Alexandrite - Two Challenges to Go!!

[Alexandrite]

Oh yes. Yes I am.

I'm also a mom, living out in the middle of nowhere Eastern Oregon, raising awesome toddlers with Dr. Focker (my husband, he picked that name, lol).

Continuation of similar goals from previous challenge!

Mind:

- WaniKani level up - at least one, preferably two levels

- Bible - Purchase own devotional Bible so Dr. Focker and I don't have to share + daily reading

- Baby Reading - Redeeming Childbirth and name research stuff

Body:

- Yoga once a day!

Matter:

- Office/desk organization

- Baby items acquisition

I have yet to try out the NF Character creation interface, may give that a spin later.

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[TheForager]

Whoa ! 

 

That is one sorted list. 

 

Wish you the very best! Keep em on their toes this challenge . 

[Alexandrite]

Whoa !

That is one sorted list.

Wish you the very best! Keep em on their toes this challenge .

Took me a lot of challenges to get down to making simple goals I could report easily on. Since I only have a few minutes here and there with kids, it works and makes it quick for summaries! Whenever I do longer posts it usually is right before going to bed or during nap time when I have more time to type.

Day 1 was spent in R&R mode - still recovering from the cold that grabbed me last Thursday. Dr. Focker even stayed home to prevent his fatigue and run down feeling from turning into what I got. My daughter showed signs in the evening of the cold/fever but woke up feeling much better. Yuckies go away!

Mind:

All three checked off that day. No name list yet though haha.

Body:

Nope. (DVD hasn't arrived yet)

Matter:

Shared the car seat selection with the Dr. over the weekend but he's not too eager to jump all over ordering stuff yet. Problem is, we will probably not have a baby shower, because I'm not close to anyone here yet, being new. Guess we will see? No desk progress.

A beautiful Tuesday. (Edit: yoga DVD just arrived, yay!)

On a side note, I returned to FB and immediately want to make it go away again. Haha. I need a few solid hours of management on the PC for it, since you can't easily access stuff on mobile for account management. I think if I'm aggressive enough it will help. I'm keeping it off my main phone screens on purpose to assist in less checking and getting lost in randomness. I've also dedicated myself to a once a week post only, and refraining from sharing more than one picture unless absolutely necessary. =)

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[Happienumber]

I'd say that was a pretty fabulous start even if it was spent partially in recovery mode.

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[Elastigirl]

Another solid challenge. Hope you like the yoga DVD

[Alexandrite]

I would have tried the yoga dvd today but just the idea of doing a pose and watching a mouse run across the kitchen made me upset. Our kitchen was overtaken by them today. Broad daylight, as I sat there. One even came out of the closet when I opened it to get the vacuum. I saw probably 3-4. One got stuck in our bathroom upstairs over the weekend so we knew we had a problem, but colds kept us lazy about it at the time.

Dr. Focker came home with the traps of various kinds. I ran off to a Master Gardeners class. Thank goodness. My anxiety is high. I have no idea why, I had mice as pets when I was a kid, but the risk of disease and uncleanliness from these mice makes me very upset. Especially with little ones and being pregnant.

Apparently a few were caught while I was gone. More will face the same fate soon. I am NOT a fan. I will most likely be looking for a cat or two to live outdoors. But first... how are they getting inside? X_x

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[Happienumber]

O_O aaaaahhh!! The anxiety is totally understandable. Even if you like mice personally that doesnt stop rogue ones from being a health hazard. If a few were caught while you were gone it sounds as though the control effort is well under way. Usually there aren't hundreds of them, just a handful.

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[Alexandrite]

4 dead, 3 live ones thrown into the river out back (they probably swam back or something). It's nap time, and they usually come out to play then, so we will see...

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[Happienumber]

Good riddance to them!!

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[Alexandrite]

So quick catch up on the challenge goals:

This week has pretty much been "laze around to catch up with everyone kind of being sick" and "getting bigger by the day omg stairs are tiring."

I have a feeling between the cold recovery and pregnancy I am just not having a good time keeping up with water intake, which makes blood flow and pulse difficult to regulate naturally and causes me to be short of breath a lot. Even something as simple as getting upstairs to grab something and come back down can mean having to rest for 20 minutes until my body catches up and calms down. MORE water!!

