snack buckets, party invitations, and projects to come

this has been a really hard pregnancy for me. until this go-round, i've always been one of those women who loved every second of pregnancy. i don't get morning sickness, and i feel great. feeling my baby move is the highlight of my days - WATCHING my belly move w/ the baby inside is even better. :) it all makes me so happy and just confirms to me that, as a woman, this is what i'm MADE to do. i am so blessed for this opportunity to grow and birth my babies. this pregnancy has tried my faith though. i still didn't get morning sickness, but i've had just about every other pregnancy discomfort a person can think of. i have gestational diabetes, which isn't a big deal, but makes me sad when i can't just eat whatever i'm craving. most women experience round ligament pain during pregnancy, and i'm no exception to that. however, the rlp i'm having this time around leaves me curled up in the fetal position for hours at a time some days. standing up is NOT an option when they strike. i've had migraines again this time too - not as bad as they were w/ scott, but bad enough. my doctor prescribed me tylenol w/ codeine, but of course, it makes me loopy enough that i can't take it unless i have someone here to help me w/ the kids, so 9 times out of 10, i just suffer through the pain and hope regular tylenol will be enough to get me through the day.

by far the worst though, is that i've been diagnosed w/ symphysis pubis dysfunction. basically, the joint at the front of my pelvis is loosening up too soon (it's supposed to loosen up to allow baby to come out during delivery, but i'm only 27 weeks, and i've been suffering w/ this for the last 6 weeks already), and it causes instability in the entire pelvis. my joints crack and pop painfully every time i move, and the muscles around those joints are incredibly sore. i spend most of my time sitting on my bed b/c it's the least uncomfortable place in my house. the only treatments are to take narcotics, which isn't an option b/c i have other kids to take care of, or seeing a chiropractor, which we don't really have the money for. i'm hoping that i can see a chiro once or twice toward the end, just to make labor and delivery a little easier, but i hold no delusions of seeing one sooner than that. the only cure is giving birth.

i feel worst for my kids b/c they're used to a mommy who can get up and run and play w/ them whenever they want. they're used to going to the park and the library and all kinds of fun places on a regular basis, and i just can't do it now. they watch a LOT of dvd's (we don't have tv service at all) and trevor's been playing a lot of video games on the wii. i hate that i can't do more w/ them. we do school every day, and i try to get them to turn off the tv for a couple hours every day and use their imaginations or play board games w/ me, but it doesn't always happen. on the days where i feel ok and can get up and move around some, i get tired really fast. last week, the weather was GORGEOUS - it felt more like may than march, so i wanted to take advantage. we went to the park 4 times in 5 days and had a picnic 3 of those times. it was fun, and the kids had a blast, but it took a severe toll on me - i spent all of sunday in bed feeling like i got hit by a truck.

so, all of this leads me to my first item from the title of this post: snack buckets.

we went to the dollar store and the kids each got to pick a plastic bin to keep in the fridge. trevor chose green; scott wanted pink. then we went home, labeled them w/ their names, and filled them w/ snacks for the day. it's great for me b/c i don't have to get up and make them food every 20 minutes all day long (seriously, these kids are HUNGRY! i'm sure part of it is boredom, but they also have both been going through a major growth spurt lately). even better though, is that it encourages independence for them. i put 4-6 snacks in each day, and that's all they get. if they choose to eat everything in there before lunch, that's their problem. they know i won't fill their buckets more than once a day, and i also won't get them things that aren't in their buckets for snacks. the ONLY exception to this is if i tell them to get something from their buckets for lunch. it teaches them to manage their snacks - budget them, if you will - so that they have enough for the day.

some day it works better than others. we're experimenting w/ a couple new snack things w/ which we've had varying degrees of success. we've learned that trevor HATES nutrigrain bars (he gagged when we tried to get him to eat 1 bite), while scott will tolerate them. same goes for granola bars. of course, they love the classics like animal crackers, goldfish, juice boxes, cookies, and fruit snacks. scott loves apples, but trevor is less inclined to eat them. same goes for cheese. i thought they'd love babybel cheeses, mostly b/c they're kid-sized. i was wrong. scott nibbled one and said he didn't like it. trevor wouldn't even try it. so jon and i ended up eating them all ourselves (we were happy about that though, we LOVE them).

scott's snack bucket

todays' snacks: cinnamon graham crackers, black grapes, fruit loops, cheese, and oreo cookies

item #2 today is scott's birthday party. in a month, he'll turn 3, so i've been working on planning his party. he kept changing his mind as to what he wanted to do, so i decided to go w/ a theme i saw on pinterest: drive in movies. i'm SUPER excited about this party. basically, we'll get a bunch of boxes and decorate them to look like cars. then, the kids will sit in them while we watch a movie that scott will choose. in the last week, he's changed him mind about 10 times, so i'm not committing to a specific title till the week of the party. we'll have hot dogs, chips, fruit, veggies, and drinks, along w/ the obligatory cake. i'm debating whether it's worth it to make the cake myself, or if i should just order one from the grocery store. normally i'd do it myself, but w/ all my issues with this pregnancy (see above), i'm leaning toward having someone else do it this year.

anyway, since we haven't decided on a movie to watch at our "drive in," i couldn't go w/ movie-themed invites, and i didn't see any generic ones at the store that i liked or was willing to pay for, so i decided to make them myself. i think they turned out super cute! check them out:

all the details of when, where, etc. are on the back. for obvious reasons, i'm not going to post a picture of that. i don't need random internet creepers stalking us and showing up uninvited.

item #3: projects to come

my next project is going to be making a couple of maxi dresses for myself. i saw a really easy tutorial on pinterest that i decided to try out. click here to see it. i like it for 2 reasons:

1) they're modest
2) i can wear them during AND after pregnancy

i'm super excited about these dresses. i'm doing a pink one and a caribbean blue one. if i could find the dye, i'd also do lime green. :)

i'm also planning for birthdays for myself and my husband. in a 2 week span, we have 3 birthdays in our family. my husband's is next week on friday, mine is the week after on thursday, and our son scott's is a week later. last year, we got totally CAKED OUT by the time we were done w/ all of them, so this year, we've been trying to think of alternatives. my husband wants to go out for frozen yogurt instead of having cake, which i'm totally ok w/. we've also hired a babysitter so he and i can go see the hunger games together. :) i'm planning to make a special dinner at home b/c he doesn't really want to go out. not 100% sure what we'll be having, but he mentioned steak. for my birthday, i don't really care what we do, but i decided i want this for my cake, mostly b/c i'll be able to eat it. sugar-free jello + cool whip = almost NO carbs for my dessert. happy evelyn. :) it'd also be nice to either go out for dinner or have no responsibility to make it or clean up afterward.

lastly, i recently got the things i need to make homemade fruit snacks for the kids. i can't wait to see how they turn out! i'll be sure to post updates on all these projects when i finish them. :)