i'll send you the pics when it is all done via private message, OH forbids disclosing private pics online (of kids as well, so i already know i will have to share our future LO's pics through a common private message to all of you girls!!)
We are painting the whole place over as previous owners were heavy smokers so it REALLY needed a makeover as none of us smokes and we're pretty sensitive to that smell. we are also building our own furniture (well, at least a part of it).
i've scrubbed so much stuff of the floors these days that i feel like a professional cleaning lady, a heavy duty one that get called to clean the flats up after someone has passed away in it for a while. i'm not an OCD when it comes to cleaning at all but here... this flat needed a total disinfection due to smoke and the way the kitchen was kept :/
I told to OH i want to wait one cycle after the move just to make sure not to have our egg affected by the paints and cleaning products we are breathing in daily, and lifting heavy stuff. i KNOW i am paranoid but i lost my first LO 2 weeks after renovating (with my ex) and the second LO 2 days after the move :/
So if i consult our calendar, i think it will be the beginning of october
my AF is due before we are done with building and painting the furniture, so it leaves the august/september cycle out, but oh well... pregnancy after a loss is enough of a torture by itself that i want to eliminate at least SOME of the worry factors.
Also got a OB/GYN appointment booked for the first week of septmeber, a general check up so...
now to YOU girls!!
Red: Career change is a VERY brave move, especially when it involves a years long schooling program. i think nursing is also a mission and not only a job, as you are in such close touch with people and well... we all know here how much nurses with a bit of empathy can change your life in hard moments.
Topanga: SO glad to hear that this pregnancy is running faster than the one with Lauren... at least i get an impression you are also less anxious this time around. Maybe it has to do also with the fact that this one is a boy so all your hormones are
different as well?
as far as the small age gaps are concerned:
1) you ALL are REALLY brave women!!
2) your LO's are lucky to have a sibling close in age to fave fun/fight with
3) like this, all big changes and phases in life (kindergarten, school, high school, college, etc) kinda come together and your kids grow independent together
our initial plan was to have three kids with small age gaps but now we decided to go only for one - unless we get surprised by twins, which is not out of question as we got them running on both sides of the family, we're over 30 and tall... so all those extra factors are in for us...
Give yourself a little bit to relax and then hop onto the TTC train. 
But I have to think about it because I need to apply for special needs funding and individual education plan. Stressing a bit because autism often gets denied (even when support is needed) and my son is fairly high functioning. I'm hoping that issues like his bolting/running away and language issues will improve a lot in the next year.
The kittens like DH and I the best but they do like the kids and are quite tolerant of them. They have had tails, ears, fur and even skin pulled and have never once fought back. They will even play with the kids sometimes. My son lugs them around and will shake them up and down and they still come back for more. I am really trying to teach my kids to be gentle but it's slow going! I'm just so thankful for gentle kittens. Our last cat was so hostile to them that I spent so much time afraid. We had to eventually put her down because of it. I still miss her though. She was "my" cat and she was actually very loving with me and was so silly. She was a good cat for us when we were a childless couple. But even our friends were scared of her. She hissed at anyone who wasn't myself or my husband.
But I know deep down I don't really want another. I keep hounding my dH to book his vasectomy because this back and forth in my head is torture. I just want it to be finalized!
