little things from the new mall, but again, I’ll show you a haul sometime this week. It won’t be tomorrow, because that’ll be another series post. (31 weeks, guys!!!!) We left the outlet mall content with our shopping experience and our weekend of purchases, and decided it was time to start the journey home, which we did after a quick lunch at a nearby Subway.

The drive home was far quieter than the drive there, haha! We were so tired! But a very good, content tired after a weekend of fun. I’m SO glad we went! Now that Edmonton is wrapped up, that is one more thing crossed off of my imaginary list of things to look forward to before the baby comes! Eek!

Its so good to be home!

Today was so much different than we anticipated! Usually, Saturday holds a relaxed day of shopping the box stores in Sound Common and taking our precious time. Someone tipped us off, however, to the fact that there was a brand new outlet mall just south of us! So we spent our morning doing the box stores and decided to go find lunch and some new fun at the outlet mall!

Guys. That mall was completely unreachable!

We drove until we hit intersections controlled by police, as well as many traffic controllers in reflective vests. It was a HUGE ordeal. We were directed past a sign that indicated that the parking lot was full, and saw in the distance a MASSIVE mall with a MASSIVE parking lot, filled to the brim with vehicles. We waited and waited and were eventually directed to the back of an overflow parking lot. When we finally parked, Jerilee and I were both exhausted.

Factors:

I had to pee SO badly.
We hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and it was around 2:30pm.
It was HOT, and the slow putt-putt driving hadn’t helped keep the car cool.
We were quite sore already from all of our walking yesterday and this morning.
I’m pregnant, and while I hate to admit it, I wear out a tad faster than average.

So sadly, we decided to scrap all of our efforts and leave. It would’ve been a solid half hour walk at least with a full bladder on an empty stomach with sore feet. We made a new plan.

Once we were back in familiar territory, we stopped at Subway and had a much-needed break. From there, we hit our usual day-three store, and we did Ikea! Ikea was incredibly successful, and a lot of fun! But as you’d expect, we were bushed.

We headed back to our hotel for a dip in the hot tub and a well deserved rest! We lay in our beds and killed some time on our phones for a good long while, just resting our bodies and our brains. It felt great. We finally dragged ourselves up one last time and went to Boston Pizza for supper. While the food was amazing, as it always is, we are both SO happy to be back in our room with our achy feet up!

While we shopped our faces off, Brady has been busy at home! I want to tell you guys all about it but I want to include a bunch of pictures and do a really good job, so I think I’ll save it for when I’m home and can be a bit more organized. But the kids were out and about a lot today, and Brady’s been working on a few projects too 🙂 LOTS to catch up on!

I miss my amazing husband and my beautiful little babies, but tomorrow will come soon enough! Hopefully not TOO soon, because I think Jerilee and I are going to try to get to that new outlet mall again! Maybe if we go early enough, we’ll at least be able to park in the closer parking lot. And it’ll be our first stop of the day, so inevitably we should be more energized, right?? I hope so!

Sleep deep, all! I know we will!

Giiiiirls trip!!!

Jerilee and I are officially safely tucked away in Edmonton for the weekend, ready to enjoy some much anticipated shopping, moseying, chatting, and sipping of Starbucks. The weather is beautiful and the drive was short. We were READY.

I kind of don’t want to tell you guys my haul just yet, but we did really good at West Ed! This is our fourth time coming here for a shopping weekend, and usually the mall is a bit of a bust. But this time, it was so great! We both have a bit of a listy-list of things to look for and we legitimately crossed off some of those things, which felt great 🙂 I finally picked up a few things I’ve been kind of pining for for quite some time, and a gift or two for other people. It felt great.

We had a brief stop for soft pretzels and lemonade in the mid-afternoon, but otherwise we saved our appetites for The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was SO delicious, as always!! We had the shift supervisor as our server, and she was just incredible at her job. Even with that place hopping with guests, she kept a cool head and never forgot anything. She was on top of it 🙂 Which was so so nice. Good service goes a long, long way.

