2 weeks to go!!

Happy Fall everyone! We've had a very NOT busy month so far and I'm loving it. I'm not enjoying the cooler weather but am thankful it's not 100 degrees or snowing. My due date is still Oct 28 but we are looking at being induced on the 23 which is a Friday. I see the doctor the 14th to decide for sure. Our are has an "epidemic" of the Swine flu and so the hospitals are under quarantine. I found out yesterday when the lady from the Birth Center called to say the older siblings class for next week was cancelled because they are not allowing any children under the age of 18 into the hospital. This means the kids can't come see me or meet their sister until we come home. I"m very very upset and downright angry about this. I do understand why they make such decisions but it robs me of the sweet moments of us being a family of 5 before letting others meet the baby. It was so important to me and special beyond words to get to have Tyler come into the room with us and meet Grace and spend some time letting him get to know her before grandparents and other family came in. If I stick to the desire to do this, then none of our family will get to meet the baby until we come home from the hospital, and I'm not sure I want that either. I'm so torn and saddened by the whole thing. I hate telling my family- you can't come see me at the hospital- and I hate the thought of everyone seeing her before Tyler and Grace. It's a no-win situation. I'm grateful the hospital takes measures to ensure the health and safety of it's patients but I also don't see how my kids walking through a hall, up and elevator, through another hall and into my private room puts anyone in danger. Like I told Gary- it's not like they'll be licking the bassinets in the nursery. :) I'm just praying that they'll let the kids come anyways and I won't have to worry about it, and if I do that whatever I decide will be understood by everyone. Gary is hoping to rig something so that we can video conference from the hospital to home so we can talk to the kids and show them the baby through the TV. It's not ideal but it would be a great compromise if we went that route... and if the hospital allows it of course. :)

We've recently been fading out the summer clothes and fading in the winter clothes. As you can imagine, things that fit Tyler last April just don't look quite the same! We had a great trip to Goodwill over my birthday and got him some new jammies- youth size 6 and they should fit him for at least this year and hopefully next year. He's got plenty of length to grow into them and he can still wear them now. We also decided the kids needed jackets so we went again. Gary needed one too and he's impossible to buy for. He never wants to pay more than 10$ for any article of clothing so Goodwill is a good start for him. :) We got him a jacket, Tyler a jacket, Grace two dressy "church" jackets, a dress for Grace and shoes for me for $15. They have colored tags that are $1 and another color 50%off each week and we took advantage of that! We went again last night hoping to find some fall pants and a long sleeved white shirt for Grace. She has many cute summer dresses and jumpers that she could wear if she had long sleeves underneath. I'm also hoping to find Tyler some play tennis shoes so his nice ones last a little longer. We tried the Salvation Army in Belden. We didn't have much luck but I did find two more jumpers and a onsie for the baby for $3 total. They have a larger selection and I plan to go back after Christmas if the kids need more winter clothes. We can always get Tyler shoes for his birthday. I had some gift cards I'd been given for Old Navy so we decided to use those to get Grace what she needed. I was appalled at how expensive that store has gotten!!! I'm anxious to see how the quality is because I believe I'm right to assume it's not improved with the higher prices. I know I can get better quality things at Carter's or Kohl's on sale for much cheaper. Oh well. It'll be awhile before I"m buying myself anything from Old Navy so better to use free money than keep shopping around. We got her two long sleeved white shirts (one a turtleneck) and three pairs of pants and it was $44. Ouch! It physically hurt me until she rang up the $17 jeans and they came up $7. Then of course paying with gift cards makes the pain go away slightly. Then we finally hit Baby's R Us which I'd been wanting to do for ages. I just love that store. We sat in the $500 glider rockers and had a lovely conversation with the sales associate who assured us that now was the time to buy b/c they were 15% off. Gary politely told her it was the remaining 85% that concerned us! We did find the baby a brand new sleeper (even though she has 30 of them) to be her going home outfit. It was half off. :) We also splurged and got her a baby book which I hope to be better about filling out than I was the other two!!! And of course we got her some pacifiers. We looked at a lot of other things but decided everything else could wait till she came. Gary really wanted to look at the double strollers and I said we should wait till Christmas. If we find in her first two months we wish we had one, then we know what to ask for, if not, why waste the money and have the thing taking up all that space? Really, how often am I going to go out with the 3 of them by myself this winter? Grace is fully capable of walking everywhere or she can be in the grocery cart. :) If we're both there we can just use two strollers. Gary studied the gates too which we are keeping in mind as a possible future purchase. we have two nice ones but neither fit between our playroom and living room which might be something we look into. I looked at all the fun stuff, the cute sheets and other things. We have everything we need, but it was still fun to look. :)

Tonight we are taking the kids to Alliance for a harvest party. I hope the kids will enjoy it. We don't think they will get to trick or treat this year so i'm glad we found out about this in time to take advantage of it.

We have had a quiet month. Some shopping here and there and visiting Grandma and Pops. Church activities and helping Daddy at work fill up a few evenings too. Grandma Sandra came down for a day to help me wash the walls. The Kelloggs came up and over for a day to visit and spend time together. It's been nice to stick close to home and just rest. Tyler is going to story hour at the library on Wednesdays which has been a nice time to get out of the house and also hit Aldi and get it all done so daddy doesn't have to come with us. :) He's really enjoyed it and brought home some really cute crafts. Grace loves the time with mommy looking at books and playing with the frog puppet they have there. Bible study has started back up as has MOPS. I missed this month but look forward to making December and maybe even November, Lord willing. We've kept busy and enjoyed increased family time. It's nice to have evenings of just the four of us and even weekends! We've also gotten a lot of projects done around the house getting ready for the baby. The basement has been cleaned out and the play area expanded, all the woodwork and walls in the house have been cleaned. Closets and bedrooms cleaned out, the kitchen cleaned out (the garage not so much!). The baby's crib is up and made, the clothes are washed and put away and Gary installed the car seat today. I made space for bottles and bibs and they are all washed and put away. Toys are washed and in a basket and a space has been made for the mini-crib my mom hopes to bring with her when she comes to meet the baby. I think all we need to do now is pack my bag! And of course keep things picked up.... The kids have been playing very very well together and getting very into pretending. Grace seems mostly content to let Tyler lead, which he's happy to do. Her language has exploded the past few months and while I miss her being my baby, it's wonderful to get to talk to her and have conversations with her and continue to see her grow into her personality. Having this baby right around the corner makes Grace's maturing a little easier. Tyler is growing up too. He's very smart but also very content which I appreciate. He has picked up Grace's stubborn streak and they prefer to join together to aggravate us than to do it alone. They stick together and really are wonderful friends. I'm thankful they are so close and hope they remain that way with the baby coming.

Gary and I are doing well too. He's been overly stressed with work and I've been overly emotional and the two do not always mix well, but we're working on it. We're also learning already to team up better in dealing with the kids as they team up against us. I figure this will be good for us as head into life with 3 kids and needing to take the Zone Defense approach. :) We know our renters still plan to move out, but we've not gotten a date yet. We did get a rent check the first of the month which was a huge blessing. They are often unable to pay on time which can throw a wrench in our finances and cause us to wonder and worry. Getting it right on time was wonderful this month knowing we've got another month of them paying the mortgage and utilities. We had also hoped not to be needing to be over there a lot doing work this month. We're, as always, waiting on the Lord and his timing!

I hope to post more often as things get busy and exciting again here but know better than to promise. Continue to enjoy the photo's Gary is able to post and watch for Baby Updates and Photos coming soon!!