A Peek at the Poulsens

...that pretty much sums up my life right now. Natalie and I hang out during the day and usually find one errand/outing to keep things interesting, but other than that we sit and play at home. (Does anyone else feel like they get less  housework done the more time you spend at home? That's definitely how it is for me, which means that lately our apartment is always just shy of being completely tidy.) Yesterday I was feeling kind of pathetic because Austin has class until 8:30 on T/R nights, meaning we don't see him alllll day, and I felt like I was running out of things to do with Natsby. I was feeling sorry for my pregnant self and whining that if I could just have my body back I'd have so many more options/energy to do things. I felt like I was doing dishes for the fifth time that day and the kitchen was STILL a mess, and I had long since given up on cleaning up the living room since Natalie just takes pride in messing it up again. I was bemoaning the new one hour nap (...

So, The Great Natsby has decided that she does not want to be the great Napsby anymore. We've had nap struggles the past few days and I was getting quite depressed. Going from two easy two-hour naps every day to several frustrating and ultimately failed tries and only an hour or two of actual napping made me grumpy. I think it was partly teething (her top left tooth is poking through!) and partly she's ready to transition into only one nap a day. Which is fine, but I am certainly not letting her get away with no nap - naps are my sacred Jessie-time, even if all I do is take a nap myself or waste time on facebook. It feels good to have the choice, you know? Plus once this new baby comes I think Natalie's nap will be even more crucial, for all of us. A friend suggested a splash pad play date and I was eager to go because sun and water do wonders to tire a body out and I was desperate for Natalie to have a nap (especially because I'm into a good book - I promise I'm ...

YES - my breech worries are over! I realize that he could still switch positions BUT I'm choosing to stay positive and am very grateful that our baby decided to move his bootie and get his act together. YESSS. He's growing and growing, and still very much a boy. (I'm so thankful for an office that does ultrasounds at every appointment...such a luxury!) Bring on the sports and dinosaur themes! Today I left my shoes on - no joke - all day through various errands, activities, and even just being home because it was way too much effort to bend over and take them off, only to have to bend over and put them back on. I was rewarded with solid indentations on the top of each foot from my sandals (even though they are a size bigger than I normally wear). These days I'm pretty much just a huge pile. The clothes that a) I fit in to, b) are actually comfortable, and c) look even remotely non-grungy are far and few between, so most of the time I wear an Austin shirt and sh...

Aren't we the cutest? I love hanging out with this pretty little girl. We play (and nap) together all day long! I'm grateful for the time we are spending now, just the two of us, because in 5 weeks 4 days (OR LESS!) we will be sharing our time with Mr. Stockton. I'm especially glad that it's just Natsby and I for a little longer because I got a glimpse of what it's going to be like when we have a little baby around, and it was a little bit like a minor disaster. We watched a five-month-old baby today for just an hour and things were going great...until Natalie woke up from her nap. Then they alternated crying (they kept setting each other off!) for the next little while until I parked Natalie on the floor with her bink and Kitty and put the baby in the swing, where she promptly fell asleep. Natalie needed fifteen minutes of snuggles (with bites of banana mixed in) to stop sniffling, but then she woke the baby up by jostling the swing and we were back at squar...

Natalie is in a very independent (read: MESSY) mode currently. She prefers the room to look like she has been in it and leaves a trail of toys, food, etc wherever she goes. Usually she just dumps out her toy basket or spreads blocks all over the floor, but sometimes she gets a little more creative. Like this:  I left her alone for literally 30 seconds while I put my socks on. She went to the cereal cabinet, dragged the box out to the carpet, and right as I got off the couch post-socks she dumped it right out in between us. She looked at me for maybe five seconds and then decided, "well, Mommy's not saying no, and I'm hungry and did all this work, soooo impromptu snack time!" I chalked it up to a good excuse to vacuum, no harm done. Right? FOUR HOURS LATER: Dun dun DUNNNN! SHE STRIKES AGAIN!!! This time I was extra wary and when I noticed her gravitating towards the cereal cupboard I listened extra close, but the water was boiling for lunch and jus...