The Big House Cleaning

WOW! Karen, Joann, and Sandy went to town on our house. Everything is spotless! What a wonderful gift. They ordered us out of the house, while they did a little spring cleaning. Well, I guess it wasn't a little cleaning, it was quite a job! But everything looks fabulous. 

So what did we do while we were out? Bridget insisted we had lunch at Portillo's. I think that's her favorite restaurant now. She loves their hot dogs, and she always finishes a whole hot dog and a few fries. She also likes to look at all the knick-knacks they have hanging on the walls and ceiling. She was falling asleep during lunch, seriously, her head was on the table! Our original plan was to go to see the movie, Bolt after lunch. Instead Shawn took us on a little drive, and Bridget was asleep soon enough. I fell asleep too. When I woke up we were by Arsenal Road driving the through rural back roads.  Bridget woke up a bit after I did. I guess we both slept for over an hour. 

After driving a bit more, we headed back to the house so that I could go to the bathroom. Karen, Joann and Sandy had the house looking and smelling pretty good by this time. They told me some funny stories about the things they found around the house, including a year old check that hadn't been cashed and the Glad Vacuum Sealer that nobody knew what it was. 

After my potty break, Shawn and Bridget went to the pet store for litter, then we headed to the theater. Bridget enjoyed watching Bolt. She's pretty funny because she gets anxious at the suspenseful parts and sad at the sad parts. So you know she's following the story. She also doesn't keep her emotions in...we had to tell her that she has to be quieter in the theater so that she doesn't disturb other people. Of course, she loved having popcorn and loved sitting on the booster seat. 

After the movie we headed home to check out the final result. We finally have usable counter space in the kitchen. Sandy also lined up (in rows) what little we had in the fridge! Joann did a heck of a job fixing up the nursery and moving Bridget's left-overs to her new room. Karen organized Bridget's bookcase with cloth containers, and hung some "artwork" in the bathroom. I posted photos on My Mobile Me Gallery. Click the link at the right. I should have taken some "before" photos, but that would have been too embarrassing! 

Can't do anything and it stinks!

It seems like overnight I've gone from being able to do about anything, just at a slower pace to not being able to do anything at all. It's crazy! I guess I shouldn't complain, because tons of women pregnant with triplets are put on bed rest, or even hospitalized sometime along the way, and so far, I'm still officially on "house rest" which basically means, "do what you can and rest when you need to." 

I think I'd welcome bed rest though. When I stand for more than a few minutes, my back hurts. I can't walk around much anymore. Trying to get off the couch or out of bed takes longer every day. Even just sitting down, my heart will start to race for no reason (well, maybe it's the babies positions.) 

Overall, I know it's best that the babies continue to grow for at least another few weeks, but boy will I be glad when they come out! 

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Bridget and I are starting to work on Thanksgiving arts & crafts projects. I printed out several things from the internet, and we're focusing on coloring, learning to cut, and learning how to use regular white glue. Today she colored parts to a pilgrim bear, I cut them out b/c we were short on time, and she glued the parts together. It turned out really cute. 

Of course, she didn't nap at all, and today it really hurt her. She was a big, crying, whining, crabby pants from about 4-6 pm. She was SO tired that she was throwing a tantrum about everything. If she said she wanted to wear her gold shoes, and we helped her put her gold shoes on, she'd cry that she didn't want gold shoes. Maybe she was such a pain during this time because Shawn and I were doing a little work in the babies' room. Shawn set up the crib (FINALLY!), I cleaned out the closet and put the linens on the crib. The closet-cleaning just involved breaking down all the boxes from toys that we were storing in there. Bridget would bring me a box, and I'd fold it down, then Bridget would bring it to her new room where Shawn would store it away in her new closet. We still have a little bit more to do before the room will be ready to go, but we're getting there. Their newborn clothes are in the drawer-yah, we only have one drawer of newborn clothes so far. There are newborn diapers in the diaper stacker. But there's still a few baskets and boxes of stuff that needs to find a home. There's also a ton of stuff in the garage that needs to be brought in, wiped down and disinfected or washed before the babies come home. 

We babysat Allison tonight so that Matthew could go to a program at his park district. Fortunately, Bridget decided to behave like an angel while we were there. Allison was in an "I don't like Auntie Arlene" mood, so Shawn was her buddy. Bridget and Allison played quite nicely together. They're into having tea parties. How do girls learn those things? I've never had a tea party around Bridget. I've never played "tea party" with Bridget. Yet, she knows what a tea party is. Weird. Anyway, Allison went to bed by 8, Bridget was an angel and picked up all the toys they had pulled out, and she read books, did puzzles and laid down until Auntie Jo came back home around 9. Bridget was asleep in the car before we pulled out of Joann's subdivision. Sweet!