Stuff stuff stuff

It's been a busy week so far! Yesterday, I watched my nephews for two hours or so while Annie was up this way in McKinney. Woo! That was a whole new experience! Here are some of the funny things they said. (They're both so well spoken, it's crazy!)

The actual song on the music box thing:

One, two, three

Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight

Then there's nine

Counting's really great

With numbers

When you learn numbers

Then you can count!

Samuel's version:

One, two, three

Four, five, six, seven, eight

Then there's nine

ROCK IT TO THE GATE!

With numbers

And you get dum-bers

And then you count!

Over and over. Loved it.

Samuel decided to sit in Emma's bumbo chair and he got stuck and then told me very calmly: "This hurts my p****" (boy part). So I help him up, try not to laugh. Then Levi gets in and goes "Ah, my p**** is stuck!!" and laughs. So we all laugh. I'm definitely going to have to get used to boys!! lol. I'm not used to so much boy part talk :-)

Today was busy, too. My mom came over to watch Emma because she is off work this week. I went to my 22-ish week appointment for the sono. Adam wasn't able to go because work is really busy and we're also going to the Rangers game on Thursday, so we didn't want to have him away from work too much this week. So I went alone, which is usually more nerve wracking for me but it really was fine. Baby looks awesome. Everything formed well: abdomen, brain, spine, heart. The only downside is that I need another sono at 34 weeks because my placenta is close to my cervix (Placenta previa for you nurse buddies out there.) So, I'm not sure what that buys me, but if it's a c-section then so be it. I feel good about it.

Another bummer was that Dr. Branning hadn't heard anything about putting your placenta into pill form and actually said I couldn't have my placenta anyway. Hospital policy. Um, really? Gosh I can remember even discussing this way back in nursing school and how hospitals were allowing placentas to go home with families due to cultural reasons. So this pretty much all-baby bearing hospital doesn't do it? Totally bummed. He told me to bring him the research, though. And since he's the Chief there now, maybe he can do something about it. I'd feel awesome if I started that for that hospital. Pretty cool.

I didn't know what quite to do with myself for the rest of the day. I never have a day off. I went by Buy Buy Baby and tweaked my registry a bit/went way overboard putting lots of cute little boy onesies on there! Lovvve the onesies. Then, I got my hair done. I love doing that. I feel so much more womanly and pretty afterwards. I actually went to see my girl Jenn at Dear Clark Hair Salon in Dallas since my mom came to watch Emma here. Usually I have to go to Arlington for someone to watch Emma and then go to Burt Grant Salon. I hadn't seen Jenn in almost a year. Crazy! We had a lot to catch up on. I love her. She always gets my eyebrows right. Every other person burns them with wax that's too hot and then it makes me break out.

I went to see Adam after that. We hung out at Starbucks and then I came home for a "nap" (closed my eyes and laid down but didn't sleep). Then we went to Emma's swim class.

Busy two days! Tomorrow should be quiet and then Thursday busy again with us going to see Harry Potter and then to the Ranger's game (mom watching Emma again.)

Let them be little

I missed the whole "Let them be little" post by John but saw Annie's blog and then went to investigate if the BIL's blog was John's. Both good posts.

We did not start doing a sleep schedule with Emma until she was six months old. Nor did we let her "cry it out" until this time. At six months old, we let her start to cry it out for 15 minutes and then go back to her after that time if she was still upset.

The first six months are a complete blur. Here was our arrangement:

For the first ten weeks, Emma was so colicky and cried all the time and during those first few months it's totally normal for them to wake up every two to three hours. We had her in our room in the pack 'n play bassinet thing and it was okay but Adam woke up often and was desperately needing sleep for work. Emma and I moved out to the living room where I slept on the couch and had her in her swing pod beside me. The swing pod helped with her reflux. It kept her at an incline instead of flat. We nursed off and on through the night. Those first ten weeks were REALLY HARD. I had gotten her back to solely bf'ing by six weeks which was my goal. I remember crying every night when the sun went down because I dreaded knowing I was not going to get much sleep at all. And then there were those rare mornings where I would lay Emma on my chest at 4 AM and we both wouldn't wake up till 7:30 or 8 AM. Those were good days. Those first six months, we did not have a sleep schedule. We let Emma dictate her naps. I think the second time around I may try to have more of a schedule? I don't know. Babies do what they want. And they're not supposed to sleep through the night. I think it's ridiculous to think that a baby should. You're actually suppressing their body's cues that it gives them to wake up, "I need milk" so I wake up. Etc. I guess I'm with Dr. Sears on that one. I can't think of the book right now that tries to get your baby sleeping through the night right away but can't think of it. I don't think it's healthy. However, some may say that me giving Emma a schedule at six months isn't healthy. Ah well.

