Monday, December 24, 2007

One more sleep till Christmas

Well, here it is Christmas Eve. I have to say that this year it has been weird. It just doesn't seem like tomorrow is Christmas. This is the first year that Nate has kind of understood things. He knows that Santa is going to bring presents. However, we never took him to see Santa. I guess our stand-by is the ward Christmas party, however, we did not go this year. And I just don't want to take my baby out to a mall right now. (call me crazy) So that never happened, and I feel a little bad about that.
I guess part of the problem is that today is starting like any other day. Jesse is at work, and I'm home with the kids. We aren't doing anything special. I'm doing laundry. This afternoon we are going to Jesse's parent's house, but that is all the way after nap time. I need to go to the grocery store this morning. I want Graham to eat well before we go though, but this morning he is especially stuffy, so eating it not so much happening. Another part of the problem is that I'm just so tired. I'm pretty sure that I was awake more than I was asleep last night. It was a particularly rough night. I think that's mostly it. It's hard to get excited for Christmas when you are so tired.
And since this is already such a downer, here's one more thing I'm sad about. Growing up, my mom wrapped all of our presents so that they looked nice (not with bows and stuff, but just so that they were wrapped neatly.) and she used all sorts of different wrapping paper, so that when we came out on Christmas morning, all of the presents were spread out under the tree in all of their splendor. Well. The problem is that Jesse is not a wrapper. (I love you Jesse.) So I do a good job of wrapping his presents and Nate's presents, but he is going to come home tonight at 9:00, and be too tired to wrap presents, so either everything will be wrapped in the bag or box that they came in, or everything will be hastily wrapped in all the same paper. It just isn't as pretty. Is it asking too much to put some effort into it so that I can unwrap pretty presents? i know, it's totally not important. It is just something I kind of feel bad about come present time.
So there you have it. I'm too tired for Christmas this year. I just need to read the Christmas story a bunch more times, and maybe some other inspiring Christmas messages. So we'll see. Sorry this is such a downer, but you get what you pay for.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

While Mommy Sleeps

Ok, so here is a first for us. Nate has always been a very un-curious boy. I have never been worried about him getting into anything particularly dangerous or naughty. However today, he changed all of that. By about 4:00 I was about done with my day. Due to the sick night that we had, I couldn't keep my eyes open come 4. I was fine during nap time, so I watched Hairspray (and it made me wish once again that I was some fabulous singer and dancer so that I could be in movies like that. They just look like they have so much fun.) Anyway, I had no nap today. So Nate got up from his nap, and I decided to be good and have a no TV afternoon, so we were playing for a while, and then as mentioned, I couldn't keep my eyes open. So I must have actually dozed off for a while, I kept on hearing Nate taking toys out of the box of baby toys, and taking them somewhere, but it didn't occur to me until too late what he was doing. I heard him in the hall bathroom. So I go in in a panic, and all of the toys are all over the floor and they are wet. He cannot turn on the faucet.
So he had an immediate time out all the way upstairs in his bed. At that point I could not fathom how to recover from something like this. Would I be ok ever using these toys again? Keep in mind that these are like, teething toys, and toys that will be chewed on, just based on the age they are intended for. Some of them were hard, and some of them were plush. So I just shut the bathroom door for a minute, and got a child door handle thing to put on the bathroom door. As further punishment after time out, Nate had to have the boogers cleaned out of his nose.
So I have soaked everything in a strong bleach solution, and rinsed it off. What do you think? Do they need to be thrown out. I don't know if they were actually dunked in the toilet, or if Nate just splashed water out. I have a feeling that some were actually in the water. It will be months before Graham is big enough to play with them. Is there a statute of limitations for how long they will remain gross? As I write this, and think about it, I am totally grossed out. I think I may just have to throw out the toys. So I want serious opinions. Should I be locked up just for thinking about keeping these toys? This is my grossest post yet, but you get what you pay for.

My Sick Fmaily

Well, on Sunday Nate woke up with a cold. I heard him sneezing in the middle of the night, and when he got up he had a runny nose. So he was finally starting to get better yesterday. I was glad that it seemed to be a short run. The poor little boy has a terribly chapped upper lip which started to bleed, and I can't get him to let me put stuff on it. But I was happy that he seemed to be drying up lately.
However, last night I put Graham down for bed, and within a few minutes I hear this choking cough coming from his room. It really sounded like he was choking on something. So I go in, and rock him back to sleep, and within 5 minutes of putting him down again, I hear the same noise. He ate again, and went back to sleep, more coughing. Anyway, what it comes down to is that anytime he was lying on a flat surface, even if he was on his side, he would start to cough. So it was one of those nights when I had to sleep with him in my arms in bed with me. He would every once in a while start to cough or cry while he was sleeping, but I usually was able to get him to go back to sleep by patting or rubbing his back.
Anyway, I just feel so sorry for my tiny boy to be sick so soon in life. Nate didn't get his first cold until he was like 9 months old. Here poor Graham is only 2 weeks old and he is sick. He is sleeping now in his bouncy seat, and he may have to sleep in that tonight. It elevates his head, so I think that helps.
Anyway, I do feel a bit guilty about him being sick, because it happened after I had taken him out yesterday. Of course, he stayed in his carseat the whole time, and no one really looked at him or touched him. There were a few kids who got close while we were at a play date, but no one actually touched him. And it usually takes a day or two after being exposed to something for the symptoms to show up, and it makes much more sense that he would have gotten this from his brother who he is around all day. But all the same, I feel a little guilty.
Anyway, I hope that he gets better soon. It is no fun to have a sick infant. Plus, it's a little scary. I have felt just a bit sick, so hopefully I am passing some antibodies to him when he eats.
So that's it. We are watching the Great Muppet Caper. Nate is calling them muffins, and sometimes cake. So that's it. I need to go distract my child from the pantry until lunch time. Another half an hour. So that's it. It's a little germy, but you get what you pay for.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

