Thursday, January 29, 2009

35 Week Baby CheckUp

I had my 35-week baby checkup this morning. Baby is doing well! I wish I was doing as good! ;)

Thought the appointment would be quick but I was in there almost 2 hours. They hooked me up to fetal monitor, did an exam and did a sonogram. I'm measuring 2 weeks ahead, she thinks the baby is a little over 6lbs. Good size considering I have over 3 weeks left.

I was supposed to schedule the c-section today, but she said let's wait and look again in 2 weeks and see when we should schedule it. She wants to let me go as long as I can but of course I don't want to go past the 25th!

I'm SO DONE!

Plus I am dying to see if this will be Baby KaLee or Baby Erik!! Hurry!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Working From Home

Yesterday I went into work just long enough to make the rounds and gather some things, and now I am working from home as much as possible.

I cannot believe how much of a difference it has made already. Before now I was in pain 24/7. Pressure, hip pain, back pain, tired, heartburn, not to mention so stressed by the time I got into the office after getting 2 boys ready, it just made for an exhausting day.

A lot of these things are still there, but they are already minimized some, and being able to lay down if I need to at home, or take a 1-hour nap and not have to rush in the mornings, it's awesome.

I'm lucky I have the opportunity and a lot of my work can be done this way right now. Only 2 more weeks of work. I will probably stop in on Thursday, and go in 2 days next week. Then I only have 2 more days the following week and I start my leave.

I'm lucky!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Goal Complete: Organize the Garage

This has been a work in progress for over a year, but I FINALLY feel like the goal has been complete!

All we have been doing is moving stuff from the house, into the garage and vice versa. Then taking the stuff IN the garage and moving it from one side to another. Never really fully sorting or organizing. About 3 weeks ago, we decided to have a garage sale to get some furniture out and just things we don't use or don't need. I'm really in the SIMPLIFY mode right now. I just want to get rid of everything not necessary, the less there is, the less mess there is. That really cleared a lot up. After that I was able to organize the totes and use my label maker (I LOVE MY LABELMAKER) and label all of them.

What I would like to do is pull some of the larger toys for the boys out of the house and keep half the garage dedicated to things like that-get a tiled type floor down and use it as an area where they could keep stuff too. We have a loveseat out here too up against the other wall, so it's a nice place to sit and sort through things.

I'm sure we will find many, many ways to junk it up again in just a matter of days, but for now it's clean-or at least as "clean" as a garage can be!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Goal Complete: Get Pedicure!

Thank you to some of my best friends for throwing me a Baby Shower/Girls Night!! It was FABULOUS!

We met over at "Polished" for a manicure and pedicure-which is GREAT because I have never had a pedicure before! Goal accomplished!! It was SO nice and the place was nice! All of us able to sit together and chat. They give you a drink (I had Sprite), and you soak your feet, the chair was a massaging chair and it was SO nice to be pampered that way.

Then afterwards we headed over to Maggianos and had an excellent Italian dinner. We were out until after 10 (crazy!), and I had a great time! I have the best friends anyone could ask for!

Thanks Andi, Jill, Nikki, Anne, Susanna and Robin! (And I'm taking you ALL up on your offer to babysit)!

;)

33-Week Baby Check-Up

33 Weeks!! Feels like forever until this baby comes! I guess it's because I have hit the very uncomfortable point.

Baby Mueller is healthy and that's all that matters!

The appointment went alright. They did an exam and hooked me up to the fetal monitor because of some symptoms I had been having all week. Ended up, it was very minor contractions and some uterine irritability. Baby looked good! I had my RhoGam shot. Next appointment we should be able to schedule the day!

It will be next month, and I can't wait to find out when this baby's birthday will be! I'm excited!

Keith's 36th Birthday Celebration

Last Sunday night Keith's parents drove up to take us out to dinner for Keith's birthday! We ended up trying Babe's Chicken because Keith had been there before for lunch.

It was EXCELLENT!

Great atmosphere for the kids, very much a "homey" feel.

You pay one set price and the kids can eat free off of yours. You choose from 5 meats and then they bring unlimited sides-corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, salad. The food was GREAT.

Definitely a place I want to go back to!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH (it was on the 13th)!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Invisible Mother

I got this forwarded to me today and thought it was nice.

Invisible Mother......

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the
way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask
to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'
Obviously, not.
No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor,
or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands,
nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being.
I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer,
'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30,
please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes
that studied history and the mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now
they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen
again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a
friend from England ..

Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and
on about the hotel she stayed in.

I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so
well.
It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully
wrapped package, and said, I brought you this.'
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe .

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her
inscription: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are
building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would
discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could
pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their
names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see
finished.

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.


The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of
God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the
cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny
bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why
are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be
covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman
replied, 'Because God sees.'


I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you,
Charlotte . I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.
No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake
you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile
over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now
what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a
disease that is erasing my life.

It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the
antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one
of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work
on something that their name will never be on.


The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever
be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to
sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend
he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4
in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a
turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That
would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to
want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to
add, 'you're going to love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if
we're doing it right.

And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at
what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by
the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Review: The Unborn

Steph and I went and saw this movie at 11 this morning. We were 2 of 4 people in the theatre. Here's a little blurb from another site about the movie:

"The first great dopey horror film of 2009 concerns a young woman who discovers that her dead twin brother is trying to enter the world as a dybbuk -- a Jewish monster that inhabits the bodies of its victims. The reasons date back to Auschwitz, a particularly distasteful idea, and necessitate an exorcism by none other than Rabbi Gary Oldman. But it's very stylish. "

This movie received D- ratings, and I'd have to say that's about accurate. It was laughable, slow at times, predictable and not at all scary. There were maybe 2 moments where I cringed slightly, but they were pretty desperate attempts. The best part of the whole thing was that we were at the Studio Movie Grill and I was able to get my heavenly pizza and Sprite.

My Review: It's a NO! Don't pay any kind of money to see this movie!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Meeting Baby Layla

On New Year's Day we made a drive down to Waco to visit Chris, Kara, Luke and meet Baby Layla. It takes about 2 hours to get down there, and the trip was overall pretty good in the car with the kids. It was better on the way back when they slept!

Chris used to work at Fossil several years ago, and that's how we met. Kara is his wife, and is a teacher like Keith, so they have a lot in common. Kara and I were pregnant with Luke and Kolbe at the same time in 2004. We have all gotten along together really well!

We miss them since they have moved down to Waco. But we have always made it back and forth to visit a couple times a year and make it to the kid's birthday party!

With even more little ones joining we will have a LOT more parties!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

New Year's Eve!

On New Year's Eve we spent time together just the 4 of us. We headed out to dinner at WINGSTOP (which is now one of my all-time favorite places btw), and ate, and then headed to the grocery store and bought a bunch of junk food that we would never buy.

Got home and got the boys bathed and in their jammies, then pulled out the bed to the couch and set everything up to watch movies. I guess my vision in my head included a nice quiet evening where we are all relaxing by the fire, enjoying the movies together. Wrong!

Don't get me wrong, it was fun. Boys will be boys. All they wanted to do was play, bounce on the bed, jump around, rough house and wrestle. I think Nickolas laid with me for about 15 minutes total time.

Who can blame them-they're boys.

Needless to say we ended up putting them to bed about 9:30 and Keith and I barely stayed awake until 12:05 and then we were out.

Happy New Year!!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

The Boys First Dentist Visit!

Let me just say, Keith and I have been trying for months and months to get them into the dentist, but insurance has been the biggest nightmare.

Months ago after figuring out there was a place near us, I set up an appointment for one of the days Keith would be home, and decided to have him just take Kolbe in. When Keith got there the place was jam-packed, he waited forever only to find out they had no record of an appointment for us. They left.

Fast forward to now after I called several places we wanted to take them to in order to find out how much out of pocket it would be, only to find out they couldn't really tell us anything, just that they file and we have to pay the difference which is usually "close". Well, I'm not risking that.

Called dental insurance and found one place near us...made an appointment for 12/31. We all headed that way and once Keith saw where it was at we realized it was the SAME place as a few months back. We went anyways. The place was a madhouse. The people were extremely nice, but we were in the waiting room for quite awhile, only to be called back to sit in another waiting room. Finally, the assistant came out and said only one parent could go, so Keith went back with them because he was able to hold Nick better, which drove me crazy because I wanted to go back since it was their first visit. They were back there for a long time. Turns out there is waiting room #3 back there where the kids wait and get to watch all the other kids being worked on screaming and carrying on. I finally was able to go back when the dentist came to look at them.

Final outcome. No problems with their teeth. We were in there TWO hours. The boys hated the cleaning. The people were nice. But they should never expect adults to wait that long much less KIDS!!

They got balloon animals.

I'm definitely going to try and find another place that's in network but another area. It's just not worth it to be close but wait that long!