Nesting Momma

  I have some exciting news to start out with. We are going to be doing a contest and a Valentine's Giveaway! I don't have all the details for you just yet, so make sure you are catching all of our posts so you don't miss the full announcement.

 This last month has been a very relaxing month for me. We had a couple of meetings, but nothing too far away and we rarely had to stay away from home, which was nice. We were able to be home, establish some much needed routine with our toddlers, get some things done around the house, and just re-catch our breath before the next whirlwind in life. What do I mean by that? Well, I'll tell you.

  Starting tomorrow we take another long trip. We go from Indiana, 🚐to Georgia, 🚐to West Virginia,🚐 to Pennsylvania, back🚐 to West Virginia,🚐 to Ohio, 🚐to Kentucky, then finally 🚐back home. W're home for my next doctor's appointment, then back 🚐to West Virginia for a couple of days, then for the most part our meetings are much closer to home until this baby is born. But there are still several missions conferences in that time, so it's not like we'll only be doing weekend meetings.

  By the time we get back home for the closer meetings, that only leaves six weeks until my due date. Six weeks left with scattered meetings in there to prepare for having another baby. That's not as much time as you would think, and with the meetings in there, it will go by in the blink of an eye. So, I was panicking a little thinking about the things that I wanted to get done before she gets here. I have to get out and go through the baby clothes and wash them. I have to go through the garage and find all the baby essentials, like the car seat, the swing, the rock and play, the bottles, the bibs, the swaddles, and everything else I packed away. I need to go through my kids current clothes and pull out and store anything that's too small, and pull out any clothes that will fit them now that I bought and stored. I have to do some freezer meals and make lists for the kid's while I'm in the hospital. With two little toddlers on hand, all of that can take longer than it should.


  So, I decided to take this time home and try to get some of those things done. So far, I got out and sorted the baby clothes... but they've been sitting in a basket for a week because I haven't had the time when I didn't need the washer for our current clothes. Plus, that brought around another thing for the list. I need to get something to put the clothes in. We don't really have any dresser space left in the house and since we're leaving for Brazil, we're not buying another one. So, there's that.

  I also went through and pulled out all the kids clothes that were too small. I did it when all of their laundry was done so that I could make sure I got it all. Then for like the next two weeks it seemed like everything they put on was getting too small. Plus, I still have to switch out the long sleeves and coats, so I feel like that was kind of a waste of my time.

  Then I decided to get a jump start on freezer meals. Now that I'm feeling very accomplished about. I have four meals done, plus some things for quick lunches for the kids, and a couple of banana bread loaves. I didn't do freezer meals before I had my last two, so my hubby keeps cracking up when he sees me "hoarding food in the freezer" as he calls it. Regardless, I feel like I've made progress in this area.

  We also worked on some things with the kids. Because of the way our lives have been, there really has been no such thing as bedtime for our kids. They are up late because we're usually in a meeting late, and then they cuddle with us to fall asleep. It's worked up till now because that's just how it worked with our lives and schedule. The problem came when we would be at home. They still wanted to cuddle till the fall asleep, and they wanted to stay up way past when a toddler should be up. So, we started working on a bedtime routine. Not really a bedtime because we still have meetings and I don't want them to lose all their marbles because it's past their usual bedtime. But we started a routine. The first few nights, probably the first week, was a little rough. There was a lot of crying and getting up, and a lot of " will you come cuddle wis me?".  After the first night, our daughter stopped getting out of bed, but she cried for a while. After the third night, our son stopped getting out of bed, and our daughter stopped crying, but our son kept crying. Now, it's a case of telling them to go to bed and they do so without whining or fighting. It's soooooooooo nice. We don't have to wait till they fall asleep on top of us on the couch and then lug them to their beds and hope they stay asleep. They go on their own, and they don't get up or whine and cry. We get cups, then do prayers, and hugs, and kisses, and that's that. I'm really glad we were able to get this trained before baby #3 gets here because I don't think it would be that easy trying this when there's a new baby in the house.

  We've also completed something that I've been semi-working on for a while. If you've read my posts at all, you know that potty training hasn't been easy on the road. But now, I'm super happy to say.

She's potty trained!!! 

When we buckled down and got to it, she picked up on it fast. I was nervous about the first few outings and I still put her in a pull-up for those. To my surprise, she told me while we were out when she had to go and the pull-up stayed dry the whole time! So, I'm so happy that that's done and we're buying diapers for one less... for a whole two months. 

 So, what advice do any of you have for this soon to be mom of three?!?!?