All Done

Ok, so due to the fact that I was due to have a baby so close to Christmas, I knew this year that I had to be on the ball. I got Nate's shopping done in October, and I did most of Jesse's shopping online, and got that done early. So I really only had Jesse' stocking stuff left once we hit December, and I got most of that done, but then I had like 3 more things I needed to pick up. I am proud to say that I got those things today. I even got an extra bag of Hershey's Kisses to put some in Nate's stocking, because when we talk about Christmas the first thing he always says is that Santa is going to bring chocolate for his stocking. He's pretty easy to please.
So that's it. I'm done. It involved my first real trip out with both of the kids by myself, and I survived. We even went into two different stores, in tow different shopping centers, one of which had no shopping carts. (I can't go into specifics because Jesse reads this blog.)
So I have one thing to complain about today. I have been greatly dissapointed in the selection of Christmas candy. I always associate York Peppermint Patties with Christmas, the little ones, especially those wrapped in the holiday colors. However, I have not seen them in any stores this year. I have been totally bummed. I have, however been pleased with Giant Eagle's stock of candy cane Hershey's Kisses. So that's it. I know, they are ground breaking thoughts, but you get what you pay for.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A Weighty Issue

Well, I am proud to say that I have lost 30 lbs in the past 2 weeks. I now only have about 3 more lbs to go before I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Of course, I have 30 more lbs after that before I am back at a reasonable weight. My friends and I had talked about doing a biggest loser thing. I still have 4 more weeks before I can really start working out. I also have given myself the next 4 weeks to not be on a diet. However, maybe I'll start easing into a diet after the holidays are over. So once I really start needing to lose weight look for my progress. I need to report to someone, and this blog is as good as a real person. (Yeah, I have become a shut-in in the past weeks.)
In other news, my son is having fruit snacks for breakfast, and that is, sadly, the closest thing he will eat to fruit today. However, he has crossed a line, and is eating the soft fruit snacks. You know how there are 2 kinds of textures of fruit snacks? Well, it used to be (until yesterday) that he would only eat the harder variety, the ones that are dry. But he ate our last pack of them yesterday. So we have a ton of these other fruit snacks, they are Mott's, so they are made with applesauce, and all natural, but Nate would not touch them. However, yesterday he decided that they were ok enough to eat, so now maybe we'll go through this huge bag of them finally. (I bought them from costco like 10 months ago.)
Anyway, I'm hungry, and I need to drink something. And Nate is already talking about when daddy comes home, and it's only 8:30. We have a long way to go... So that's it. That's my life, but you get what you pay for.

Monday, December 17, 2007

I've been working on the railroad

Well, what do you know, it's a twofor day.
Ok, so I haven't actually been working on the railroad. I quit that job years ago. But last Christmas we got a keyboard, and it is one of those that has all of these songs programmed into it. One of the songs is I've been working on the Railroad. That happens to be Nate's favorite song. So over the past months, he has been learning more and more of the song. Just recently he started singing the Dina won't you blow your horn part. However, he is pretty sure that it is actually "dinosaur blow" I mean, really it makes sense. He doesn't know any Dinas, but he sure knows about dinosaurs. So I guess that answers the age old question- yes, there were railroads in prehistoric times.
I know, it's a bunch of nonsense, but you get what you pay for.

The first day of the rest of my life

Well, here it is the first day of the rest of my life. Jesse went back to work today, which means that I am officially a mother of 2 children. (Ok, I guess really it was official when I actually gave birth, but you know.)
So far it has not been so bad. Aside from the fact that Graham picked last night to be the first night that he really didn't sleep at night. In addition to that, Nate woke up with a cold yesterday, which is getting a little worse today. But other than that, things are ok. Graham slept for maybe two hours after Nate got up (thankfully, Nate didn't wake up until 8:30) But as soon as I had decided to take a shower, Graham started to cry, and Nate wasn't interested in watching his movie, so he managed to shut himself in his room, and he couldn't get out (good to know for the move to the toddler bed.) So I got out of the shower to both of my children crying hysterically. Other than that, there was one time when I was changing G's diaper and he was crying, and N couldn't get to Lizzie, so he is downstairs screaming for me.
We did pass the first hurdle of me feeding G and Nate made it through that without needing anything, so that was good.
Anyway, N just went down for a nap, and G is sleeping as well, so I think I'll try to take a nap too. Zoe is bringing lasagna for dinner tonight, and that makes me happy. Have I mentioned lately that I have great friends?
So all in all I'm thinking I may be able to do this whole 2 kids thing. We'll see. I mean, I don't have much of a choice though, do I? So that's it. It's not going to cure any diseases, but you get what you pay for.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

A Few Random Things

Ok, so the first thing is some positive press on my neighbor. Whereas yesterday I found another beer bottle in the front yard to match the one I found a few weeks ago in the back yard, I did have a positive experience today. Today my neighbor brought over a piece of mail that was accidentally delivered to his house. It happened to be my husband's pay stub, you know, with account numbers and all sorts of other sensitive info on it. So I was glad that he returned that. So maybe they are good.

