Attempting to be a Super Mom

I've been getting crafty here.  Maybe it's all the Fixer Upper and Property Brothers the kids and I have been watching.  Living in a rental, there is only so much we can do, but painting picture frames and decorating around the house, I can definitely do.  It's been fun, and I have a few big ones left to go. Here's the finished products of what I've been working on for the past couple of days. The kids have also been working around here too, but for Valentine's day.   And I've been working on my corner to corner blanket any chance I get.

Everyday, I look at my babies and realize that they are growing so fast.  Every blink, I swear they grow an inch.   Before I get into all the craziness that has been going on here this week, I've done some digging through pictures to compare all the kids at each age. Ben is in First grade!!!   Can you believe it?  First grade.  He plays soccer and baseball, and is about to start marathon club.  He's really good at math but his favorite subject in school is science, especially stuff about space.  He loves video games, superheroes, and legos.  Here's Ben, when he was about the same age as Scotland is: Here's Ben, when he was about the same age as Rylie is: Here's Ben, when he was about the same age as Sydney is: Here's Ben now: Sydney just started her 2nd and final year of preschool.  She plays soccer, baseball, and dances.  She loves anything girly, hair, jewelry, makeup, nail paintin...

I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I'm starting to get in the swing of things already. I did forget to mention, in all the busy-ness we've been going through, that I took Maya to the vet last week.  She's had some problems with her back legs.  I should also mention that she's a big black lab, so arthritis is pretty common.  I guess I just didn't know what causes the arthritis. I guess a long time ago, back as a much younger dog, she tore her ACL in both knees.  I asked how that even happens, and she told me it's common from running or jumping and especially common in labs because they do more jumping that a lot of dog breeds. After those injuries, she got arthritis in the knees.  Because we didn't know at the time, we weren't able to get the problem fixed before arthritis and any surgeries now won't stop or fix the arthritis.  Sometime in the last week or so, she tore what was left of the ACL on her left hind leg and wasn't ...

I am beyond exhausted lately.  I've hardly been sleeping at all, which I kind of think is expected at this point. As of today, I'm 9 weeks from having our baby.  I'm uncomfortable and have no energy and to top it off, have been dealing with sick kiddos.  Last week, it was Ben, this week it's been Sydney and Rylie.  Ben wasn't too bad.  One day he was pretty sick, Sydney has had one day that she was pretty sick and a couple of days of a cough and runny nose, but Rylie, she's been sick since Sunday, and yesterday afternoon seemed to get at her worse.  She's got a fever and runny nose and she barely slept last night.  I'm hoping for a good nap today. Our van had been in the shop since Friday the 31st and we finally got it back last night.  I was bummed it took so long, especially considering the trouble only having one car caused, but this morning, I took Ben to school and the girls to Starbucks in my van with heat, a seat I could move to where I n...