The Herberts: October 2018

These last 2 or 3 weeks Jason and I have been working hard to get ready for baby. I am so grateful Jason is home to help. I would have never been able to do all the projects with out him. I have the most energy in the mornings - so it is great to just work until about 2 - then nap and then "focus" on the kids (mostly I am just tired and lay on the couch and talk with them). Since we hadn't really planned to have more kids we had to do a pretty big reorganization to fit this baby. It still isn't perfect. When we bought the house I said, "Well, I am glad we are done having kids, I would never want to have a baby in this house." One problem is that the best room to put the baby in is the room furthest away from me - so once he is done being right next to my bed (about 2 months), we are going to put him in my walk in closet. This means I need to put all of my stuff in Jason's closet. So we decided to totally clean out both of our closets. Eventually he will go in our unused 4th bedroom - but it has been used as a storage/guest/extra/art room. It was kind of a disaster. So that had to get cleaned out.

Even though we hadn't planned on having more kids we kept EVERYTHING - because we HAD planned on doing foster care. But all of our stuff hadn't been touched since we moved here it was all the way in the back of our crawl space. So Jason went in to get it and that prompted a much needed "clean out the crawl space". Also, due to seasons and my "nesting" - I had to go through all the kids' clothes, clean out their closets, find out what they needed for winter, and then store all of their stuff. Even though I didn't do much and mostly just told Jason what things were, what pile to put them in, and then where the piles went - I still did WAY more than I should have. So every evening/night I have been having surges and am pretty sure I am close to labor. It doesn't worry me that much. I am almost 35 weeks. I went in for an ultra sound at 33 weeks and he was 5 and a half pounds (very big for 33 weeks) and was in position. So far he is following all the same patterns as Noah, Megan and Madison - I had them between 34 and 36 weeks and they were all big and healthy. So I am not too worried about him coming early. I AM worried about not being ready. So this week I have done all I can to be ready so that I can just relax from here on out. Relax - ha! Having a baby around Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas is kind of a joke. When I first got pregnant I said, I will just need to be done with Christmas before October. But alas... I haven't even started. I keep putting it off becasue I don't know yet what Christmas will look like. So I just keep waiting. I even still have one Halloween costume to go.

Brock said randomly last night, "I am excited to have a little brother." That was cute. The girls are still luke warm on the "boy" issue. They are excited for a baby but often say, "I still wish it were a girl".

My weekly/daily routines have pretty much diminished. I am done working out, I am done deep cleaning the house, I thought I could still spot clean - but even that is pretty strenuous - I mean i could do it - but I AM trying to not go into labor and I am pretty sure I couldn't easily put my self into labor. All the daily, surface stuff gets done, like cooking, dishes, counters, sweeping, etc and the kids pick up all the clutter. I am just glad that all my kids can help - I think that is what they will do this Saturday morning - clean the house - I just haven't told them yet :) I also think I might be done with the temple. I did an endowment 3 weeks ago and it was pretty hard to sit in a chair like that for 2 hours. So the last 2 weeks I have done initiatories. I missed this week becasue I was having a lot of surges and just rested - but I might go tomorrow or next week. We will see. I think initiatories is fine - the hardest and most painful part is putting on my temple socks and shoes - trying to bend down that way in those little dressing rooms on those little benches is not easy. I wish we still didn't have to get all dressed for initiatories.

Jason has been BUSY lately. We asked our ward to hold a Fast for us in October. Things have been getting pretty desperate and nothing was looking like it was going to change. Following the fast he got floods and floods of emails with job opportunities and he has been sorting, replying, applying, and interviewing for those jobs. There area few that look very promising. On top of that, this week has been his midterms for his MBA, so between the jobs, school, and moving all my boxes - he has been busy.

My ward is having a shower for me on the 3rd. I am really excited about it. At first I resisted a shower - I have everything! ( mostly) and it is my 5th! I was finally talked into a really low-key "sprinkle". But as my pregnancy progressed I got pretty emotional about our situation and my being so far away from family. I was able to express this to my friends throwing me the shower and we decided what I needed was a really nice shower. I feel a little silly. I am not one to want things - and even if I do I am not one to express those wants - so it was hard for me to admit that I wanted a nice shower. But I find myself really excited about it. And so are my girls. I am excited for them to be there and to celebrate and get excited about this new little boy! They know our financial situation and are very very good about not asking for things between that and only eating meals out of our food storage sometimes things seems kind of... not thrilling at our house lately (which is fine and I think even good for kids to experience) - but I am excited for them to get to help open presents and feel the genuine love and excitement at the shower. My friends have done a great job in getting the girls involved. It has been harder than I expected to not have any family around. Plus to add to it all - one of my best friends - Veronica moved away this week to Georgia. I will post more about that later. But she was my person. She was like a sister to me. Their whole family was. Any ways... now I feel like I am complaining - and I really don't feel that way or have a lot to complain about. We are getting ready for this baby and are so excited for him to come.

OUR FAVORITE FAMILY SERVICE PROJECT!!!

I was tempted not to sign us up this year. I have been in charge of it for 4 years and always singed us up because we needed another family. When I saw the sign ups my first thought was "woo hoo - I don't have to sign up, I will let someone else do it". I was quickly chastened and remembered how much my kids actually enjoy doing this AND how many wonderful life skills they are learning when they do it. I still felt like with all the trials in our life I just wasn't up for it - again ALL THE MORE REASON TO DO IT!

We did it from 3 - 6 one Friday afternoon. It was so fun having all of us there. I love watching and listening to my kids approach strangers and ask them to donate. They all do a great job of getting out of their comfort zones. This is great mission prep!