In other news, I have the secret to all happiness as a mother. When Nate was born I received a cd called Baby go to sleep Heartbeat music Therapy. It says really big on the cover, STOPS CRYING GUARANTEED! The lady who gave it to me wanted me to try it out to see if it worked. I guess that I was the one who was having a baby when she got it. Anyway, I tried it on Nate and it worked wonders. It did stop him from crying, and it put him to sleep for a long time. He now is 2 and he listens to "the moon song" to go to sleep. (Sesame Street- I Don't Want to Live on the Moon.)
So Graham is a pretty content baby as I have mentioned. He really doesn't cry much, and when he does cry I can usually stop it, or at least know what it's about (He's mad because he's not latching etc...) This afternoon for the first time in his short life he was crying and crying and I could not do anything to stop it. I figured he was tired, so I tried to give the Binky, and that was not met with success. I tried to nurse, and he would for like 30 seconds and then start screaming again. So I thought, now is the time to pull out the big guns. I came downstairs and put the magic cd on, and before the intro to the first song was through, he stopped crying hysterically, and he was sleeping. Like, seriously, if I could be their spokesperson, I would.
So you can go to babygotosleep.com and find out all about this miraculous cd. I have given it to many people, and it has been met with varying success. I think the key is to use it while they are still tiny, and then you can have success with it while they are older as well. Even if it doesn't put your baby to sleep, it will probably at least calm them.
There you have it. The secret to my sleeping babies. Nate slept through the night at 2 months, and I'm hoping for similar success with this one. Well, speaking of sleeping Nates. It is time to go wake mine up from his nap. So there you have it, wonderful advice for all new moms. This time, you get more than you pay for.

bf2 rocks

So my husband just started this blog. He originally was going to call it "finding my needles" and in our sleep deprived state we had a really good laugh about that one. Well, instead he is blogging about his favorite video game, Battlefield 2. He just started it yesterday, and is all interested in it right now, but admits that he will probably forget about it when he goes back to work. Anyway, he wanted me to read it, and so I read it, and his latest post is all, oh, my wife hates me, oh my wife doesn't understand video games, oh my wife is so irrational, I wish my wife would get off my case. Ok, so maybe I'm being a little melodramatic, but it's my blog, so I can be. (Of course, that is his blog, so he has the same right.) Anyway, so yeah, it's a whole blog about how much he loves this video game, how it has brought him to love History, and World War II. He also talks about his favorite mini-series, Band of Brothers, and how everyone needs to watch the 57 part series, and read the book. It was at this moment that I realized my husband is an uber-nerd.
And in my defense, it's not that I hate video games. I have no problem with him playing video games, but when it takes priority over helping out around the house, helping with taking care of your child, especially when your wife has been taking care of him all day. Also, when it take priority over your relationship with your wife, well, that is when I have a problem with the video game. He got to the point where he literally played that video game 40 hours a week. And he doesn't understand why I didn't like the game.
Lately he has not been playing that often. He only has played it a handful of times in the last year, and that is fine with me. I want him to be happy, and to pursue his interests. He needs down time just like me, but maybe he needs to have some up time as well.
Anyway, the baby calls. So there you have it. He's my wonderful husband, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

ps. I don't want this entry to come off as my complaining about my husband. I love him dearly, despite his flaws. I'm just defending myself against his slanderous remarks in his blog.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Shut in

Well, I'm pretty much a shut in these days. So I have nothing really to talk about. We went to the doctor for the one week check up, and sure enough, our baby is still doing well. He had to be pricked for his PKU, and that didn't go so well. The first nurse came in and pricked him and got half of the blood she needed, and then he stopped bleeding. I guess the Vitamin K shot they gave him at birth was extra strong. (Side note, I just spelled extra "exrta" and it seriously took me a full minute to figure out how I had spelled it wrong. I need a nap.) So she brings in another nurse, and she tries and they decide that he is dried up there. So they have to start it all over again. The other nurse sticks him in the other heel and fills up the circles perfectly in like 30 seconds. We should have started with the other nurse. My poor baby though, He was so very sad. But miraculously Jesse took him to the car and by the time I had checked out, he was sleeping peacefully. What a good baby I have. So that is it. Our one experience of the day. I know, it's pretty boring, but you get what you pay for.

Monday, December 10, 2007

The newest member of my team

Well, it finally happened. I guess I always knew that it would eventually, but for a while there, I was also pretty sure that it would never happen. I finally had my baby. Graham was born last week, at a hefty 8 lbs 12 oz. If this were not a public site, I would post photos, but well, it is. So if you know me, you can email me and ask for the web address to find photos on.
So I was supposed to be induced, and I was told to call at 6am to see if I could come in. So I call at 6. They say call back at 7:30. So I call at 7:30 and they say call at 9. So I call at 9 and they say, don't call us, we'll call you. So it gets to be like 11:30 and I'm wondering if I can eat lunch, so I call and they actually said I could eat and come on in. So that made me happy. So I get there, and as I am waiting for all of the tubes to be hooked up, and the doctor I'm having contractions. So the nurse sees this, and talks to the doctor, and they just start me on pitocin right away. So I figured that was a good sign. The anesthesiologist was not available, so the nurse asked if I wanted a narcotic in the mean time. For future notice: if a nurse asks if you want a narcotic, the answer is always yes. It was quite an experience. I don't know that I would want to just experience that anytime, so I don't think I'll become a druggie, but it sure took my mind off of the labor pains.
So That was at like 3pm, and then at 5:30 or 6 I finally got my epidural. It was totally different from when I had Nate. I had the epidural for a bit longer, and well, I felt nothing. I couldn't even move my legs on my own. This time I didn't feel the pain of the contractions, but I did feel the pressure of the baby descending, and I felt my legs, they were annoyingly tingly, but I delt with it. Anyway. At like 8:30 after an hour of agony wanting to push but not being allowed to, I finally had Graham after pushing for only 11 minutes. Not too bad in my book. This being induced thing keeps on getting better and better.
So now I have a baby. I'm feeling pretty good these days. Today we made our first venture out into the world to Wal Mart and the Grocery store. I am still feeling the effects. It was maybe a bit too much.
So Graham is like the best baby in the world. He is still a sleepy little fellow, even at night. He wakes up for a few hours a few times each day, and is pretty content to either sit in his bouncy seat or sit on someones lap. He rarely spits up, and in general doesn't cry too much. He is even getting used to having his diaper changed. Nate is doing well with him, but daddy is still home from work, so it will be a different story when it is just mommy.
So there you have it, a rare look into my real life, you know, the one that is not just meaningless babel. It's pretty great right now, so I guess now I'm getting more than I paid for. (Of course, the doctor's bills have not come yet...)