I'm feeling goofy today, as in silly. Finally close to my old self again, haha! The herbal drops from Ricola have helped me bounce back faster from this cold I think.

Mind:

Minimal progress...

Body:

DVD is waiting for me...

Matter:

Taxes are done except for one missing document (silly IRA taking so long). We are going out of town again this weekend because I'm trying to do all the travel before my restrictions set in at the end of the month (no more travel for me by 36 weeks). I might talk the man into looking for a desk, who knows.

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[Alexandrite]

And for the mouse count: about 7 dead so far... and still no sign of the adolescent/young one I saw a few days ago. We know there's at least one left because of a trap that was tripped last night, but no sign of the mouse. I pray that's the end of that, but leaving for the weekend means a quiet house...

Good thing our pantry is sealed in an old cabinet where the water heater used to be, no cracks or holes the mice can get into there!

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[Happienumber]

Nice! Glad to hear your feeling better! What kind of desk are you looking for?

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[Happienumber]

And for the mouse count: about 7 dead so far... and still no sign of the adolescent/young one I saw a few days ago. We know there's at least one left because of a trap that was tripped last night, but no sign of the mouse. I pray that's the end of that, but leaving for the weekend means a quiet house...

Good thing our pantry is sealed in an old cabinet where the water heater used to be, no cracks or holes the mice can get into there!

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Maybe that young one saw the demise of the others and skidattled. Lol. Here's to hoping.

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[teddie.bare]

Mice are the woooooorst. Oh man. One time I brought in the tupperware of dog food from the garage (we don't keep it out there any more!) and went I poured it into the inside container PLOP... a little mouse poured right out, jumped up, and ran off. Man oh man was that a stressful day. It even ran right by an open door I tried to shoo it out of. In the end, one of our cats finally got it. My newest dog is part boxer, and a mousing queen. She brings us dead ones on occasion from outside (yuck!). I've always had pets, and that is definitely one of the bonuses! I hope they all get captured while you guys are gone. That is such an anxiety bomb!

 

I'm glad you got your yoga DVD. You know you like that one, so hopefully you can jump right into it when you get back (and the mice are under control). You aren't going to have much time to work on that flexibility before baby if you put it off for too much longer, girl You know how much better it makes you feel. Maybe you could set yourself a 'just try it' time limit. Like, just do 10 minutes. And if you aren't into it, you can stop? I've always found that setting limits like that help me to start something, and then I feel fine and just finish it.

 

Good luck on the desk search. I know what a pain that is. I ended up getting a very specific corner desk from Ikea years ago. After we replace the carpet in the living room I need some book shelves from there... but the perfect furniture struggle is real!

[Alexandrite]

So here's a nice start to the day.

Mind:

Read the daily Bible and devotion today, and I'll be knocking out WaniKani reviews here soon.

Body:

Managed 30 minutes of the yoga DVD as my daughter melted and whined on the floor next to me for food at 6am. It wasn't ideal, but at least I did it. I thought early mornings would be nice to do it (because Dr. Focker always wakes me up with all his slamming and noises and chores, which I can't much complain about). But the kids wake up early if we make a lot of noise and the Dr.'s presence makes me self conscious and distracted, even though we've been together for 10 years this April, haha. So maybe first thing in the morning isn't going to work for me until I can commandeer one of the side bedrooms and close the door off. Which won't happen until it's not as cold because we don't heat those rooms at night. Anyway, I did it! I got my butt out of bed and did it.

Matter:

The desk I'm hoping to find would fit under a large window, so it can't have any built in stuff on top. I want to be able to seat two people side by side comfortably so the Dr and I can do budgeting and computer work together, as well as share things with my kids. I will eventually need to acquire a file cabinet of some sort if the desk doesn't have one. My filing is great when there is a system but right now everything is in piles and bags and who knows what order or where things are... thank goodness for Mint online stuff for tracking and tax purposes.

I've also done some good research on baby carseats and will probably abandon our usual Britax brand for a European style one with more stringent safety. With sales it will be around the same price anyway, haha. Just hard to find them in person even in Idaho, we're backwoods compared to southern California.

