Can You Keep a Secret Baby?

Whenever my three year old Lovely can see that I'm in pain from this pregnancy she tells me she will take me to the doctor so he can lift my shirt up and take the baby out. Wouldn't that be nice?

Tonight as we were snuggling in our usual hangout, the couch, she confided in me her secret fears. "I don't want the doctor to cut your tummy Mommy," she said, "I don't want a big, big hole in your tummy." I almost cried! I had no idea she had thought things through that far!

I reassured her that the doctor wasn't going to cut my tummy but I didn't explain exactly how the baby would be coming out. Not because I didn't think she could handle the information but because I don't want her announcing it to everyone we meet. As it is every friend and stranger we talk to finds out more about this baby we are having than they really need to know. Really.

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In other news...

Is it ever ok for a husband to come home with a snow mobile without discussing it with his wife first?

And if he does discuss it with his wife and she says no, they don't need a snow mobile, then does that make it ok for him to go buy one anyway?

And if he makes an embarrassing call to your midwife for you and then a special trip into town to pick up the prescription after he worked all night does that make him some kind of knight in shining armor so you can't be mad about the snowmobile that he's hiding in the back of his truck? The one the kids have seen but no one is saying a word to you about?

Just checking.

Remember that new van I wanted?

I've heard of women who go out and make big purchases, like new cars, without talking to their husbands about it first. I wonder what drives them to it?

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Don't forget to submit your guess on our baby stats for a chance to win some free Organizing Bags. Click here to enter.

Organizing Bag Giveaway!

Are you ready to win some free Organizing Bags? If you've never used them before then it will be a great way to try them for free. If you already have some then you know how fabulous they are and you want more!

I'm going to make this really fun for me. To be entered in the contest you have to leave a comment in this post with your best guesses to the following:

1. Will our upcoming arrival be a boy or a girl?


2. What day will it be born?


3. How much will it weigh?


4. How long will it be?


5. What time will it be born?

Here is some information on my other kids to give you a head start.

1. Boy - Induced 5 days overdue. Born at 4:50 a.m. Weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces. 24 Inches long.


2. Girl - Induced 7 days early. Born at 4:18 p.m. Weighed a disappointing 9 pounds 5 ounces. 21 Inches long.


3. Girl - Natural labor 7 days overdue. Born at 12:04 p.m. Weighed 10 pounds 3 ounces. 22 Inches long.

I am due this Friday, May 9th. I have no plans of being induced this time but you never know what a crazy pregnant woman will do when she is desperate to give birth. At my last ultrasound on April 29th the baby measured 8 1/2 pounds.

I will give away a set of Organizing Bags (one of each size) to a random commenter and one set to the person who has the closest guesses. I will judge it according to the order of the questions. For instance, if we have a boy anyone who guessed girl will be out of the running even if you guessed everything else right. Then we'll go by date, weight, length and time in that order. If more than one person picks all of these exactly the same (you wouldn't do that would you?) then the first one will be the winner. Does all that make sense?

This contest is open to anyone living in the U.S. or Canada because I'm too cheap to ship anywhere else. I will pick a winner on Friday. Unless I'm in the hospital having a baby and then I won't! Please make sure I can contact you via blog or email address if you win.

If you want to order your own bags please take this opportunity to click on one of my lovely participating affiliates sites and order from them. They will have a link to my bags for you to click on and order from.

Sylvia at Mi Familia
Lucy at Ordinary Mom
Christine at Organizational Enlightenment
Thea at I'm a Drama Mama
Laura at Organizing Junkie
Corrie at Positively Organic

Talk About Shoes

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday! If you are new, check out the Guidelines before posting. Thanks for joining us!

For TAT this week, we are going to talk about shoes. You can say anything you want to about your shoes, which are your favorite, how many do you have, how many do you actually wear, how many are you going to get rid of now that you are blogging about them and showing them to the whole world, etc. I would also love to see photos of how you organize/UNorganize them as well.

Here are my unorganized shoes in my unfinished closet. This is what they normally look like. A bunch of black and brown shoes with one red pair thrown in for excitment. They cost anywhere from $5 to $150. With size 11 feet I can't be very choosey about the shoes I buy. This was pure torture when I was growing up but luckily these days more and more places are selling my size, especially online. I have one pair of dress boots, two pairs of running shoes, and a lot of flip flops and slip ons. I'm too lazy for anything else.

I used to be a take your shoes off at the door kind of gal but ever since we moved into this house with all wood floors that destroy my feet I wear shoes in the house. The kids of course still have to take their shoes off at the door because they can't be trusted. I would make them take their dirty feet off at the door if I could.