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Self Check Out

So, in addition to Stork Parking, I like that the grocery store that I go to has self check out. I am a fan of self check out. Not everyone is. I happen to like that I don't have to have any human interaction. I am also a fan of atms as opposed to Tellers. I am rather anti-social when it comes to strangers. What can I say, the Safety Kids taught my not to talk to strangers.
So we were at the grocery store tonight, and we picked a self check out line. There were 2 people in front of us. The lady who was waiting only had a few items in her cart, and the other lady was almost done. We figured this would be an ok line. Well, the first lady was starting to have trouble, and then when she finally got all of her produce scanned in, she had to scan a billion coupons in. Then she was upset when she couldn't scan anything past the first coupon. So she starts trying to get the attention of the attendant, but she couldn't. I could see that the coupon had not gone all the way into the container, so it had not registered yet. So I kind of piped up and told her that she needed to push the coupon in farther. Well, that worked, and then she was able to get the rest scanned in without a problem. So we finally got her taken care of. Her final bill? Almost $200. I just feel like if you have that much stuff, maybe self check out is not your best bet. Maybe that's just me.
So now onto the next lady. Now, maybe it's just me, but if you have to wait for like, half an hour in line to get to your turn, maybe you could be productive with your time. For instance, if you have 7 billion cards on your keyring, maybe you could take the time while you are waiting to find the one you need, instead of waiting until you get to your turn, and it's time to scan, and then you have to find it. Well, she was super duper slow, and then she could not get the salad bar to scan in. That wasn't her fault though. It really was difficult to figure out if you hadn't done it before. Then she goes to pay, and she starts talking about how she doesn't want debit, she wants credit, and she doesn't want to enter a pin number, and on and on. Of course, if you actually read the instructions, you read how to do credit, and not debit. So I say something again. Well, she finally finishes, and let's just say that we were completely done scanning all of our stuff before she had moved out of the end of the bagging area, I'm trying to hold all of our stuff back, and it's just not working.
And one or both of them was complaining about how there should be someone working the check out line. I'm of course thinking, there are several other check out lines that are manned, and if you wanted to have someone to hold your hand through check out, you should have gone through one of them.
I guess this is another one of those, If I were queen of the world, I'd not only have express lanes, but I'd also have self check out lanes only for experienced check-outers. If you are going to try out the self check lane, you should have maybe only a few items. And maybe not be a dufus. So there you have it. I may be a jerk, but you get what you pay for.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Gimmie Chocolate

So one of Nate's favorite phrases is "mommy, gimmie chocolate." I was quite chagrined several months ago when Nate started saying "gimmie" and I figured we just were not so good at articulating ourselves, and he had picked it up from us. That was confirmed the other day when I heard Jesse say in the other room, "Nate, gimmie ....(such and such)." But yeah, Nate says it all day long dispite me saying that we don't say gimmie every time he says it.
So one of my favorite things about Christmas is that it is more acceptable to have Chocolate sitting on your table at all times. So I found the candy dish that we got for our wedding, and has been packed away, and I got it out and filled it with Hershey's Kisses. Well, it's not that hidden, and Nate saw it right away, and said, "gimmie chocolate." Within the last day though, he has been very good at sharing the chocolate. He always picks out one for himself, and one for mommy. (And man am I getting fat.) So it's very sweet that he shares with me each time he wants one. I do wish he'd get over this whole gimmie thing, but he's 2, so we'll have to deal with that for a while longer. Oh well. So there is my sweet story of the day. It's not much, but you get what you pay for.

ps. When I changed Nate's diaper today, he said "oh Nate." It was pretty funny.

Oh Nate

So just in the last few days I have found that whenever Nate spills something he then says, "oh Nate." Which is what I say when he has spilled something. The poor kid is so hard on himself.

Friday Night Worries

Ok, so here it is Friday night. Last Friday night, or maybe it was Saturday night, I don't really remember, our backyard neighbors had a party. Not so much a party, as it was a few people standing outside with a car playing loud music, and they polished off several bottles of various kinds of alcohol. So I know that I now sound like an old fart or something, but as I was going to bed at 10:00 (That is my bed time, and it's sad to say, even on Friday nights, what can I say, I'm pregnant.) I had many thoughts going through my head. My first thought was wondering how late they were going to do this. They stopped at 10:30, so I think that neighbors have maybe set a limit on it previous to this. I was also wondering that, whereas Nate is just fine sleeping through things like that, I don't know that the baby would be.
So we were warned about the neighbor's enjoyment of partying, our other neighbor, who is super nice was telling us about it. I really wonder if some of the other neighbors have complained a little bit, there are other families in the "cul-de-sac" (It's more like a dead-end street with 2 duplexes (duplexi?) at the end behind the one that we are in off of the street.) So maybe they have a limit of 10:30 or so. Or, maybe it was really cold, and they ran out of booze. Whatever the reason, they did stop before it got super annoying.
So the rest of the story comes the next morning when we were leaving our house, and Jesse was walking around the back yard, and he found an empty glass booze bottle. I then found an empty beer bottle. So now I'm thinking, ok, so you just toss your empty bottles in our back yard for our 2 year old to find? That's not cool.
So now I am conflicted. I really want to talk to the neighbors, and tell them that if we continue to find their empty bottles in the yard we will complain to the cops. I really think that is the best way to welcome ourselves into the neighborhood. Especially since we're the vast minority in this neighborhood. My next thought is to throw their bottles back into their yard, like onto the driveway. (What? glass breaks when you throw it onto a hard surface? I had no idea!)
So I know that I'm just going to sit back and take it, since I'm a little afraid of our neighbors, and I don't want any trouble from them, and well, I worry that they could be trouble. (These are the same guys who have a "science project" going in their shed.) But I feel like I'm being bullied. Like I feel like they are taunting us by throwing the bottles into our yard. You know, what are you going to do whities?
So here it is the weekend again. We'll see if they party again this weekend. It just seems to me that it's getting cold, and I wouldn't want to sit outside like that, but I'm a wimp. Oh well. So there is my conflict for the moment. I'm not trying to solve world peace, but you get what you pay for.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Stork Parking

