This is My Forties

Josh's leave was changed today and now it's possible we're not going to Arizona and he's not going to school. Good things: now he will be here from the 2nd - 16th and it won't be charged leave! That's 5 extra days AND he'll still maintain the 10 leave days he had before. We had to buy the plane ticket and we had to eat the cost of the other one. He has to fly back to Germany from here, which means we won't be seeing him on the weekends. Oh well. I'm not thinking about it too much. I just am tired of the Army. Any thoughts I previously had about Josh reenlisting have died a horrible agonizing death the past few years. Luckily he feels the same way. We'll finally be free civilians in 2010! We'll be able to move where we want, do what we want, live how we want, work where we want... struggle in much more manageable ways. We've had enough. The Army wants to consistently make life hell for people who strive to do their best and se...

OK so Vita found this Chinese Birth Chart that supposedly predicts the gender based on time of conception vs "Chinese age" of the mother. I checked out the stats for Noah and the chart was right... I just wanted to see how accurate this thing is... if you all are up to it, take a look . According to the chart I am having a girl. One more thing to get my hopes up hahaha. Not that I want a girl MORE. It's just that, in over 6 generations of Burnetts not ONE female has been born so the odds are kinda against us as far as Josh's side goes. We have a lot more women on my side so maybe we can somehow beat the odds, but there are a lot less granddaughters than grandsons! We've been pretty certain that we're only going to have boys and then we'll just adopt a girl later. We agreed on that a long time ago. So... if we do have a girl it will be the shock of the century to everyone, Josh's side and mine. Only time will tell, and not that much more time ...

I made it past the full moon! YAY! Last night was rough. I had a whole lot of pressure and discomfort and was afraid I was going to go into actual labor. I woke up about 5 times last night just because I felt really bad. Today I napped a lot thanks to Netflix and the arrival of "The Land Before Time". Noah has a new obsession with dinosaurs, which he calls "didoors". He climbed into bed with me, along with all of his bears, and he would randomly kiss me and chat with me. What a wonderful little boy to let me sleep a bit... or at least relax. I took him to the PX and let him wander around and play with all the toys for being such a good boy. When we came home there was a big package on the doorstep. I thought it was all my nursing gear, but it was a package from Grandma and Grandpa N. And what did Noah get for his birthday?? 3 plush DINOSAURS! And 2 dinosaur books and a shake and go race car. He's sleeping with all his dinosaurs, his baby, his bears....

I haven't been taking pictures of myself or Noah this week. I guess I'm just bleh. The baby has definitely dropped and I've been feeling tired and uncomfortable. Vita's birthday was yesterday so I took her out to dinner, which was SO FUN. Kevin watched Noah for me, which added about 500% to the fun hehehe :) Noah's been... Noah. He's cute and annoying, but mostly cute. I think my washing machine broke. It won't spin or rinse... BOOO! I messed with it and saw some nice sparks and somehow made it finish the load I was doing. No idea if it will work again. I washed Meaty today because he was starting to smell like a dog. Now he smells purty. Once again he was super happy... a dog who loves getting a bath, go figure :) Tonight is a lunar eclipse, tomorrow is a full moon. It all makes me quite nervous because bizarre cosmic happenstances have been known to send women into labor. Plus I've been feeling very... labor-ish. I am still ok, though.....

I finished all the big stuff today. The bouncy seat and the car seat are both very very clean now. I put new batteries in the seat since it no longer vibrated nor made music. I got a new outfit to bring the baby home in! I also bought one pack of diapers, a few more newborn gowns, a boppy cover, and Noah's new booster seat. I've been meaning to buy him a new one for a long time now, but just never got around to it. He seemed too small still. He seems too small now, but his legs are just soooo long! Well, maybe it's my legs that are too long. I had to move my seat up a little because he was getting squished. Not any more, though! I also bought Noah a Cabbage Patch Kid named Madalynn Joana. I love CPK names! I was going to get him a boy, but I only saw one boy and he looked goofy. We went to 3 different stores. CPK are serious business in my opinion! This one was perfect for Noah. He was so excited to get her out. He said "oh no! cut it! baby hurt!"...

I just had to share this right now!! My wonderful, loving son was sharing the rest of the chocolate ice cream with me. I walked away and let him pig out on the rest. You know what he did? He ran back over with the ice cream and a huge spoonful of drippy chocolate and fed it to me. It was the last bite. My little man gave ME the last bite. Then he threw away the container and stuck both our spoons in the sink. He's such a doll!! :D I scooped him up and showered him in patented Mommy kisses all over his face hahaha. Noah is such a unique kid. He IS going to be a great big brother!