Do you like my cheap wire shelves that are about 20 years old? There are three shelves in the back for shoes I never wear and two shelves in the front. The shoes I wear every day get thrown on the floor.

There, all dusted and organized. I know there are some shoes in there that I could get rid of but I'm going to wait to do that. I've been pregnant and wearing the same comfortable shoes for so long that I don't know what to keep or throw out at this point of my life. My dream is to some day own some cute and colorful shoes. Some day when I'm not cheap and lazy. Oh, and finishing the closet would be nice too.

Now that you know all my deepest darkest shoe secrets let's hear yours!

P.S. I'm posting a give away for Organizing Bags tomorrow night so make sure you check back to enter.

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Digital Mothering

We've hit an all time lazy.

You know how I'm so pregnant that I can't get off the couch? Hanging out on the couch gives me lots of time to devise new ways of making sure I never have to get off the couch again. At least until the baby is born.

My newest strategy involves a cool little invention called a digital camera. Yesterday I asked Victor to clean up the front entryway and Persistence to clean up the bathroom. Instead of getting up to check the rooms when they were done like a good Mother is supposed to do, I had them take photos. Then we looked at the photos together and went over each spot they missed. You know, the toys and clutter that are invisible to everyone but Mom?

All clean! The kids had fun with the photos and I didn't have to get up! Ingenious or lazy? You decide.

I just realized though that this plan isn't fool proof. I mean, look who they're related to. What's to stop them from kicking their dirty underwear out of the way while they take the shot? I wouldn't put it past the lazy little trouble makers.

I would have to forgive them though considering my ten year old made me pancakes for breakfast, bacon and eggs for lunch, a spaghetti dinner and my eight year old baked strawberry shortcake for dessert. I can't wait to find out what's on the menu for tomorrow. Am I spoiled or what???

Smart Habit Saturday

Welcome! If you are new to SHS find out all about it here: Getting Started with SHS. Click here to read more SHS posts. Please don't forget to link back to this post so your readers can find out more about SHS.

It's a new month and time for a new habit.

May Habit: Sit on the couch every day and do nothing until I have this baby.

I think I'm going to do really well with my new habit this month!

Have a great week!

If you are new and you want to catch up on last year - Smart Habit Saturday 2007

*Important - Please link to your individual SMART Habit post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

39 Weeks!

Tomorrow that is.

I went to see my midwife again. I know! Twice in one month! Of course she wanted to "check" me and I wouldn't allow it because I'm stubborn like that. The nurse and Stranger were disgusted with me but my midwife is used to my behavior. What good does it do? You can walk around dialated 4 cm for 4 weeks or be completely closed and have the baby the next day. I'm fine to wait and see what happens. I told her I would see her again when I was in labor.

I did let her do an ultrasound. The good news is that the baby is measuring 8 1/2 pounds. It grew a pound and a half in two weeks so we might get a 10 pounder after all if I go two more weeks. One more piece of good news. I tested negative for Group B Strep for the first time in all my pregnancies. I'm so excited! This will be the first time I won't have to be strapped to an IV the whole time I'm in labor. At least I hope that's what that means.

I'm starting to get the phone calls. You know, from people wondering what my problem is and why I haven't had this baby yet. Haven't I told everyone that I am not having this baby early? If you haven't heard from me by the 16th then you can start calling to see if I'm still alive. If you're calling before that then you had better be calling to see what we'd like for dinner. And besides, if you don't love me enough to read my blog then you probably don't need to know when the baby comes anyway, right? Hopefully they have high speed at the hospital so we can keep the rest of you updated. Don't you want a play by play?

Stranger was home for two whole hours today before he got called back to work. You know what that means? He took the kids to the gym so we (the kids and I, not Stranger and I) could get a break from each other. Because of my condition we are more and more often stuck in this house together. Things are getting so bad that I have actually been letting them watch movies. Yes, they are amazed too.

The other day Stranger had to take the van into the shop to get looked at and I made him take all the kids with him. Wasn't that so nice of me? He dropped the van off and they walked all over town going to lunch and doctor's appointments. I hear it was good exercise!

Speaking of vans. Don't you think a new van would make a great baby present? I do too.

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What??? Blogger now has auto-posting? When did this happen and why didn't anyone tell me about it sooner????

The Bags Are Here!

My new shipment of Organizing Bags has arrived! That means I have all the sizes in stock again so you can order away to your hearts content.

One Very Ambitious Chicken