ok, so one of my favorite things about being pregnant is that they have invented stork parking. Now, I firmly believe that they should also have new mother parking. There should be a few spots near the cart return reserved for moms who need to lug a car seat around. But that's another topic. So there are 3 grocery stores within 2 miles of my house. It's quite convenient. I have picked the one that is middle as far as price goes. The reason that I go here is 2 fold. First of all, they have one stork parking space. I have been lucky enough to get it the last several times I have been there. I am sad that my time of having my own personal spot is coming to an end. This grocery store also gives me money off when I get gas at their gas station, which is quite convenient. That is not the point though. The point is that I love stork parking.
At the outlets near where I used to live they had a few stork parking spots there. They were not placed that well. I would have put them close to the maternity clothes store, but I guess they are between the most popular maternity shop and the baby clothes stores. The thing about these outlets though is that the stork parking spots are like handicapped spots, with the empty spot next to them. When I first used these spots I was not that big, maybe 4 or 5 months pregnant, and I really wondered if they had ever seen a pregnant woman, and exactly how much room they thought we take up. Of course, now I'm big enough to take up several parking spaces, so it all makes sense. (I currently am every single "your mom is so fat..." joke rolled into one.)
So I firmly support the stork parking trend, and I think that there needs to be more specialized parking. The angry mom spot, the spot with a watch man so that I can leave my child in the car while I run in to get one item. The I'm seriously running late, and am in a bad mood spot. And on and on. So there you have it, there is my opinion, I don't know what it's worth, but you get what you pay for.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

D-Day

Well, I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and well, I'm not having the baby today. We'll put it that way. I do have an induction scheduled on December 4th. It was actually quite an annoying appointment. It started with no parking spaces near the office. So I had to park all the way around the building, and walk like forever to get to the office. That started things off. I kept on thinking that they ought to have some parking spaces saved for those who were unfortunate enough to make it to their last week. Anyway, so I was annoyed about that. Then I got there, and it was busy, so I knew that I was going to have to wait forever to be seen. I sat in the waiting room for half an hour, a new record for me, and then I had to wait in the exam room for another 20 min or so. So the doctor came in, and she told me that I was not making any progress, so I expected that, but was still annoyed by it. Then I told her that I wanted to schedule to be induced, and she goes on and on about how she'll see what's available next week, and they only have a certain number of slots for inductions, and I'm thinking, you'd better get me the first slot that you have or I may have to break your face. So she said that she would have the nurse call me the next day to schedule a time to come in. So I walked out of the office quite annoyed because I was not progressing, and I didn't even have a time scheduled to come in. Then of course I had to walk all the way around the building to get to my car.
So I was then driving to Adrian's house, and I was still mad at everything. A car cut me off as we were making left turns. He thought that it would be ok to turn from the left turn lane into my right lane. So I was mad at that. Then at JoAnn's there were no close parking spots there either, and they don't have stork parking. I just wanted to shout "doesn't anyone care that I am 9 months pregnant?!" And of course, the answer would have been, no. So then I was stuck behind some annoying slow cars after that, and well, let's just say I was in a pretty crummy mood. Fortunately for me, my friends are wonderful, so as soon as I got there, my mood improved drastically.
So then it was time to go home, and I noticed that I had a voice mail, and it was the dr office, so I called back, and she said that she had scheduled me to be induced. So that was good news. She told me that I needed to call at 6am (Who is up at 6am?) and they would tell me if I needed to come in then or not. She also said that they may bump me to the next day if there were too many people there. Which come on, really, adding insult to injury? As if I'm not frustrated enough that I have not gone into labor, you would be saying, no you can't have your baby today because of all of these other people who actually have bodies that will initiate labor, and they come first. So I may call at like 5:30 just to be one of the first to call in case the last person who calls gets bumped.
So anyway, that is my story of the day. I'm still annoyed that I have not had this baby yet, and I'm off to go walk up and down the stairs a million times in hopes of getting this baby to come before Tuesday. So there is my story, it's not going to make the Times, but you get what you pay for.

Monday, November 26, 2007

A confession

Well, I have a confession to make. Whenever Nate hears the microwave ding, he always responds: "dinner's ready!" I guess this comes from the past year of him only eating chicken nuggets, so for him, when the microwave dings, it really is dinner ready for him. I know, I'm a bad mom, but the thing is, when you have a child who does not eat anything, well, you grab onto anything that seems like real food. Even if it is chicken nuggets. Today for lunch he had the marshmallows out of a bowl of lucky charms, and tortilla chips. Yeah, we're all about healthy over here. So there you have it, my little confession. It's nothing groundbreaking, but you get what you pay for.

A Random Tidbit

So I realized the other day that when I sleep, I only drool if I am lying on my right side. The things I realize when I am half asleep in bed. I know, it's enthralling, but hey, you get what you pay for.