Noah played in the scattered storms we had today. It would be sunny and hot and then pouring (for 5 minutes). He loves rain! I'm still in my nesting mode. I cleaned my room, rearranged it, and brought in the bassinet. Then I washed all the bottles and pumping gear I had (I got my new pump today). I also washed the boppy and all my 0-3mos baby clothes and loaded them up in one of Noah's dressers. If I don't have another boy I'm going to have a LOT of shopping to do! Then I went online and ordered all my nursing necessities. Isn't that so exciting!? I got free shipping and it was all at least 10% off so I feel OK about the expenditure. I also managed to make an eggbake, build a railway with Noah (including a train station built out of MegaBlocks), do dishes, and cook dinner. I still have to do dishes again :P It just never ends! I picked out the outfit for the baby... it's little bug jammies. I tried to choose the most neutral clothing I own, but I...

So right after the whole nesting episode, which is still going strong, I believe I have dropped a bit. I feel more uncomfortable and I know I've dropped because things don't feel the same or rest the same when I sit down now. I'm 36wks pregnant, which means I am one week away from how far along I was when I delivered Noah. Hopefully this baby will wait until September when Josh gets here! I'll throw my 33wk shot in there too so people can compare. I'm also having a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions and leg problems... not really cramps, just discomfort and the occasional twinge of a pinched nerve. The end is nigh and I am excited, but not the slightest bit nervous. Is that weird? Tonight I put Noah down to bed without a diaper! That's right, everyone... I believe it's over. We've gone to the park, the store, the playground, and an outlet mall (for over 6 hours) and he hasn't had an accident yet. The past few days he wakes up bone dry and ...

Nearly every night Noah will wake up and not go back to sleep for at least an hour. It's always between 2-4am. What really annoys the hell out of me is that he won't tell me WHY! I've tried being really sweet and nice to find out what's wrong and what I can do... nothing. I've moved along the spectrum to anger and he still says nothing. He sits in his bed with a fake frown on his face and just stares at the sheets. I end up leaving the room saying "well I guess nothing is wrong then and you can go back to sleep" and then he lays back down and waits 20 minutes before starting up again. He doesn't do a normal cry... it's this grunting, screaming, forced kind of crying noise that causes the hair on my neck to stand up. Why wait 20 minutes? My guess is because he knows that's when I start to fall back asleep and he wants me to hurt him or something haha j/k :/ I end up staying awake until 2am just because I know I can be more patient if I...

Today started off like any other day. I got very little sleep (4 hours) and I was trying to convince Noah to watch a movie in my bed so I could snag a few more precious minutes of slumber. Without warning I went into this cleaning frenzy. Mind you, I'm TIRED! I don't understand what triggered the impulse to clean my house, but I'm so glad it happened because it was an absolute disaster and really needed to be cleaned. It started when I walked into Noah's room, which smelled like a ferret. I cleaned the ferret cage, wiped down all the cupboards and walls in the kitchen, mopped the floor twice, vacuumed every room, cleaned the bathrooms, did laundry, and even gave the dog a bath. I figure my nesting instinct must have kicked in. I hope this doesn't mean I'm getting close. I don't want to give birth before Josh comes home, but it's been a worry of mine since the beginning. Time to share!!! :D OK here's good links for all of us. http://www.blur...

Here 's what we dealt with yesterday and today. Luckily, my house is bone dry and just fine. Our road floods a bit, but we haven't had any water problems at all. We'll see how she holds up throughout the week. I'm hoping we don't get Hurricane Dean too :P At least four people died Thursday in Erin's thunderstorms, which dropped up to 10 inches of rain in parts of San Antonio and Houston, and more was expected Friday. Up to 7 inches of rain was forecast for western Texas on Friday.

We began our day with a few noises coming from Noah's room. I peeked in and he was bouncing a Nemo balloon off the side of his bed. I snuck up to the edge and said "guess what, Noah" and he said "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!". Then he took his diaper off and said "here take diaper". He ran out his room stark naked and saw his table full of wrapped presents and exclaimed "WOW new!". I told him that although it may seem appropriate to celebrate a birthday in his birthday suit, we should get dressed. He stacked his presents and finally agreed to follow me back to his room. By time we got dressed he had successfully woken up Aunt Vita :) She had her camera all ready to go! Noah loved all of his presents. He got two new sets of wooden track for his train set, the fisher price doctor kit, a fisher price construction playset, and a real working spiderman digital camera from Aunt Vita. His camera can take up to 99 low res digital photos. It can...

Noah and I hooked up with a few moms from cafemom.com today. We also met a few more while we were out there. I used to take Noah to the park and spend maybe 30 minutes out there. This time we were there for 2 whole hours! I had a lot of fun talking with adults. It was hot, but it was great. I definitely liked all of them. Next time we're going to try and find a place indoors though. You hear that?! I SAID NEXT TIME! :D hahaha It's a big step for me to actually leave the house and meet people.

Josh called this morning and we FINALLY have concrete leave days. They won't advance him any leave so he only can take the 10 days he has saved up. He will be here September 1st-11th. After that my parents (or just mom) will come on down to help out. Hopefully I will actually have the baby during that 10 days. I'm pretty sure they'll agree to induce me if not. I will ask on August 31st when I go in for my appointment. After that he has to drive over to Arizona and try to find us a house. He's planning on coming out on the weekends to move things and visit with us. It's a 13hr drive, but it's better than the 13hr plane ride we were dealing with before! I'm hopeful that we will be able to get most everything settled by October. We'll be in Arizona together and Josh will be starting class. Let's hope! I was telling Vita about how I feel scared at night. Ironically, a stray pit bull had wandered over to Brandon's house and had yet to be ...

