We Need A Day of Rest

A busy end to a busy week.
Matt was out of town until Wednesday night, Thursday was the typical crazy day of speech therapy and gymnastics with another curve ball of Site Council (PTA type meeting) thrown in at the same time as Evalyn's gymnastics. I was very literally home for a total of 3 hours in between 8AM and 5PM.

On Friday, I baked 3 pies and finished final touches on a 15 min slideshow/movie for our big annual early Thanksgiving/Christmas church dinner that night. We arrived early for the dinner so I could set up all the A/V stuff. And then stayed after to visit and help clean-up. Kids had fun running around the church for the last hour of it all. Late bedtimes, tired parents, but it was a nice evening with good friends and good food.

Baby Prep Stuff
Saturday morning. Matt made snickerdoodles with the kids while I prepped and primed the office for a new shade of green paint. While the primed spots were was drying, we all went down to tour the hospital to see where we'll likely be having this baby. It's very small but we felt good about it and the staff's commitment to following our birth plan. There are only 2 labor and delivery rooms and 2 post-partum rooms. Good news is, there's only a handful of people due the last 2 weeks of December so chances are very high I'll get my own post-partum room. Yay for that.

I also had a nice long conversation with Kathy the lactation consultant and feel much more confident in what techniques we can try this time around to get more breast milk out of me for the baby. If we hadn't been moving when Linnea was born, I would've sought out some more options than we had with the previous two. There was just too much going on then to try anything more. But that's water under the bridge. It was good to get our heads more in the game of actually having this baby and what our post-partum life will entail as far as feeding the baby goes.

It was also important too because I'd still been contemplating whether a homebirth could still work for us even if I am GBS postive (won't know for sure on that till first week of Dec). But more than likely I am and that means I will forgo that idea unless this baby falls out of me before we get to the hospital. Not very likely given my history. I'd really love to have one of those big warm padded birthing tubs and labor and deliver in that at home, but that probably takes more planning and preparation than I've done at this point with only 4-6 weeks to go. So it was good to visit the hospital and feel like we could have a good birth experience there with our team of nurse/midwife/family practice doctor that we've chosen. Although a big part of me still wishes that they could show up at my home instead... or there was a fabulous birth center like we enjoyed for our first two...

Anyway, after the hospital it was home for lunch and more painting before we ran out the door again to Medford for the rest of the day. I wanted a darker shade of the very pale light green that was on the walls. But I think I went a bit too dark. "Dragon's Hide" sounded so much better than "Greenwich", even though Greenwich was the center spot on the strip of 7 colors and Dragon's Hide was just darker. I still need to do the touch up/corners/edges but it is definitely darker! Perhaps a less contrasting trim color will help. If I can snag Matt's work camera I'll try and post some pics of it soon and ask for some feedback. (We still need to decide what we'll replace our lost camera with....soon!!)

Why we'll most likely opt for a hotel room next Stake Conference.
This weekend is also our semi-annual church meeting where we meet with church leaders from our geographic area, called a stake, made up of several wards/congregations. Typically there are training meetings for the leaders over the various organizations for children, youth, women and men. Since Matt and I both have leadership callings (he's in Elder's Quorum and I am in Primary) we both had meetings this afternoon. Holly: 2:30-3:30, Matt: 3:30-5:00. Dinner Break. Adult session: 6:00-7:30. Then Sunday morning is the 10:00-12:00 meeting.

Only kink is that we live an hour a way from the Stake Center. So we left our house at 1PM. Plan A was Matt would run some errands with the kids while I was at my meeting, then I would run a few more errands with the kids after my meeting and head home with the kids around 4:30-5:00. Matt would stay for the evening session and get a ride home with someone from Yreka. About halfway into Plan A, Matt suggested Plan B: the kids could just play in one of the rooms with books/crayons during the evening meeting and then we could all go home together, that way I could hear the talks then too. I said sure why not. At least this way the kids will fall asleep in the car and we can just transfer them. Plus Matt and I would get some extra conversation time.

Why Holly will re-stock her car with clothing
So I'm at Jo-Ann's trying to remember what color of sequin trim I'm supposed to get Evalyn for one of her costumes for the ballet performance in a few weeks. I give up and decide to head back to the church. As I'm checking out, I smell a poopy diaper. But it wasn't Linnea, it was poor Henry who thought he'd just wet his pants. Ooops. I can't remember the last time he's had an accident like this. No change of clothes but miraculously a random pair of underwear surfaces in the car. Saved. Almost. At this point I perhaps should've switched back to Plan A and headed home with my pantless boy. But I figured why turn back now? We still need to eat before we head home anyway. By then it's only another hour before Matt will be finished as well.

In very quick time we rushed to Target, nestled Henry into the back of a conveniently abandoned cart with his coat zipped over his legs, buckled the very whiny Linnea into the front with Evalyn in tow.
Pants, check. (I contemplated PJ's at this point, but the pants were cheaper.)
Diapers, since we needed them and I like Target's new brand, check.
Random hairbows that Evalyn snagged from some end cap, check. because I didn't feel like arguing even though I know I will be picking them up and vacuuming them for the next few weeks. weak moment.
Socks for Linnea, check. (Rats! It was Henry that needed socks!! I just now remember...)
Dinner from their food counter, check. It was easier than a drive-thru at this point.
Stop in their nice big bathroom with my paid for merchandise to change Henry, check.

Back to the church to catch the last hour of the evening session. Kids did okay, though it was hard to hear all of the talks over their din. By the last Amen and the strains of the closing hymn, Henry was in meltdown mode and Linnea was at her most independent 2 year old self. As we were buckling into the car (freezing cold wind blowing) Henry had a crying/coughing fit and I could tell it would end with him gagging and throwing up. Sure enough, but I wasn't quick enough with the tissues/bag. Off with that shirt and on with his coat for the ride home. I really do wonder sometimes, if I DID have my usual bag of extra clothes in the back, would this have all happened?? ; )

Fortunately the ride home was uneventful, Matt and I did enjoy some nice conversation, the kids fell asleep and they transferred to their beds without a peep. Now to get up in the morning and do most of it all over again.

Seriously, once you figure 2 round trips at $20 in gas for each trip, that's $40 into a hotel room. Throw in the price of a babysitter for the 6+ hours, assuming we don't pack the kids along next time and that's another $40 easily. Come spring conference we're going to try it out. Except now that I think of it, we'll probably have to get 2 rooms since we'll have an occupancy of 6 by then. Hmmmm, I think we need to make more friends with people in Medford....