Got my game face on...

The count down has officially began, it feels like I have been pregnant for SO long! And now that the pregnancy is coming to the end I feel SO unprepared! So today I mean serious business, the notebook came out and my pen and brain went to work.

First plan of action is to light the already roaring fire under my hubby's bum to get the other house done (poor man) he was on the phone for about an hour checking on this and that for my peace of mind, I made him write down what day he would be doing this or that and what materials he needed to pick up (instead of spending a half an hour here and there running to the store and back or having to wait for the next day because the store was closed and he couldn't get the parts he needed to finish up something) I already felt accomplished but I could tell he was just annoyed :)

Second was birthing and baby supplies. I ordered my birth kit and wrote down a shopping list of the other items I would need. I began to be excited/scared/overwhelmed....was I really just gonna have a baby in the next few weeks? SERIOUS! SERIOUSLY? Then I thought about the aftercare items I would need for both baby and me and I remembered the big box of girl clothes that at one point had piles of sizes but after 2 little girls getting into the box it was shoved away all mixed up and now I would not only have to re-wash everything but sort too (not a big deal but when I thought about it I was panicky). Ok so I guess we are having a baby huh? I have to decide on a name for this wee one, I have to come up with an "Eben" name I actually like...ugh I am tempted to just step away from the "Eben" name game but I don't want her to be left out either. Once again I warn those people out their not to do a "theme" with your children's names, not only can you pressure yourself into keeping up with it every child but EVERYONE else will be right there to pressure you too...even if they don't like your theme. But just to be clear the girls were never supposed to be involved with the "Eben theme" but after Ebie(and she was only Ebie after my sister-in-law, who was due at the same time told us she was using the name we had planned on) I felt so much pressure from other's to keep up with the Eben thing.

Next is Christmas shopping. I need to be done with projects(or at least started on them) before baby gets here, I want to hold and cherish the baby without feeling like I need to be doing something else. I also want all of the actual shopping done, because the last thing I want to be doing with a brand new baby is go shopping.

And last is THE MOVE! HOLY cow I am not looking forward to that. I think I am just going to take the basics and have those things in place and if I feel up to it I will bring more and more items over. Sounds complicated huh? My first plan was to take a room over with each load but I had to step back and realize that I am only one person and can only do so much with this very round, very contracting, very LARGE belly of mine so maybe I needed to take it slower. Still not decided.

Notebook pages filled with ideas and time lines makes me feel accomplished but putting everything into action is a whole other thing. I also have to look around at my neglected house, I have to get it under control too...but that doesn't sound very fun ;)

I am feeling great about having everything planned and organized, things just look so much easier on paper and much more manageable than just thing bumping around in my brain.

Life is really good, good kids to keep a smile on my face, good friends, good family, and WERE HAVING A BABY! Life will be great even if my "to-do" list doesn't get done, but it will get done even if I have to paint my house and lay carpet while I am in labor (lol)

And then there was light at the end of the tunnel

FABULOUS news to share! My awesome midwife was able to flip my baby! She is now where she is supposed to be...making my every day life a bit harder (but nothing to complain about)

I can't even begin to say how tough these last few months have been. Between money, houses, extended family stresses and stress about what choice I would be making about how and when the baby would be coming, I thought I could crawl in a hole and die. I don't get down very much, and if I do I can usually pick myself back up within a day or so, but this was hard.

I feel like I can make it...I truly do.

what to do?

Well here's the deal, This little girl in my tummy is stuck...yep she is stuck, ever since 20 weeks (maybe before) she has been in the exact position -head up and to the left, bottom down and back outwards with the placenta on my right side more towards the top. She wiggles but she doesn't change positions (very different from my other kids, who were doing back flips and moving EVERYWHERE possible at what seemed to be every waking and sleeping moment.

34 weeks today (going on my 42 weeks normal scale) so in the medical world I am actually closer to 36 weeks, but if you know me you know I am for sure a 42 weeker. And after many mini talks about a possible c-section along with all my other options, my doctor appointment went like this -first ultrasound (baby still in same spot) -then that do not look directly at the the doctor for fear of bursting into tears as he tries to get me to look at what the options really are and what needs to happen now. - realistically looking at the fact that unless I really want to go for a home birth with a breech delivery my options are to get the baby manually rotated up north and then see if she will stay (I am not excited about that one and I am still not sure that's the right thing to do) if she turns though, I will be able to have her at home (which is what I really want) and if she doesn't turn I am left with a c-section.....my biggest and greatest fear of all, it gos against anything I have ever wanted to do during a birth, not to mention the recovery stay of 2-3 days...which is unbearable to even think about and then the recovery from a c-section and dealing with any problems with the baby such as low or high blood sugar because I was not able to nurse her right away and nursing issues in general.