Friday, November 23, 2007

A Little Fishy

OK, well, first off, I want to reassure you that I did not get robbed the other day. That is the good news. That being said, I'm a little worried that I will get robbed in the near future. And here is why...
So Nate and I are sitting down to lunch today and the big sliding glass door in our dining room has the shade up, so we can see into our back yard, and into the yard of the house behind us. So I'm just minding my own business looking out the window, and I see two of my neighbors out there. Now, I'm already just a little concerned about the fact that it appears that these people have no job nor do they go to school. But there is a little decorative scarecrow in the front lawn, so I figure they've got to be OK. Anyhow, so I'm sitting there and these two neighbors, maybe in late teens, early 20's unlock the shed and go into it and close the door. Now, right away I thought that was a little fishy. I couldn't see the whole layout of the yard, but it looked almost like the shed was attached to the house, so when they didn't come out, I thought that maybe they went into the house that way.
Now, before you begin laughing about how naive I am, I knew that was not really the case, but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Well, I put Nate to bed and then I came down and sat down to have a piece of pie, and then I see these two people come out of the shed, the lock the door behind them, and then enter the house through the front door, they had been in there for like 45 min. Now, like seriously, is it just me, or is that a little fishy? I really think that they have a drug stash in that shed, and I'm just hoping that it doesn't become a problem. So there you have it. I've been a little concerned about our neighbors to the back ever since well, the first day, and now I'm just all that much more concerned about it.
Now, I don't know people who do drugs. None of my friends have ever offered me any, but maybe these days that is just normal behavior. You know, if I were to be like, I think my neighbors do drugs in their shed, everyone else would say, well, duh, every one's neighbors do drugs in their sheds. So who knows.
So there is my fishy story for the day. My back hurts, my belly hurts, I live in a pig sty, and need to take care of that, and well, I'm going to be pregnant for the rest of my life. So that's it. It's not the path to world peace, but you get what you pay for.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Grocery Shopping

ok, so let me start by saying that i'm pretty sure that there is someone upstairs robbing me of house and home right now. That being said, if I never post a blog again, come looking for me.
So I had a doctor appt today, and of course, nothing is happening. However, I do feel that my due date is in like 12 days or something, and at my next appt I am going to be asked to be induced on my due date. My friend Dessi will like that because it is her birthday, and Nate was born on her husband's birthday. So we'll see. I sure hope I don't go 12 more days, but with my luck, I will.
So while I was at the doctor, Colleen brought Phoebe over and watched Nate for me. When we got back, we decided that we both needed to go to the grocery store, and that it may be fun to go together. We could get one of those car carts and put Phoebe and Nate in the front together and they would have a grand time!
So we get to the store and we find a cart. It was a police car cart. We put P and N in the front, and buckled them in, and we head into the store. So we'd gotten like 15 feet and we hear P say, I wanna get out. So we're thinking, well, that certainly didn't last long. So take 5 min to try to convince P that she needed to stay in the cart. Do you want juice? do you want a pretzel? If you're good you can have chocolate milk when we're done.... etc. So on we go, off to produce, get the bananas, go over to the potatoes, oh, I needed apples, they are way back there, on and on. In the mean time, both children are trying to get out of the cart. Do you want fish? Do you want fruit snacks? I want Nate's kind of fruit snack.... etc. So we finally get out of the produce aisle, and now Colleen has to pick out a turkey. It's a tough decision. You know, it's the day before Thanksgiving, so it can't be frozen, and it needs to be kind of small... you get the point. So while I so kindly leave Colleen there with the cart, and kids that are trying to get out, I go gathering some of the things I need in the surrounding aisles. Each time I come back P is crying about N. So I come to see that Nate has decided he wants to get comfy, so he has his feet hanging out of the side of the car, and is reclining onto Phoebe. For some reason she did not find that appealing.
Finally we're on our way again, and N is still leaning on P, so I take him out of the cart, and I am now carrying him screaming and kicking down the aisle. It was grand fun. I finally give in, and he gets back in the car. I tell him to be good, and that lasts all of like 30 seconds.
Off to the bread aisle. Then we decide that Colleen needs apples as well. So back to produce. While in the produce aisle, P wiggles her way out of the seat belt and is so proud of herself when she gets out of the car. So now P is running all over the produce dept, and I'm totally 8 1/2 months pregnant, so not much help in running after her. Finally, we decide that the smartest thing would be to have me man the cart, and Colleen man P. (Notice the word Finally, yeah, it took us a while to catch on.) So now I'm pushing the cart, and Colleen is off trying to contain P. We finally meet up in the frozen vegetable aisle. At this point P is running all over the place, so I start a game, she has to stay in between her mom and me. So this works for a little while, until we are moving, and all of the sudden we go by a side aisle. Well, technically she was in the rules, but at that point we decided that we had ground enough raisins into the ground, and left a trail of goldfish so everyone knew it was us, and maybe it was time to check out. So we get checked out, and Phoebe now decides that she wants to get back into the car, and Nate wants to get out. So we have some screaming kids as we walk out of the grocery store. It was probably the most chaotic shopping trip I have ever been on. But we made it out alive, and the only casualty was the lemons that C bought that got put into my bag. And of course the whole time dear, sweet Pete sat there like a perfect little angel.
Now the cherry on the top is how I looked. I never did my hair today, so it is all over the place. I'm wearing these yoga pants, and have no make up on. And today I really needed make up. To top it all off, I have totally leaked a little milk, and have a tiny stain on my shirt. I was top form.
So there you have the saga of our "fun trip to the grocery store." Needless to say, we probably will not attempt this again. The best part though, is that I saw someone else doing the same thing we were doing. They were there with one cart, and about 7,000 kids, and it was total chaos for them too. It was reassuring to know we were not alone.
Well, I have neglected my child for long enough. Plus, we probably have nothing left upstairs from the robber. And I have to go start dinner. So it's not much, but you get what you pay for.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Moving day