So far no new mice caught, but Dr doesn't want to renew the peanut butter on the traps in case it attracts more inside so... we are kind of at an impasse. I need to vacuum out stuff so we can watch for new evidence. And we are supposed to leave tonight to go to Boise, so I have to clean out the truck...

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[Elastigirl]

I don't really like working out when Mr.Incredible is in the room, makes me self conscious. Course , now he works from home several days a week, so I had to learn to not let it bother me. Not sure why it bothers me, we've been married 30 years.

 

I like the side by side desk idea that's sweet.

[karinajean]

oh the mice is the worst thing, I'm so super sorry! especially in your lovely new digs! I hope that they're all gone by now, but if they're not, we have had super good luck with baiting the snap traps with butter, also, and if they are super tricky, you can hot glue seeds to the trap triggers, and then put butter or peanut butter on top of them.

[Alexandrite]

Checking in during an odd nap time.

We left for Boise, ID on Friday night, stayed for two nights and came back last night. No mice, signs of them, or bodies. I think we may have nipped it in the bud on this round.

My Womens conference at the church in Boise was good. Honestly, I had a pretty good weekend of seeing family and spending time with my own. The worst part was Dr Focker getting a head cold on Friday that lasted all weekend. But I had arranged for childcare at the church so he spent a lot of time at the hotel hanging out. Away from us. Perfect.

Unfortunately I've spent most of today handling disaster stomach sickness from my daughter. Praising the Lord right now that we didn't wake up to a toddler that choked on her own vomit. I was so tired last night I even walked through some of it in my slippers and put her back to bed after finding her randomly sleeping on the carpet.... yeah, I've felt bad about that one all day. Thankfully she's able to drink the new Pedialyte powder packets (she hates the regular premixed stuff) so she's been sleeping throughout the day or zoning out on the floor with me. And I haven't had to change my clothes yet today! Bonus!

I'm going to call these last three days a by-weekend of sorts and pass on grading. It was the last weekend I am able to travel now that I'm getting so far along. I'd rather not judge myself for enjoying it, haha.

So! Tomorrow I will pick up where I left off and continue with the challenge goals. I do plan on putting the phone down and doing some AMRAPs testing for the mini. Right now.

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[Happienumber]

Oh man! What a nightmare. I hope you did get to enjoy something in and out of the sickly ones. Stomach bug is the worst.

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[Alexandrite]

T_T

Welcome to my pity party. Haha. Feeling nauseous because the little daughter got sick again this morning. I thought we were out of the worst of it since she did pretty well yesterday. Now she's back to how she was on Monday. It honestly doesn't seem like a real stomach bug/contagious thing, because no one else has got it or experienced it. My daughter has also had at least a week and a half of diarrhea, so I wonder if her stomach just suddenly changed and she's got sensitivity to something... ugh.

Mini Challenge: I did get the Initiation for the mini done. I'll be posting two recipes soon for the Power Cell, and hopefully be doing squats for the Crystal. Waiting on a modification for the Handle.

My Goals:

Haven't been doing any WaniKani the past few days, with everything going on. I have been reading the bible though. But lots of movies and gaming and sitting on the floor hugging my daughter, who wanted hugs every 10 minutes yesterday.

No yoga lately, but I have been doing at least one activity a day to get me up and moving, yesterday I raked leaves, picked weeds, and poked around the backyard taking stock of plants. No book of gardening I have read talks about 'rehabing' property or what to do with a yard that you didn't create or design. Most assume you just start from scratch but that's just wasteful. I need compost piles though, haha.

I haven't yet ordered the carseat, waiting for a good sale, but we will be working on beds and desks this weekend because I'm getting so large it's hard for me to get up and down from the floor beds without help! Taxes are waiting on one document that is holding stuff up...

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[mediaguy99]

Excellent progress!  I hope you can get back to the yoga DVD shortly.  And your battle vs. the mice sounds epic!  We had one get into our van while we were road tripping last summer... Mrs. MG stayed up all night listening to him scamper this way and that.  I dropped the van off at my friend the mechanic's house on the way back from that trip, and gave him a trap... but the mouse left of it's own accord.  We went on another trip to the pacific northwet, and she thought ANOTHER mouse got in the van like 2/3 of the way through the trip.  I never once heard it, but she had many sleepless nights where she would wake me up:  "DID YOU HEAR THAT???" ...  silence ... Me:  <grumble grumble falls back asleep>

 

Another time I was living in Boston and went away for two weeks... when I got back my BED was infested.  Yuck.  

