Trucking along

It's been a busy few days, but very good as well!

Saturday we had Micah's birthday party. A VERY low-key party with just some local family but he had a good time and that's the idea :) Pictures to come... His birthday is Wednesday!

After the party we got the kids set up with lunch and Mike's mom stayed and let him and I go out for one last day away before the baby arrives. We headed over to Orlando, grabbed some sandwiches for lunch, window shopped (and did a little bit of 'real' shopping too), and just walked around and talked. Then we went out to dinner at TGIF and came back to town just as the kids should be going down. So... we detoured to Wal-Mart because our arrival would make bedtime last another 30 minutes :).

We filled in the few gaps we had of necessary baby items. Found a 'bath sling/seat' that will fit inside our bigger toddler tub rather than buying a baby tub... picked up a few other mommy essentials for the first days home.

While we were out we got a 'baby gift' for Kristopher (something for him to have when he comes to see her at the hospital-- we already bought things for the other 3), found a "big sister" shirt in Emma's size on clearance for $3. It was the only one... but she got it along with 2 pr of $2 shorts that are long and cotton so she can sit in the wheelchair nicely in them at school. LOVE Carter's Outlet sales!

We also found what we didn't know we were looking for... don't you love when that happens?? We ran across a clearance sale at Office Max and they had those flimsy 3-ring binders that have a plastic cover... for $0.70 each. YAY! I bought TEN! I also got some rings made for binding notecards to flip over... When I got home I cut the notebooks apart and made each cover into 2 pages. 4 pages per notebook. Then cut then down to be just bigger than a 4x6 photo and punched 2 holes in the top of each piece. Instant... TRANSITION BOOK!! It's VERY durable! The photos are laminated and will have velcro on them. This way the teacher can add as many pages as she wants or take out ones they're not using. It was a multi pack of rings, so the size ring can be changed too depending on how many pages they have in there. Best of all, the folders and rings were only $13 all together. Velcro added a bit to the price (about $13 on its own for 12 feet) but still, it should last a long time and be reusable even for other things. I used the 2.5"x 5" "scraps" from each page and punched a corner hole in those as well in case someone else in her class can use it. Most kids use 2" squares, but we went with bigger photos because of Emma's vision as well as her ability to focus. Bigger for her is better.

Anyway, we got home about 7:45 and put K down for bed then hit the sack. My throat was sore :( I woke up several times during the night with the sore throat and didn't feel great this morning. We went to church, came home and did lunch, Mike took K in the pool for rest time while 2 slept and Emma and I hung out. Made up about 60 containers of babyfood which are now in the freezer for Micah and got the family room moved around to accommodate the baby swing/playpen and so I can see the playroom from the couch (a definite plus!). Then... I went and crashed for 2 hours! I was out COLD.

Now, it's almost 11:30 and I should head back to bed. Tomorrow's the day for last minute things that have been sitting on the 'to do' list for a while and family time too. Hopefully Tuesday will just be a relaxing day with school and family time... and pre-op.

Please pray, as we've had a situation come up at the school that will likely need to be dealt with this week. I know Michael will be able to handle whatever comes of it, but it definitely is adding a bit of stress to the plate on an otherwise exciting (but already stressful) time. Please pray specifically that the kids' adjustment to the new baby won't be any harder due to this school issue. No worries, everything WILL be ok. But until we know what "ok" looks like, it is always a little hard. Thanks!!