Well, the best news of my life so far is that we finally have moved out of my in-law's basement. We finally were able to find a place that would work for us. It's not ideal, since Jesse still has an hour and half commute. So that stinks, but we can afford it, and I like the location. Moving went off without a hitch. I think that so far nothing I have found has broken. That is always a concern when you have friends move you, instead of professionals.
We have a little duplex, and so far we have the nicest neighbor in the world. Yesterday he cleaned out our gutters and raked the leaves in our front lawn. Well, he did have a leaf blower, so that helped. Anyway, we were going to make him brownies today. (You know, that's a fair trade.) However, I have not yet purchased cooking oil for the house, so that ended up not happening. I guess that is on my to do list for tomorrow. I probably ought to do it sooner rather than later. We don't want them to think that they have a bunch of spoiled white kids living next door.
We're a bit of a minority in this neighborhood. To the back of us we have some shady characters. The only reason I don't think they are totally shady is that several of them have cutesy seasonal decorations out front. In my book if you put cutesy decorations in your front yard, you probably are not a hardened criminal. The baffling thing is that they don't seem to have normal hours jobs. I see large groups of them congregating at all hours of the day in their front yards. So I just don't know about our back yard neighbors. And then there is the old lady to the side of us. Apparently she is a little bit crazy, and acts as a bit of a neighborhood watch. She is paranoid apparently. And I guess when she gets comfortable with you she'll just come up and look into your window to see what you're up to. So all in all, she's crazy, but harmless. Anyway, our next door neighbor, the one that is super nice, he said that the neighborhood is full of nice people, but to still be on alert. So I'll let you know if we get robbed or anything like that.
So we're about settled in. There are still tons of boxes that need to be gone through, and several things that I wish I knew where they were, but alas, don't.

In addition to that, I am due to have this baby at any time. I have braxton-hicks contractions all day long, and a few of them are getting painful. At my last doctor appointment she said that she thought that the baby could be 8 lbs already. So that's not so much fun. Tomorrow I have an appointment for an ultrasound, so we'll see how big they think this baby is getting. I'm kind of hoping that it is big, so that I can be induced this weekend. I am so tired of being pregnant. It wouldn't be so bad if I weren't in pain all of the time. Oh well. The way that I figure it though, is that in the karmic universe, Nate was supposed to be a May baby, and he was a June baby, so this one is supposed to be a December baby, so he needs to be a November baby.
Anyway, this has been a bit of a random entry, and not interesting to anyone but me, but hey, you get what you pay for.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Motherly cats

So last night I was at quilting, and I was talking to Jana, and she asked me if Lizzie was protective of my pregnant belly. At first I'm thinking, no, she doesn't care. Then I realized that in the last few months she comes and sits and sleeps on my belly almost every night. I just thought that she was waiting for me to get up, since most of the time it happens in the morning before I get up. But she does do it in the middle of the night as well, and she has never done something like this before. She doesn't sleep on Jesse either. I thought it was just because I sleep with a body pillow, and often she is mostly on that, but Jesse often has a pillow with him as well. So yeah, my cat is protecting my belly. It is kind of sweet, but on the other hand, it is also kind of annoying, mostly because I need to change sides all the time at night, and then I have to push her off, and then I feel bad. Most of the time she comes right back on though. Of course, during the day she couldn't care less about me. Oh well. So there you have it. There is the story of my cat. She'll never be a mother herself (which I feel kind of bad about) so she has to be motherly to my fetus. So not groundbreaking, but you get what you pay for.

Monday, October 29, 2007

No longer losing my needles

Well, you will be very happy to hear that I stopped by Wal Mart and they had the little magnetic needle box that I was looking for, so I picked one up. I knew I needed to do it before we moved (Hopefully in the next 2 weeks, cross your fingers.) so I went ahead and did it. I needed to get some socks for Nate anyway. So there you have it. My needles are now neatly stored in a box where the cat will not knock them over, and that makes me happy.

Friday, October 26, 2007

With Liberty and Justice for all

So one of my biggest pet peeves is jerky drivers. I'm not talking about bad drivers, I'm talking about the guy who goes around everyone who is merging politely to get to the front of the line. I'm talking about people who drive in the exit only lane and then cut back into the stopped traffic at the last minute. You know, those kind of drivers. The ones who are so much more important than anyone else that they need a line cutting pass. I always like it when it turns out that their jerky driving hasn't saved them any time. Like, we get off at the same exit and they are stuck at the light just like I am. I feel that that is a little bit of karma getting to them.
Now, if I were queen of the world, there would be a way for those jerks to get in trouble for that. Like, people who had clean records would have the ability to electronically peg them as a jerk, and so many pegs and they would get a ticket. But then if I were queen of the world I would also want to be able to communicate with other drivers. You know, politely of course. Just because sometimes I have made driving errors, and I really wish that I could easily apologize when I accidentally cut someone off or something. I also wish I could give a loving reminder that the speed limit is 40, not 25. Things like that. Of course, I realize that this would do more harm than good, so I probably would not let just anyone do this. Maybe just me.
So onto the point of the story. I was driving today, and it was raining, and 70 was all backed up. I needed to get to Costco to get gas, because my gas light was going on and off. I didn't feel like getting gas before play group. So there we all are, creeping along, and all of the sudden this car decides that she is way too important to wait in traffic, so she passes everyone on the right shoulder. I'm sitting there in the right lane, thinking, what a jerk. I however know that there is a cop car sitting like, 3 cars ahead of me in the left lane. So I'm thinking, what is this cop going to do? I watch the cop, and it kind of looked like he was debating what to do as well, and pretty soon he puts on his lights, and merges into our lane, and over to the shoulder. It was probably the best traffic thing I have ever seen. Pretty soon I drive by the cop who has pulled over this car, and the lady who was driving had her head back against the seat looking up with this utter look of defeat on her face. It was just the icing on the cake. So yeah, it just reminded me that there is justice in this world. Now, probably she had some good reason for doing this, like her father was dying and since she was pulled over she missed saying goodbye or something, and that would make me feel really bad for being glad that she was pulled over. But maybe, just maybe she is just a jerk, and this is the universe punishing her a little bit. So there you have it, It's not rocket science, but you get what you pay for.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

It's raining spiders

Ok, so last night I was at my friend Adrian's house. She is one of my playgroup friends. It is fortunate that the kids like each other and like to play together, but what is really great is that we moms like each other a lot and get together at every opportunity. So we started a quilting night. Some of them wanted to learn how, and I knew, so I taught them and now we get together once a week to "work on projects." We do actually get stuff done occasionally, but mostly it's an excuse to get together without the kids and we talk and eat and sometimes sew.