 

Glad you nipped it in the proverbial bud!  

Thanks so much for your ongoing support.  Enjoy the last few weeks of your pregnancy!

[Alexandrite]

Yeah, we think that if there is one left he's smart enough to stay out of the house now and away from the traps... We've found two tripped but no capture in the last week or so. And I am totally with your wife on that, my hearing is super sensitive and I am always the one to wake up creeping myself out thinking I hear things. Poor Dr Focker has had to "check and clear" the house or wherever we were living in the past multiple times due to deer, mice, random trees against the house, who knows what. Even the dog's snores echoing from downstairs sometimes wake me up. Oh well.

I am physically maxed out tonight. My daughter has been hanging on me for the last three days or more, the baby inside is NOT happy about being squished all the time because of this and growing bigger, and my son is driving me absolutely nuts. I'm calling head start preschool in the morning to find out more info (the only preschool in town, literally). If he was away for even a few hours each day, it would help our family immensely right now, him included. Too many movies and sleep times with sister being sick, and he's getting into more frequent trouble than I can physically handle.

Anyway~ Dr Focker brought home salmon dinners from the hospital cafeteria. I literally cannot remember the last time I had fish, which is bad because I'm supposed to be eating good amounts of it (that and I probably haven't eaten an egg in over two weeks...). This pregnancy just... ugh, I don't feel like eating any of it. I just wants carbs, haha. I think it's a boy... that's how my son's pregnancy went. That and baby positioning/movement is similar.

Settled on a carseat I want to buy, got ridiculous amounts of paperwork and bills done somehow, and Dr Focker has agreed that I can buy a desk and desk chair, plus kids beds! Yaaaaaaaaay I get to shop, haha. Just got my new walking shoes today, have yet to try them on. Some fancy pants brand that will help my poor feet. And look better than Mary Janes, I hate that style so much for slip ons.

I honestly just need a break from parenting, but my husband feels the same way, and we both look at each other like "but I am the more exhausted one." We each have our challenges, and as I get bigger it's getting harder for me to see his point of view. I'm toting around an extra 25lbs or so right now in body weight (started at 128, now around 154) as I continue to chase two kids that only keep growing each day, plus regular housework, meals, etc. From 6am or earlier to 8pm or later at night. And then the mom of four boys tells me, "#3 will push you over the edge, so be ready." Oh dear. I don't like base jumping.

So! Here's to picking myself up by the bootstraps and slapping a little common sense and personal care into myself. I feel like crap because I'm not caring for the system administrator here, me.

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[Alexandrite]

Much better day so far. Son went out and dug holes in the garden with a shovel, and after I cried when my daughter asked me to hold/hug her again for the 15millionth time this morning (my legs were asleep from her sitting on my lap so much and baby pressure), she got some toys and tried to make cookies to cheer me up.

Dr. Focker was even able to stay home until 9:30am and exert his presence and discipline as needed, which gave me a much needed break. I have a maternity appt at 11 or so and he will come back to watch the kids. I'm getting lots done bill/paperwork wise, and to do list is getting shorter.

And while my kids enjoy a second breakfast sandwich and The Little Mermaid, I jumped right in to the Jedi mini and made some feel-good progress. Friends coming for dinner guarantees that I will have recipes to post. =)

Much better today!

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[Alexandrite]

Well! MIA for a bit, but back again. Dr. Focker didn't realize it was Valentine's weekend until Saturday, midday. Then we got some random idea to drive to Bend and spend the night, and he wanted to feed me yellow curry from our favorite restaurant. I used to eat it all the time when I was pregnant with the other two.

Long story short, we managed to find a last minute room on the river, had an overall great time despite our son having the cold, and enjoyed some really good Thai food. We were able to relax and even take the dog to a dog park.

