Yet Another Boring Post

See? I can't even come up with a decent title.
Yes, I know I've been a blog slacker. Between guilt about blogging when the kids are awake, utter exhaustion when they're not, things that NEED to be done (but still don't get done thanks to the aforementioned exhaustion) and the fact that my....computer.....is.....slower.....than......this, I haven't even been turning on the computer, let alone posting blogs, reading blogs or entering blogging contests. The only thing motivating me to do this now is the fact that the computer and dial-up seems to be fastest on Sunday mornings (and I have a basket of to-be-folded laundry next to me to take care of while each website sloooowly appears). Oh, and I was worried that I've posted so little that my next post was going to be about the birth of the baby and that would have been weird. So here's the latest:

I'm up to prenatal appointments every week now since they say I'm at 35 1/2 weeks (at least 36 1/2 according to me) now. Last Tuesday I had gained 4 lbs in 2 weeks (apparently there is no rhyme or reason to my weight gain) and the baby's head is now really low, but not yet engaged. The doctor said all that means is that he could pretty much guarantee that I wasn't going to have the baby before Thursday. I have been *absolutely miserable* in the past 2 weeks due to the combination of not being able to move quickly or bend, painful contractions, something that feels like bad gas pain in my extreme low abdomen (which has actually thankfully subsided since I made an effort to eat regularly), pressure in my tailbone area, severe hip and sacrum pain, and what I believe to be cervical dilation that feels like someone is sticking big needles in unmentionable places. I've also started (ok, continued) really disliking feeling the baby move since it has no room left and stretches out causing more contractions and pain. I seriously can't understand people who enjoy pregnancy, but unfortunately if I want 4 kids I'm going to have to go through it one more time. Not anytime soon though.
I'm guessing (I don't remember if I've posted this before and am too lazy to check) that I'll have the baby by the 9th. I have a baby pool going and there are some extremely pessimistic people out there who are not trusting my motherly instincts. But they'd better not be right.
We finally put the crib together last night because I started panicking about not having anything done. The clothes are sorted and I have a couple of packs of newborn diapers (not that I bought them), but otherwise the room is a disaster and in that sense I'm not even remotely ready to have this baby. I'm sort of hoping that I'll have it soon and the magical fairies will show up while I'm at the hospital and clean my house and get everything ready (reading my mind about what I actually want done since I'm anal about how it SHOULD be done...). Fortunately when I was feeling really good and Martha Stewart-y a couple of weeks ago I managed to cook and freeze 20 main meals and about 15 side dishes to help me out with dinners post-baby. I'd still like to make more, but just don't have the energy or motivation for it. I'll wait for that magical day before the baby's born when I feel really great and pain-free and nest my way into household organization.

*Knock On Wood* Roanen slept right through the night last night and only woke up once the night before. Lately, though, he's been waking up at least twice and getting hysterical again for no reason. He's also been hard to put down, getting himself tangled in the sheet on purpose and screaming "BANK-ET" repeatedly until we straighten it, then repeating this several times. Oh, and now he likes me to hold his hand while he falls asleep, but it has to be JUST RIGHT, and JUST RIGHT is never how I do it and he freaks. When he gets psychotic we've taken to taking him right out of bed and bringing him into the baby's room to sit on the couch until he calms down and says he wants to go back to bed. After doing this about 3 or 4 times in a row when he won't calm down he usually settles, but that doesn't necessarily mean he won't wake up again during the night. He's still playing really well on his own during the day, but has zero patience for anything going remotely wrong and gets frustrated easily when things don't go exactly as he wants them to.

Josey had a period of two days where he was an angel child. He was helpful, obedient, and relatively calm. It was heaven. Then the devil re-emerged and he's been extra bad for about a week and a half now. I don't know if he's upset that I can't do much and sit around a lot, or just taking advantage of the fact that I can't move quickly, but it's driving us crazy. His normal time-outs are 3 minutes long and I don't thing he's had one shorter than 7 minutes in all this time because they get extended when he refuses to sit down for them and runs around, making me chase him (no, don't picture it - not a pretty sight). He also likes to copy anything bad that Roanen does because bad attention is better than no attention, right? I'm wondering how he's going to react when the baby's born, and thinking that it could really go either way. At any rate, when I can move more I'll (hopefully) be able to deal better.

So that's it for now. I'm off to make junky treats with Josey to make up for ignoring him while I blog.