So as a complete side note: Nate was just playing with a toy, and he was getting mad at it because it wasn't working like he wanted it to. So I told him that he had to be patient with it, and he looks at me and said "patient" and thought about it for a second, and then tossed the toy to the side. I guess that's what he thinks about being patient with his toys.

So anyway. Last night we were at Adrian's house as we usually are for quilting, and it was the part of the night where we were sitting on the couches eating and talking. Adrian is in a chair to one side of me, and Jana and Colleen are on the love seat to the other side. I am being a piggy and sitting right smack dab in the middle of the couch, all by myself. I actually did have some fabric out sitting next to me that we were going to talk about, but so far, we hadn't. So there I sit, and all of the sudden I see this black thing land on my collar bone. My first thought was that Jana or Colleen had thrown a raisin at me. That thought was followed immediately by wondering where they got a raisin. So I look down to brush it off, and it was not a raisin. It was much larger than a raisin first of all, and second, it had legs. As it turns out, it was a large spider. Now, Adrian had seen the whole thing happen. She knew right away that a spider had dropped out of the vent that I was sitting under and had fallen on me, and she jumped up. Colleen and Jana had no clue. So they thought it was kind of random when I started screaming and trying to get this spider off of me. I may have over reacted, but then again, this was a big ugly spider, so maybe I was a little justified. So I get the spider off of my shirt, and it landed on the stack of fabric next to me. So Jana and Colleen come over to see what it was, and were going to make fun of me until they saw the spider, and then they said that yes, they would have freaked as well. So we had to get Adrain's husband to come down and take care of the spider, and then he closed the vent and he was even able to spare the fabric. (We didn't want spider guts all over our fabric.) Of course, the whole night everyone made fun of me for freaking out. (Except for Adrain, now there is a true friend- of course I think she was more embarrassed about the having spiders that size in her vent.)
So I came home and for the first time in the 7 months that I have lived here I closed the vent that is in the ceiling above my head when I sleep. It will stay closed for the remainder of our time here. I also am constantly looking up today to make sure that I am not sitting under any other vents. Anytime that I cannot avoid being under a vent, like in a small bathroom, I am convinced that at any second a spider will land on me. Never mind that it has never happened before, I'm pretty sure that now that it has happened, it will happen several times a day. I guess I had better just get used to it.
Anyway, so the moral of today's story is to not hog the whole couch when there are other people around, or a spider may drop down and attack you. So there you have it, not rocket science, but you get what you pay for.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The players on my team

So If I'm going to do this I'll probably need to say a little about who I am and who I will write about. I'm not going into many specifics. If you already know me, that's great, if you don't, well, I probably want to keep it that way. I'm not very friendly. (Not that anyone will ever read this anyway.) So I'm a stay at home mom. I have a 2 year old, Nate, and one on the way. Just by those facts alone you can tell that I'm not a middle aged fat lady. However, lest you think that I'm some hot young thing, no, not so much either. So we'll leave it at that. I'm somewhere between being a hot young thing, and a middle aged fat lady.
I have a great husband, Jesse, and we have a cat, Lizzie. Others that you may need to know about are my play group that I belong to- the BFM's. I'll introduce them as they come up. We live close to both my parents and my husband's parents. We live so close to my husband's parents at the moment that we are actually in their basement. We are currently looking for a new place to live, and having just a little difficulty finding something. What can I say, we live in the DC area- it's expensive. Plus, we love our cat, but as it turns out, not everyone else does.
So that's my life right now. Just me and Nate most days, and then Jesse comes home, and we are just biding our time until the next one comes (6 weeks!) And that's it, not much there, but as always, you get what you pay for.

Why I'm losing my needles

So I'm thinking that maybe I'll start a blog. It's not that I'm a particularly interesting person, or that I do particularly interesting things, but maybe I want to leave my mark on this world, no matter how small it is. So here I sat thinking about doing a blog, and they asked for a title, and I just didn't know at all what to put. So I start looking around at my incredibly dirty computer desk, and the mess that has been accumulating for the past few weeks (The maid didn't clean it this week because I was sitting here.) So on my desk is a paper plate with some napkins on it, and on the napkins is a mostly empty needle packet. The problem with these needles is that the packet that they came in has started to become loose, so the needles never stay where I want them. It is just one of the many problems in my life. So now I have this plate full of needles, and I need to figure out what to do with it. I keep on thinking that I need to go to the store and get a needle storing device. The problem with that is that I'd actually have to go to the store. It's not that I don't like going to the fabric store. It's that there isn't one close by me so I'd have to drive like 25 miles to pick up a $1 needle storing devise. I just don't see the worth in it. Plus, I'd have to take my 2 year old, and well, that just starts getting messy.
So there you have it. I'm losing my needles because I'm way too lazy to do anything about it. So there they sit on a plate on my computer desk. One day someone is going to knock the plate over and the needles are going to go flying all over the place, and one or all of us will step on them, or put them in our mouths. And there is my life. Now no one will ever want to read another entry, but you know, you get what you pay for.