I just downloaded this off my camera and I love Noah's eyes in it so I wanted to share :) Yes that's my belly. We were supposed to go on a play date today, but the traffic was so bad we had to turn around and go home. It would have taken over an hour to get to someplace 15 minutes away :P Stupid San Antonio! Noah's been going on the potty all by himself with no accidents for 2 days now. I have to pay real close attention because he also wipes himself too and that's usually not the best idea. He does a good job, just not a GREAT job. At least I've drilled it into his head that he has to wash with soap and water after he goes. My hands are so dry from all the washing I've been doing this week lol. Noah's been doing so well I stopped keeping track with stickers. I just give him a plane or toy once I think it's been awhile. He got another one yesterday after doing such an amazing job. AND today he woke up dry from his nap!! :O Not only that but ...

I had my 34 week baby check-up today. I'm back on track and the doc says she doesn't have to see me for another 3 weeks. She also casually commented about Noah, which kinda pissed me off. She said "how old is he?"... he'll be 3 in 5 days... "does he normally talk more clearly?"... yes. I just left it at that so she'd shut up. I don't need advice on my son from my OB/GYN. She might not even have any kids. Reading a book and going through some classes does not make you any kind of expert. Yeah his speech isn't the greatest for his age, but he is advanced in everything else... she's not his pediatrician. Noah doesn't need speech therapy. He needs to be around more people so he actually hears conversations and has to communicate with someone other than me. I get defensive, but I didn't get angry to her face so that was good. I don't want to have to worry about something that isn't a problem. That's why I was m...

It's my Joshua's birthday today :) He gets to have a nice "grown-up" birthday and not do anything special. Poor Josh. We'll have to celebrate our birthdays when you come home, babe. And a lot of other holidays we missed. OK here's a photo tribute because he was just so stinkin' adorable. Happy Birthday, baby!! I love you :D rowr... wow I really miss this man.

With no warning whatsoever Noah is going to the potty on his own. Will this last? I don't know. But, he actually ran off to the potty to do his business anytime he had to today. He had one accident on the floor in the bathroom, but that's better than on the living room rug!! I was very pleased with him today :) Although he did annoyingly lock the bathroom door and tell me to go away a few times. What did I do? I took a video, of course!! ;) haha

My entire weekend consisted of bribery. I'm happy to announce that it's working, though! Yesterday he had a lot of accidents because I was asking if he had to go. He will never say yes, he's Noah. So today he sat every hour at least and I made him try and go. We also went to Walmart and picked up a bunch of cheap planes and helicopters for potty prizes. He wanted those planes sooooooo bad. Noah reached the 20 sticker goal and got to pick out a toy, which was a really great motivator. He did so well today he even got some M&M's! Only one accident all day and it was while we were outside playing with a moth cocoon we found. Hopefully he'll start going on his own instead of me having to make him go. I talked to my mother briefly today and she reminded me of how difficult I was to potty train. I also required bribery. I was as bad as... maybe even worse than Noah. I did NOT want to go... ever... I would hold it in and give myself urinary tract infections. I gu...

Before I go on about Noah's great accomplishments today let me just say that my computer... is dying ::moment of silence:: It's been 5 long years, which is like 100 in computer life. The hard drive is fading and it refused to start a few times today. It sounded like there was a woodpecker inside and that can't be good. It had me worried. Luckily I still have my laptop and an external hard drive so my life won't be too horribly inconvenienced. I am not looking forward to spending the money on a new computer. I told Josh that he just needs to build me one from scratch like he did with his. I have very few demands. I just want to be able to have the internet and a photo editing program running at the same time without the computer being slow. Simple. We got a call from Jennifer this morning at 10 to go out to Super Target. OF COURSE!! :D I love me some Target shopping!! We found Noah a great pair of shoes and I found myself a great new puzzle of Joe Cool. J...

I think the rain is finally over. WOOOHOOO! ::checks forecast:: 30% chance of thunderstorms today and tomorrow. I think we're gonna be ok! Today started off a little slow. I was tired and somewhat disgruntled. Instead of wallowing and sitting on the computer like I would normally do, we went out. Noah's feet are growing again and he needs new shoes. Can we afford new shoes? No, not really, but that's what credit cards are for :) So we headed out to the PX on Fort Sam Houston to check out shoes. They had adorable Converse All-Star high tops, but they were too big on him still... basically what really happened is I talked myself out of spending $17 on baby shoes, even though they were totally worth it! I just have a hard time making myself use credit cards. What a wonderful trait to have. Here's my 33 week belly pic! Noah fell asleep for maybe 15 minutes on the way home so he was grumpy and whiny while I was trying to fix us some lunch. I tried to get us do...