Mom, Interrupted

I've sat down to write this a few times this evening, confident in the small sliver of time I carved out for myself  by working double-time all afternoon.  But so far I've averaged about two mouse-clicks before I'm called elsewhere.  To doll out a spoonful of honey to a boy who can't stop coughing.  To comfort a little girl who is suddenly making bedtime extremely difficult.  To clean off that same little boy who, for the second time today, has worked himself into such a coughing fit that he winds up covered in vomit.  To the freezer to polish off a carton of ice cream.  Okay, so the last one wasn't really necessary.  Or was it??

So the theme of these past few weeks has been flexibility, a term that carries so much more weight as our family grows.  If you could see my calendar this past month - a plethora of crossings-out, write-ins, appointments and reschedules, travel and travel cut short.  And the resulting things that don't show up on a calendar - the laundry that doesn't get folded, the meals that don't get cooked, the walks that don't get taken.    I miss our routine.  But I tell myself this is only temporary and there is still life happening in between all those lines in my calendar.

I've managed to keep up with the washing and drying, but folding is an entirely different story.

Like Mother's Day weekend for instance.  My parents had plans to visit Miss (soon-to-be-aunt) Kylee in Ocean City, New Jersey along with Uncle Jared and Uncle Micah.  So our friends Abi and Phil invited us to come to their house that same weekend and make a family event out of it.  And since (a) we've had a visit to these friends on our before-baby-bucket-list for some time now and (b) they're pretty much the only people who invite our whole family to visit other than our parents, we heartily consented.  Then Jon's Alaska trip came up and we had to push our departure back a day.  And then Jon's work insisted he come in on the following Monday so we had to cut the weekend short another day.  But we prevailed and, despite the brief interlude, it was a good time and an absolute blessing to spend 29 hours with such great friends!

Julia with Mr. Phil and "Lil Rae."

It wasn't exactly prime beach weather, but since we're die hards, we shivered our way through an afternoon break in the thunderstorms.

I think watching Julia try to catch bubbles was the highlight of the day!

Phil and Abi are excellent hosts and top-notch chefs.  We ate well the whole weekend, a welcome break from the quesadillas, macaroni and cheese, and smoothies that make up our menu when Daddy is out of town.  But I must say, the creme de la creme of the weekend was Mother's Day lunch - grilled pizza made by Phil and Jared.

We had a number of different kinds but the general consensus was that the bacon, date, feta pizza was the best!

And three gentlemen washing dishes afterwards.

It was nice to see this woman NOT in the kitchen for once!

Uncle Micah helped her pick me flowers!

And, of course, it's always a bonus to get to spend Mother's Day with the most amazing mama I know, my own!

She's such a good sport!

It's also good to know that someday my kids will grow up and actually smile for their Mother's Day picture.  But until then ...

We were expecting to use the week after our visit to catch up on house stuff and life in general before packing the car again and heading north for our annual yard sale at my parents' house.  But, in following our current theme, a few things came up and this time around we ended up leaving earlier and departing later than expected.  Fortunately for us, Marmie and Poppa don't mind an extended visit one bit!

Perfect weather for a yard sale!

Our yard sale wasn't quite as successful as in years' past.  But I was able to unload a good portion of baby clothes, and that's what my husband appreciated the most.  Of course, there are always those items that you intended to sell but which somehow never make it out to the sales floor...

Reigniting our love for Jingle the dog.

And another bonus of this weekend back home is the local fishing tournament.  Both boys caught 6 trout each!!  And they also both won fishing rods.  But since Jack is very much like his dad, he told the tournament people he didn't need a fishing rod because he already has one at home.

He kept swinging these things in my face.  And then Poppa  decided to skin and filet them right there by the yard sale check-out table... ew.

All the changes in our schedule made working a bit interesting.  I was receiving assignments on days I wasn't on the calendar, and having a hard time keeping up on days that I was on the calendar.  And just when I thought I was starting to get it together my boss called, ACTUALLY CALLED, for the first time ever, and asked me to take on a large, rush-order project.  We were literally about to walk out the door to Pennsylvania and begin a weekend of "no work" but when he told me I was his favorite transcriptionist and offered to more than double my rate.  Well, let's just say I enjoyed the 3.5 hour drive like this:



And then ended up pulling an extremely late shift to get it all done.  My husband says I'm a sucker.  I decided to prove him wrong today by telling my other boss that I couldn't work for him anymore, just don't have the time, can't commit, etc.  An hour later he calls me up and I find myself agreeing to un-resign and see where things go, and maybe earn myself a bonus in a few weeks.  Argh, I could slap myself.

But I don't, because I'm preggo.  And while we're on that topic, I went to my second ultrasound yesterday.  The one that I had scheduled and re-scheduled three times.  Because my calendar is a mess like that.  We got a peek a the newest baby J-bird.  We didn't get to see much because she's a lot bigger now (somewhere around 3 pounds) and kinda smooshed in there.  But we did confirm that she is a girl.  Also good to see is that she's head down.  And most importantly, my dear old placenta is up and out of the way.  Which means no bed rest and I can deliver at the birthing center (if we make it on time).

We also visited the midwife today.  I was about to reschedule that appointment for the third time but decided to muscle through and attempt a visit with all three kids.  It actually went a little better this time, Julia didn't cry when she took my blood pressure or insist that I hold her while checking for the baby's heartbeat.  Baby and I are both measuring right on schedule for an end-of-July birth.  Which isn't too far away, as evidenced by the fact that my midwife now wants to see me every 2-3 weeks.

30.5 weeks

It's all becoming very real and a little unnerving.  I mean, where are we going to put the baby's clothes!?  Okay, just kidding.  That really isn't my biggest concern.  And while we're on the subject of "big", I feel it!  And you can snort and chuckle all you want, but carrying around 23 extra pounds is one thing.  Carrying around the majority of that weight smack dab front and center, in the form of a small body with hardening bones and growing organs, well you try and bend over and retrieve that Lego from under the couch.  We've definitely entered the stage where I'm no where near ready to care for another newborn but where I'm also looking forward to being able to weed the flower beds without feeling like I'm suffocating myself.  Or sit at the computer without my feet swelling up.  Or get through the day without reaching for the Tums...

But I'm still thankful all is normal and right on track.  Here's hoping our theme of interruptions ends with this pregnancy.  I'm hoping for slightly more than full-term but not a second overdue.  Because Mama's got a bridesmaid dress to fit in to two weeks later... and it only comes in one size.