However, that will definitely be the LAST road trip I take. I had one of the most uncomfortable/painful days on Saturday with my belly, baby going absolutely bonkers inside stretching out to the max, and generally having Braxton Hicks every hour due to the way the truck rides down the road. I was sore today because of it, and then basically repeated it on the way home. No amount of stretching or yoga is helping at this point, but it's mostly dull aches now, which is better than 'so uncomfortable/awkward I can't even walk regular.'

Going to try some new sleep positioning with pillows tonight. The IT bands/hip area on both sides are where I get the most pain during the night.

Dr Focker gave approval for bed, desk, and car seat acquisition, so I will be shopping tomorrow. Friday: Went to OB appt in morning that got rescheduled from Thursday because last week was a CRAP week for Dr. Focker and his job. Got the documents I needed for Samaritan Ministries AND filed our taxes for a wonderful refund, plus did bills and a whole bunch of financial shuffling. Again, despite the kids showing signs of colds and being super clingy and needy. Here's to praying I remain healthy!

About 6 weeks to go... crazy @_@

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[Alexandrite]

Been another busy week of ups and downs for Dr. Focker at work, which greatly affects us at home. Plus the 4 year old has no idea what covering your cough means and coughed all over his sister so she got his cough too. 2 year old does it better than he does. Unfortunately this means lots of wake ups at night, less sleep for everyone, and grouchy/funk kids and adults. I've gotten up for about an hour around 1am for the past three or four days to help my daughter sit upright, give her some homeopathy med stuff, water, and make it through the coughing. Then she goes back to sleep. Then I wake up at 5:30am or earlier because the baby in my tummy has no clue about sleep time - neither does my 4 year old as he usually wakes us up along with my husband's alarm.

Anyway, on to the challenge updates:

Mind - not much going on here. I let myself get distracted by a majorly addictive free play app called Hamster Life. Pretty sure it was my way of coping because I was playing FFIX on an emulator before this. I tend to turn to casual gaming when I need stress relief, which is why NF and WaniKani have worked so well for me in the past. I've come back to WK after 3-4 day breaks from reviews and I'm happy to report I don't have too much memory loss! I'm averaging at least 90% accuracy for most reviews. Haven't read the Redeeming book at all. It just isn't speaking to me. I was a lot more spiritual with my daughter's birth. Maybe I should skip ahead and check out other chapters.

Body: I did some yoga for the mini. I will probably modify this goal to say "physical activity that gets the heart going and gets you off your butt" because in general I can manage one group of activities with 20 minute breaks in between either in the morning or afternoon and I am toast the rest of the day. The baby is carrying very low (as all my babies do) and going straight out (my son did this, my daughter went up into my ribs). I set a plate on my belly to eat the other day, haha. And I still have about 5 weeks to go. The big thing is that one I hit 35 weeks I have to cut back drastically on sugar and extra fluff foods that add fluff weight to the baby. I have to load up on as much good stuff (read lots of greens and fresh foods) the last 4-5 weeks to fuel us both for labor and delivery and make it easier for recovery. The more junk I eat the more weight the baby will put on. My babies average 8lbs as it is, no bigger please!

Matter: huge progress on this front. Taxes are done~ singing the praises of big refunds on this one, haha. Carseat arrives today or tomorrow. Kids bed frames, mattress, bedding, protectors, and pillows arrive same time. We will be making a decision to order a type of truck nerf bar/step tonight so the kids and I can get in easier. I had to move the PC and office junk to the dinner table so we could both work more effectively, though it's not what I wanted to do. The desk is proving more elusive to acquire because Dr Focker wants quality wood (not particle board) but doesn't want to pay a ton. We are done taking any road trips so I'm reduced to ordering online, scrounging the sparse locals, or buying something new from the local expensive furniture store. Guess we will see. I'm holding out a little because there is a possibility he might be changing departments and no longer have to work at home at all. I did get approval to buy a new PC once the taxes arrive. Ours is 10 years old and dying on Vista, it cries in pain each time we use it. That's not exactly an exaggeration, as it blue screens us at least once a month. Ah technology. I've really conquered this category though. I even went out and emptied a ton of stuff from the trailer in loads with the kids and organized everything in my closet (nesting?). This included some key baby items like the diaper bag, a baby blanket or two, and some cute Baby Leg stockings, plus the hand crocheted booties I made for my daughter. It made me excited for this baby!

I think that's it for now.

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