We hit one more store on the way out, but our feet and bodies were just crying to stay sitting, so it didn’t last long. We limped our way out to the car and made our way to our hotel for the night. The moment we got to our room, into swim suits and to the hot tub we went! It was much needed. The hot tub was almost too hot, though, so Jerilee just sat on the side to soothe her feet, and I sat on the step to rest my feet as well as my pelvis. That sucker worked today! Wow! I’m surprised I’m not in more pain, honestly! But I did bring my handi-belt, just in case.

We are now back in our room, and will probably be old and go to bed early. Tomorrow will be a much slower moving day, but still more shopping with a few good sales and places to hit! First, though, SLEEP! My feet MUST be up for the next 10 hours at least!!

Yesterday and today were both such good and different days. I mean, wait. Yesterday wasn’t good with Brady shooting a nail into his finger yesterday. No, that wasn’t the best. But there were some good moments. And then today has been completely different and also SO nice!

Yesterday, I decided to take the kids out for groceries after school. I have to say, WOW, shopping with the kids solo is SO MUCH EASIER when the weather is nice!! Plus, the kids have been very accepting that things are a bit different when its just me and them. Usually, the big kids ride on the end of the cart when Brady pushes it, but I have a harder time pushing that much weight, and they know it, so when I push, the big kids just hang on to the cart by the handle and “help me push,” which is cute. They were stoked to go out in the sunny afternoon, too! Well, most of them…

We did Costco, and the kids did AMAZINGLY well! The big kids offered to put the bigger boxes of things on the bottom level of the cart, no one fought or needed any intervention like that, and no one cried about the lack of cookies! (Seriously though, Costco, how much could you possibly be losing on giving cookies to kids??) An employee approached us while we were at the till and was gushing over our kids. She commented, as many do, that I was a busy mom. I said I absolutely was, but that they made it easy, and they were just SUCH good kids. Thats so often how the conversation goes, and I’m totally happy with that, but she took it a leg up and very warmly said to me “That says a lot about their parents, you know?” It was just above and beyond what she needed to say, and was very humbling in the moment. I thanked her, and we headed out to the van. I unloaded everything into the back and we went to meet Brady nearby. From there we went and picked up a baby item that I’ll tell you about on Monday! I’m SO excited for it!

We grabbed a quick supper and hit another couple of stores, just to run in for a thing or two, and then came home. When we got home, I realized it was pretty much RIGHT at bedtime, and Dekker hadn’t done any homework yet! The curse of the early bedtime :/ So I suggested a different option and the kids jumped at it!

Brady and I began unloading groceries, and Dekker read his book for the day to his siblings, asking occasionally for help with certain words. I’m AMAZED at how well he reads! I found them all like this one their own, too!

Today was entirely different. I stayed in most of the day, and had a beautiful, low key day with my mom and the kids. It feels like FOREVER since I’ve seen her, though its maybe only been two weeks? But thats LONG! We sipped our hot drinks and visited about all that we had missed. There was so much ground to cover! We also talked a bit about the baby party and even came up with a few more ideas! We spent the whole morning together and a bit of the afternoon before she had to actually be somewhere else, and I had to go get Dekker.

Brady is home at a good time today (YAY!) and the kids are pretty low key. Today is warm enough, but its windy and grey, which somehow makes it feel more quiet and relaxed.

Home date night tonight for Brady and I! Tomorrow I leave on my annual road trip with Jerilee, and Brady has the kids to himself for the weekend. Hopefully they’re as peachy for him as they were in Costco yesterday!

If its true that things come in threes, then we should be done, right? This fun streak should be over, right? Because I’m ready, and I know Brady is for sure ready!

Monday, we got a flat that proved to be quite a hassle and will actually involve us taking our van in to get everything checked and balanced. We’ll also have to purchase a new tire.

Tuesday morning, Brady wrenched his back hard at work. It spasmed most of the morning, and couldn’t get in to see our chiropractor until 1:30 that afternoon. He compared the spasms to me and my braxton hicks contractions, where it seems that simply just having a thought brings them on. He would think about drinking coffee, and his back would go into spasm. Perfect.

