Two weeks ago was an all-hands on deck, let's survive kind of week.  

I had an occular migraine at least once a day, every day except for one the entire week.  Andrew fed us and managed to sneak away from work when he could, and finally we called in reinforcements (my parents) on Friday so I could pass out for the rest of the afternoon.  We still don't know what the cause was, but I have a feeling it has something to do with lifting my double Bob stroller into the back of the Tahoe, carrying it out of the garage, etc.  It's probably past the weight limit I'm really supposed to be lugging right now.  Okay, I'm sure it is.  And that's what triggered my migraines post-delivery with Nelle...bending over to grab Ham and hold him.  

Coincidence or not, I've been migraine-free for over a week, 

and I haven't picked up the Bob.  

 

So there's that. 

It kind of feels like two weeks ago didn't exist, and that last week then had to be a major catch up week.  And nesting week.  Andrew really loves those.

Lots of laundry, lots of piddling in the shared room, lots of complaining about the curtains needing to be hung until the curtains actually did get hung up yesterday, lots of cleaning.  Lots of cleaning because Henry decided he needed to wake everyone up at 6:15am most days last week instead of sleeping much closer to 7am.  And when Andrew and I tried to catch a few more winks, Henry decided to get Nelle out of her bed and take care of breakfast.  

Eggs for everyone.

Scrambled, specifically.

On the kitchen floor.

Like three days in a row.

After he got in trouble for breaking several eggs the first day, he quickly figured out he could just tell Nelle to crack the eggs for him.  One morning I woke up to hearing Henry coach Nelle, "yeah, yeah just do it here." 

 

Followed by giggling.  Lots of giggling.

 

He's learned to manipulate his little sister 

into doing what he knows he's not supposed to.

Already.

So there's that.

 

I made a point to spend one-on-one time with each of the tots this weekend because I know once babe comes, I'll be divided even more, and Andrew will have to step in at the beginning to make the park runs, and pool trips, and bike rides.  

Henry and I shared a cinnamon roll and read and read and read at Watermark Books on Saturday morning, and came home with two new books for he and Nelle's shelves.  He also wore head-to-toe K-State except for on his head where he wore his cowboy hat from his first Halloween costume.  And Nelle and I picked out donuts from The Donut Hole where she took samples out of all six because she didn't have to share with anyone else, and I followed her up to the top of the play equipment one time too many to go down the tunnel slide with her on Sunday morning and said bye to the ducks at the pond just as it was starting to get uncomfortably hot.  

And so there's that.

Maybe the best kind of nesting that has nothing to do with getting our house ready for the baby, or my work ready for the baby, but getting me a bit more ready for our baby, making sure our first two know they're loved to pieces.  

Even with raw egg on the floor, towels in the toilet, stuffed animals on the ceiling fans, flower pots broken on the patio, crayon colored onto the glass of picture frames, and every jar from the fridge taken out and hidden behind the couch.  

Yes, even then.

 

There's always that.

Short on words tonight because I thought I'd be posting this on Monday, 

but I've had pregnancy-related migraines off and on since Sunday night 

(the last of which was late this afternoon when while we were waiting for Andrew to come home, Nelle slammed books on my head requesting to be read to and poked me in the eye saying "eyyyyyyye!" over and over again.)  

One of those weekends that I wished lasted a day longer.  Or two.  

Okay, five.

There were first trips to pick out fireworks 

and two littles happy as can be with their choices.  

Trucks with rocket launchers on the back of them for Henry 

and a can of worms for Nelle.  

That seems about right.  

And bows put on my dads and that's always something.

Trips to the pool, flower planting, peach picking (more to come on that later), dinner out when afterwards Andrew and I vowed not to take the kids out for a long, long time because our last three or four meals out with them have left us shoving food 

in our faces as quickly as possible so we could leave the restaurant with some dignity 

instead of getting asked to leave after our children resemble wild raccoons 

vs actual human toddlers.  

A photography lesson and photos by Henry after I found him lugging my camera around on his own (mild heart attack) and trying to explain why everyone has flags out and what is Independence Day 118 times to a certain three-year-old that asks no less than 12 why questions for everyyyyyything lately.  

 

Long naps for all, many outfit changes - all different combinations of the red, white and blue, chanting USA USA from our front yard, blown bedtimes, and even a little organizing in the kids' rooms as we sloooowly prepare for #3 to join us in about a month.  Emphasis on a little organizing and slow progress for sure.

Here's hoping these photos take me back to this summer every year from here on out where these memories are so close to reality I can almost taste them.

And double here's hoping for tomorrow not losing my eye sight again, 

no extremities going numb 

and not being bed ridden for hours.  

Ain't nobody got time for that.

I'm here!

June was a blur, a fuzzy four weeks, a month that kind of stomped me into the ground and squished it's toes on me just a bit for emphasis, 

ground me into the crevices of our hot concrete driveway to make sure I really was good and stuck.

A couple of more pregnancy-related migraines, lots of work, lots of disobedience from the oldest, lots of crying and flailing from the youngest (for only a bit longer! eek!), and mess after mess to pick up when I just don't really want to bend over that much anymore to pick up the fake pizza toppings off of the floor.  Why can't they just stay on the wooden pizza crust like they are supposed to?!  Days filled with timeout after timeout, vacuuming crumbled up styrofoam found in bed minutes before naptime, spending an hour trying to fix said vacuum because the styrofoam clogged it to the point of not working.  Finding a flower pot void of flowers, then broken, then smashed as pieces were thrown against the house and GLASS doors.  

I got the kids fed yesterday morning and went to hop in the shower before we headed out the door for a quick errand, 

coffee run and a trip to Botanica with friends and nearly stepped on a human turd.

Yes.  

There was poop in the corner of the shower.  

Sometimes it feels like life is throwing roses at you and other times you're stepping on poo.

--

Henry seemed to be bothered by his adenoid removal surgery at the beginning of the month more than I anticipated.  At least for longer than I was expecting.  And then we decided to move the tots into Nelle's room so the baby could be put straight into Henry's old room when he/she is brought home from the hospital.  Ham and Nelle are on the same schedule so logistically it made sense.

Except for it's Henry and he likes an audience, and he loves being ornery more, 

and after three days of being very pleasantly surprised that things were going okay, 

they were both falling asleep within a reasonable amount of time and staying asleep, 

Henry taught Nelle how to get out of her big girl bed and chaos ensued.

We gave it the 'ol college try.  

With threatening, and discipline, and positive reinforcement/bribery, and maneuvering bedtimes a bit, and leaving the door closed to keep Nelle in the room until Henry hopped out of his bed to open it for her.  Over and over and over again.  And keeping the door cracked, except then I was spending all of my work time sitting in the dark hallway so Ham could see me and think twice every time he tried to get out of his bed and into more mischief.  

And then there were the times Andrew and I found them both scampering across the top of the dresser from bed to bed.  

And the time they threw three boxes of diapers all over the room.

They were both losing too much sleep at the beginning of every night, and we were all miserable.

The situation felt out of control, and so did our parenting methods.  

So, on Wednesday night after someone pooped in the shower unnoticed, 

we moved Henry's bed back into his own room, 

and took down the crib I had just put up and reassembled it in Nelle's room.  

35 weeks tomorrow, and starting on the baby's room now!  For real this time.  

That only makes me a little panicked.  

--

Welcome, July!

I'm so glad to spend you nesting, getting our tired, cranky kids back on track, 

and spending a bit of time daydreaming about this sweet baby growing in my tummy 

that I just haven't gotten to think about as much as I want. 

I hope you are filled of afternoons at the pool, family time and poop-free showers.