Needless to say I am very very scared. I am not sure what to do at this point, having a baby is a very scary thing in general(for me anyways) but to think of being in the hospital for that long without my kids and hubby makes my heart just ache, that is one of the most special things about delivering at home is that you take a shower in your own bathroom, you use your own toilette, you sit in your own bed holding your sweet little baby and you are surrounded by playing children. And there isn't ANYTHING better than feeling the spirit fill your home when that sweet angel finally arrives, that is a feeling that you can never replace. I am so sad, I know everything will be fine, I don't doubt that, and I know if I pray and ask what I should do heavenly father will tell me or make it known. I'm just not sure I can handle that right now. I want it my way or no way at all :)

So there it is, Momma and baby are both very healthy and doing great, have a wonderful mid-wife and a great doctor. Both support me in whatever I decide and I am grateful for that.

It's a......

BABY! :)


Gender Maker: First test turned purple...yep PURPLE! The test includes a color graph starting with either a light pink or blue and both sides fade off into purple....so being annoyed I wrote the company and told them of my situation and that I wasn't satisfied. They emailed back quickly and said a "purple" indicates a boy. Which is fine except the girls color graph also faded into purple too and the purple was similar to the "girl" purple, rather than the "boy" purple. They sent another test :) Second test quickly showed a dark blue, indicating that "It's a boy". Conclusion:BOY twice.

Chinese Calendar: 5 sites were used 2 saying boy and 3 saying girl. Conclusion: GIRL

Wedding ring: I did this test 3 times, I didn't tell my husband what either way meant. Conclusion: GIRL

Drano: Conclusion: GIRL

Red Cabbage: Conclusion: GIRL
I also found some more test:

Baking Soda test: You collect your morning urine and mix it with a spoon full of baking soda and if it foams like beer its a boy, and if it stayes the same it's a girl. Conclusion: All 3 times it was a BOY

Baby's heartbeat: Slower means boy and faster means Girl. Conclusion: BOY

Sweet or Sour: If you are craving sweets it's a girl, and sours its a Boy. Conclusion: GIRL

Hair line: This site you actually have to go check out. This test involves the hair line of your previous child. I checked each child and sure enough they all went in the order of their hair line. Conclusion: GIRL Check out the link here


*I was going to include picture of each test for reference purposes but decided I didn't want to look at my Urine and figured no one else did either. But most Urine based test can be googled and you can either see pictures of other people's results or see video's of other's women's results (I was super jealous of the women who took the gender maker test and they immediately got a cute blue color or cute pink color...I got purple and bluish purple :(

Out of the 8 tests GIRL was the most common, BUT I was really looking forward to the Ultrasound. Ultrasounds can be wrong and the only real way of knowing what your having is to wait the 9 months and see what pops out.

ULTRASOUND: We had our technician put a girl or boy card in an envelope, we took it home and after our kids came back from a Cousin camp at Gramma Leathams they opened it. They all were excited and as you can see It's a GIRL!

HEY! Were havin a baby :)

Yep that's right, for those of you who don't already know I am 17 weeks and counting to our 6th baby and I couldn't be more excited! I can't say the same for many people around me, but hey you can't please everyone right?

Since I am almost to 20 weeks(20 weeks is when most women get their official ultrasound to see what the gender of their baby is) I have decided to use the remaining 3 weeks to take a stab at some "old wives tales". I will do each one and post the results just before my 20 weeks ultrasound. Also please put your 2 cents in, I don't have many readers so if you happen to stubble upon my blog please leave a comment...in other words I don't care if I know you or don't leave a comment on whether you think this baby is a boy or a girl. Thanks

1st- GENDER MAKER- is a test using your morning urine on a control stick to give you either a "pink"(girl) or "blue"(boy) result. The cost= $24.99 with free shipping or $19.99 with $3.00 shipping from amazon

2nd- CHINESE GENDER CHART- which uses the Chinese calendar to predict the gender of your child based on how old you are at the time of conception and in what month you conceived. The cost is FREE