Now, its Wednesday. I had a pretty crummy night, and I know Brady slept pretty restlessly, too. But off to work he went. I was hoping to get up a bit earlier this morning, but I was SO tired after my two hour “break” from sleep from 3:30-5:30 that I woke up a bit later, panicking about getting the morning started in time to get Dekker to school. It wasn’t the best start to a morning, but it was ok. As I was scrambling around, getting dressed and such, Brady and I were texting our usual “good mornings” when he called me. It was 7:30, which is unusually early for a call for us. I obviously answered.

Brady shot a nail into his hand. Again. This time, the whole darn thing went in. 🙄 Sigh.

See that teeny tiny hole right in his finger crease? Yup. Thats where it went in. But in true Brady style, he didn’t notice that he had actually shot himself with a nail at first, so when he did find the point of entry, he wasn’t sure which direction it would be in, or anything like that. So he took the safe road, thank goodness, stopped moving his hand right away, and drove to the nearest walk-in clinic.

He was there before it even opened, but as per usual, there was already a line up. So he waited for his turn, sat in the waiting room for maybe one minute before he was taken back to a procedure room. He texted me where he was, I texted back, and he didn’t respond, because the doctor was already in there. It was a relief to me that they were taking him so seriously!

As Brady and I predicted, he was shuffled next door to wait for the x-ray clinic to open. They had to know where the nail was specifically before trying to remove it. And I say “trying” because it was aaaaall the way in there. In the past, when he’s shot himself bad enough to need to see a doctor about it (this was not his first rodeo) there has been a chunk of it sticking out. This time, not so much. The x-ray clinic wasn’t scheduled to open until 8:30, but they opened a little early and he was the only one waiting. Win! They took some quick shots and sent him right back over to the clinic. He texted me from the waiting room saying the “90 minute wait” sign was already up! We hoped he’d get bumped up a little.

Which he was. He was back in the procedure room three minutes later.

I heard from Brady next a solid half hour later. I wish he were the one writing this post but I’ll do my best to get the details as accurate as possible.

The doctor showed Brady one of the x-ray photos on his phone, confirming where the nail was. Unlike Brady’s usual incidents with shooting brad nails into his hands, this sucker can gone STRAIGHT in. Like through his finger. There was literally nail sticking out on either side of the bone. But, Brady and the doctor were both game to give it a whirl. He froze Brady up and cut in a little bit to try to grab the nail. For the record, according to Brady, the nail was 13/16″ long, and pretty skinny. He compares it to a short hunk of copper wire. With no head on it to grab, either. Through a bone. Good luck, doctor! He tried maybe six or seven times to pull it out, chair pushed as far back as possible, holding Bradys hand against the counter, the rest of his body backed up for leverage, and just reefing on the thing, and his pliers just kept slipping. He’d freeze Brady a little more, cut a little deeper in, and go again, over and over, to no avail.

He finally told Brady he would only try one more time, but Brady would likely have to head to the hospital to have it pulled out. That last try is so often when it works 😉 And it did! He used the rest of his syringe and froze him up good and proper, hacked in, and gave ‘er beans.

And he got it out!!!!

Brady exclaimed “Hey! You got it!” The doctor stared at the stupid little nail in his pliers and told it “You were VERY frustrating!”

A couple little stitches and a bandage to cover them, and boom! It was done!

Then, in TRUE boy form, the doctor invited Brady back to his office to look at the x-ray pictures on his computer so Brady could take pictures of them. Because, bragging rights among friends. And blogging rights, because those x-ray pictures are bananas!

Do you see it? At the base of his index finger. Like its SO evenly across his finger that it seems like something thats supposed to be there. Buuuuut its not.

And yes, Brady left his ring on for the x-rays because his hand was swollen. I know, don’t wear rings at work. I know, you don’t even have to say it.

BIZARRE pictures though, right? Just picture them trying to get that sucker free!!

I can say, with confidence, that Brady is totally fine, thank the Lord! He called me on his way back to work to tell me everything, and his voice got higher and higher as he talked, he was SO thrilled with his new war wound story. Like borderline giddy. So he’s ok 😉 Don’t worry about him. Because of how the nail went into him, he hit NO nerves or veins or anything important. Just the bone, lol! Thats not important, is it?

So! All this being said, things that come in threes – we’re done now, right? That HAS to be it! My goodness, what a week!