unfun and nesting

Here I am in all my 37.5 pregnant girth and glory.  

According to the app on my phone, baby is as big as Swiss chard.  But in my opinion, this baby is anything but light and leafy.  

For the last 2.5 weeks I have been alone.  Not the bad kind of alone.  It's the good kind of alone where I know that everyone will come back and for the next year, I will never be alone.  

And I would have said something earlier but I heard you're not supposed to announce when you're alone.  But I can say something now because in about 40 minutes.  I will go and pick my family up from the airport.  

They have been living it up on the mainland.  Having a blast.  Karl flew with our three munchkins and spent the time eating and playing.  After a day of a real mall, the Mac store, IKEA, and the water park, Samuel told Karl, "Mom is right, Dad, you ARE the fun parent."

He even took them to Disneyland.  What's a fun parent without Disneyland (and Legoland, and the beach, and the pool, and SeaWorld, and...)?  One guy four kids (he picked my nephew up along the way to give my brother a break who has a baby in the NICU :( ). 

I am most definately not the fun parent.  I used to think I would be.  But it's all relative.  If we ran out of diapers, who would freak out?  Me.  If we didn't have proper snacks and naps, who would be the first to complain?  Ya, probably me.  If someone didn't have have shoes... okay.  You get the point.  I think I am the carer worrier person.  And so without me, they had a blast.  

 And I was here, on my little island having a blast on my own.  

When I signed up to be a mom, I never realized how exciting it would be to clean out cupboards without having to sacrifice sleep or neglect my kids in some sort of way.  

Or how about a countertops that stay clutter free all day long?  Oh man, it has been a blast.  This clean cupbaord gives me as much thrill as any roller coaster.  Ya, I am most definately the unfun parent.

For a little while longer, these counter tops will remain spill free, and the floor underneath those chairs crumb free.  Oh, and those chairs will be pushed in.

In my nesting, I even got rid of my couches.  There are replacements.  But I have gone to exremes.  At least for me.  I tend to hold on to things.  I also want to get rid of that coffee table and that big thing in the corner.  Even though they are fine.  But nesting does that.

See that rug?  It's orange and white.  For now.  I knew I was taking a risk when I bought it.  But I liked it enough to risk it.  So, for a little while it remain those two colors, and will soon be joined by foot prints and spills and whatever else.  Oh, and it will be bunched up.  This place gets a lot of traffic.

In just a little while, these toys are going to be all over.  And someone might be standing on that table.  And someone else will be rolling on that rug.  Or rolling up in that rug.  They like to do that.

These toys don't actually like sitting on this shelf either.  But for the last 2.5 weeks, they have been.  Because the unfun parent has been in charge.

And this room, the boys' room, is usually a hub of activity/mess.  

I have been having so much unfun.  I got the baby's corner of our room ready.  My nice mother in law sewed the Boppy cover for me.

 It was just cleaning and scrubbing and labeling and purging.  I sewed baby #4 his own hooded towel.  My kids have been using these for ages.  They are big so even the 10 year old fits.  So many memories of freshly bathed kids running around the house in these.  Oh, and curled up underneath them waiting for us to wonder out loud where they are.  They love that.  Feels so official to see four hanging there.  Welcome to the family, son, here is your hooded towel.  

I took on my fear of the zipper.  And made a pillow and then another and another and... I had to force myself to stop because I had other projects to do.  But I made about a bajillion.  Some of those will move downstairs to the couch.  I still have about 5 more pillows that are floating in my head waiting to come to reality.  But they are going to have to wait.  I also made some curtains for this window seat.  One of those things that I have been meaning to do ever since I bought that fabric a year ago.  Yay, fun!  Right?

My to-do list was 4.5 pages long.  I'm not kidding.  That's what happens when you haven't been alone for 10 years.  You have things that don't get done.  I didn't get it all done.  But I got most.  And it feels gooooooooood.  I even cleaned up after myself.  This room is usually a mess.  And is still a tad bit messy.  But it's as good as it gets because I use it so much and I happen to be a naturally messy person.  And for the record, the sink is empty and the laundry is all done, too.  I know this may not be amazing to some.  But for me, this is.  

So, now it's time for me to go get them.  I have typed my time away. I just wanted to record that my house was once clean.  Because pretty soon I will forget that this ever existed.  

Clean house... recorded.