3rd- THE WEDDING RING TEST- put your wedding ring on a string, Lie down and dangle the ring over your belly. If it starts moving in circles, you are having a boy, or if it moves like a pendulum from side to side, then you are having a girl. The cost = FREE

4th- THE DRANO TEST- Collect around 2 or 3 ounces of morning urine and mix it with around two tablespoons of crystal Drano. Do not use the liquid form, as there will not be the same sort of chemical reaction. If the mixture turns brownish in color you are going to have a boy. If the mixture doesn't get any darker, and if it doesn't become brownish in color then its a girl. *Drano is a powerful and dangerous chemical to use during pregnancy* because of this I will provide the urine and my hubby will be doing the rest of the test far away from me. The cost= around $10.00

5th- THE RED CABBAGE TEST- cut up a cabbage, boil it in water then mix 1 part of morning urine to 1 part cabbage water and if the water turns pink or red your having a boy if the water turns purple or grey you are having a girl. The cost= $2.49

I will post my results and also test out any other wives tales I happen to find out about in the next 3 weeks.

who's this chick?

Name: Crystal Lynn
Birthday: May 26, 1983


What would you do if you had a Million dollars?
I wouldn't tell anyone. I would anonymously pay family and friends mortgages off. I would buy new cars for people and leave them parked in their drive ways with a big bow and a note that sayed "zoom zoom" lol I would build the perfect house :) I would travel the world. I would hire a freakin maid :) I would spend my days playing with my kids.

What do you look at on the Internet?
facebook :) and I stalk a bunch of blogs about arts and crafts and then I throw a pity party because I am such a loser mom who spends her free time stalking blogs about people who actually do crafts instead of doing my own. And the rest of the time I usually try to learn something new about health and about midwifery.

What have been your best buys for 2011?
Plain White T's tickets, 5 pairs of shoes for my family and myself at the D.I. (yes I washed and scrubbed them), a package of cool mint oreo's, an Ikea mattress for my girls, some clearance lip gloss that has peppermint oil in it, and asparagus :)

Whats a secret that you are embarrassed to tell people?
That even after trying to "re-populate the earth" with our 5 kids, we are actually trying to conceive. shhh please don't tell the haters

If you were to choose a new name for yourself what would it be?
Thats really tough to decide. I think I would want a really weird name, something no one else had like September. Or a Hippie name like Willow. I don't really know, thats actually a really hard question to answer.

Why don't you blog?
Lazy maybe? I just really hate blogging now. But I will admit that I do blog in my head alot, specially while doing laundry. I am thinking soon they will have a machine that reads your mind, and when that happens I will have new posts ALL the time

Why are you asking yourself weird questions and then answering yourself?
boredom, needed a happy blog post, in a very weird mood, and I actually do this quite often....what a weirdo eh?

my mom bucket list -2002-

I ran across a journal entry about things I either wanted to do with my kids, or things I wanted my kids to have...over all goals for them.

*I wanted them to grow up on a farm, an old broken down farm that they could fix up. Spend their summer's getting lost on the farm having wonderful adventures.
*I wanted to travel around the world with them. Take them to new places.
*I wanted them to be home schooled, and learn at their own pace. I would give them all the tools they needed to learn and be there when they had questions and never miss an opportunity to teach them something new.
*I never wanted to spank my kids. I knew there had to be a better way to get a point across.
*I wanted to spend my nights reading books to the kids and listening to Eben play the guitar.
*I wanted each of my kids to earn there own money for their first car, or I wanted them to fix up their own car.
*I really wanted my kids to be happy, healthy and be well behaved.

Those were my goals. I love each one of them and wish I would have already full filled most of them by now. It seems so odd to think that I have very few years with my oldest, who was 2 at the time when my "bucket list" was written. Time has just slipped away from me. I think it may be time for a new bucket list. Although it seems so sad to look at this old one. My dreams are still the same but just not possible.

I am so lucky to be a mom. Some days I let the good things about being a mom slip away. And more days than not I spend my day cleaning, and running here and there and forget to actually spend time with my kids.

Maybe I need some goals. A month to month guide to get me back to being a full time mom, instead of being a full time maid/taxi driver/babysitter. I can truly say I have gotten off the beaten path.

I am thankful for these reality checks. The one's that make you wonder "what was I thinking?"

Onwards and upwards :)