Moving along, a day at a time.

The mundan-ness of the days makes them all flow together like one long day. Sometimes I go days thinking it's Monday when it's Wednesday, or something like that. A lot of it is the flow at which Kevin comes and goes. I forget what day we're on. He leaves sometimes late in the afternoon and gets home early in the morning, only to leave after a few hours of napping. I try to keep busy though and not let it affect us too much. The kids really miss him, and when they ask when he'll be home he often doesn't know. There isn't a schedule.

In a few weeks Anthony will start school and then perhaps Kevin's schedule won't be such an influence on what our days are like here at home. The kids wait eagerly all day for him to come home only to wake the next morning without having seen him.

I attempt a schedule. I'm getting exhausted fast. The other day I had written out a schedule like we had back in California. Attempting to get onto it, I got up and started the day, and not too long later ended up rotating between laying flat on my back and on my hands and knees to relieve the back labor. Now is the usual time when my pre-term labor symptoms start. The next couple of months will be long ones for me. Lots and lots of contractions already. Trying to take it easy is hard when the kids need something to keep them entertained. This time won't last forever though, and with Anthony in school he'll have something to keep him occupied. Annie is easier to entertain. She's all about tea parties, hanging out with me to watch cooking shows, help me make dinner, or just lay with me to take a nap. If I could fit my apron around my belly she'd probably hang on to my apron strings.

I try to find something to do in the way of being creative. It makes me feel like I'm not a complete useless entity. It helps browsing through other mother's blogs to see what they do to keep themselves mentally stimulated amidst the bedtime stories and play-dough parties. That is one reason I miss living on base-- lots of other moms. Anyway, I'm loving finding new recipes to try out on the family. For a while after we moved here it was hard to get back into the groove of cooking everyday. We ate out everyday for more than a month. Not only was it expensive, but I felt like a slacker. I missed cooking for the family, but the first trimester made cooking not so pleasant. I gave it a go though, and I'm finally getting back into the groove of things. I'll post some new recipes on my kitchen page soon. The recipe planning is helping us get back in to the groove of sticking to a budget as well, which is helpful with our recent adventures in needing almost $5000 worth of car repairs. (Sadly, our car isn't even worth that much.) I figure even if we don't stick to what's written out, at least it's there to refer to. Everybody knows some days scrambled eggs and toast are all you need for tummies to be full and satisfied.

I was outside yesterday taking pictures of things, and about jumped out of my skin when the neighbor called out if I had found a snake. No! Thank goodness. I just like taking pictures. There are butterflies everywhere. Yellow ones love the wild flowers. Unfortunately for the neighbors we are the ones with the overgrown grass most of the time. I just can't get myself to go out and mow the yard. I leave that to Kevin on the weekends. When he's here. In between those times, the weeds have enough time to sprout pretty flowers that draw tons of bugs and butterflies. The kids get a kick out of it.

I try to go outside everyday, but it's really hard when it gets to about 90 with 80% humidity. My tender California bones aren't adapting well to this climate. That, and I think having a little one sucking the life outta me isn't helping either:) I start to swell up after just a little while out there.

This weekend, despite whatever the weather might be, I'm determined to get us out of this house for a while. It would be good to get in the car and go somewhere outside of our little Military Town. See some culture! (They have that in the South right?) Maybe make the 200+ mile drive to Raleigh. They have Trader Joes!