At six months, I read The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight. It was not anti-bf'ing which I liked. I didn't do everything the book told me to do. It just breaks down age ranges and gives you a schedule of what is appropriate. I took the most away from those schedules. Good lord, they helped. By eight months, she was sleeping through the night and in her own crib. (After then ten week drama, we had Emma back in our room, nursing better and back in her bassinet thing.) We had her in our room until Christmas, I think. She hit the 15 pound weight max of the bassinet::halo:: We actually went a little past 15 pounds and so it now has a dip in the center. So I'm getting a different bassinett this next time around. It's called a "co-sleeping" bassinet but I'm not practicing the philosophy. I just think it's highly effective for nursing your baby as soon as they wake up in the night needing food.

That's all for now, I guess. Emma is a great sleeper and may whine for five minutes when being put down (another thing people may take issue with) but then she falls asleep on her own. A note for Erin: She sleeps well at home. When it comes to laying her down at other people's homes, then I think she freaks out from being in a "new" place and mom's not around.

I always think of more to write AFTER I hit publish post.

I would sometimes be so tired in that 10 week to 6 months period where we had Emma in our room that I wouldn't even want to walk the one step to the bassinet after feeding her. So I would lay her in between Adam and I. I never really slept during those periods though. Because (using Annie's saying) I always had one "mama bear" eye open making sure no one rolled over on Emma. Adam would start to and even if I was in that "almost asleep" stage, I immediately woke up and would hit him. lol. It was the only quiet thing to do so as not to wake Emma. I think I harbored a lot of resentment those first six months because I would be so afraid of Emma waking up at night. I just wanted to sleep. And Adam would go into the bathroom and start cutting his finger nails or something which is a totally loud noise and I would just cringe with every little "click" thinking "she's gonna wake up, she's gonna wake up." So I would get upset with Adam. He would get upset when I hit him in the middle of the night reminding him to not crush Emma. lol. It reminds me of that lyric: "It's not always rainbows and butterflies but compromise that moves us along." We figured out what worked for us through those months and were both able to celebrate Emma being in her crib when the time was right.

Same post, different title, and amendments:

I don't have a picture of the van. I'm such a slacker, sorry! We got it last Thursday. David and Melanie came over to watch Emma so we could drive to Denton (same dealership we got the Element at so we like them) and finish crossing the t's and dotting the i's. We got a good trade in value for the Element and where there is usually no wiggle room on honda odyssey's, we got $2000 off the price and we got exactly everything we wanted on it. They've dealt with Adam and I before (they definitely remember us. . . ahhh, my husband, god love him.) :-) And so they didn't put any dealership paraphernalia on the car and we got it right off the truck.

It is a white 2011 honda odyssey (exl?) I think that's the correct model. It has tan leather seats and we got that model because we wanted no entertainment system or navigation.

It. . . is. . . awesome!!! I lurrrrvvvveee the remote doors. I love getting Emma in and out of it. I love that Emma is a little cold when getting her out instead of sweating her little tush off. I love that it drives like a car. I have a hard time remembering that I've got a big caboose back there! I haven't stuck Hans in yet but we've just kept the third row down this whole time for stroller, etc junk. Oh my god, I love it. Love it, love it, love it. Can't say enough good things about it!

Things Adam and I have done in the last month:

Had master bedroom painted

Had dining room painted

Converted dining room from Hans' room to play room with carpet installed over the existing wood (This is good wood. Not like in our living room.)

Changed on knobs on shutter doors from brass to bronze matching the light fixtures

Had new carpet installed in master bedroom and closet

New furniture in the master bedroom. Very grown up looking :-)

Replaced all window blinds in those rooms. Much better looking now.

Bought a minivan

We've had a really busy four weeks, to say the least. I'm 50% more in love with our house now that we've done these things. I love that we have a bedroom now. It's so much more grown up. We still have to get bedside lamps and decorations and curtains. . . and bedding but we're getting there!

Things still left to do till we feel that sense of "ahhh, we're where we want to be with the house"

-Fix foundation on west side of house

-New fence

-Storage shed in backyard

-Rip up back porch. Get rid of odd plants that don't get sunlight under said porch and redo all of it with new back porch, possibly slate. Extend porch out two or three feet to cover area of grass that never gets sunlight and so doesn't grow grass. (Get backyard funiture. Heck, I'll settle for achair).

-Kitchen: counter tops, backsplash, stove, sink, lighting

-New sidewalk. We're trying to wait and see if the plumbing will mess up in front of our house so the city will come fix it and then give us a new sidewalk. It's happened to the three houses to the left of us. Come on plumbing! Burst! Mama wants a new sidewalk!

We had what I thought was going to be our 20 week appointment today with the doctor. Apparently, I'm only 19 weeks. And doc wants to do a sono well after 20 weeks so that he can see heart, spine, brain really well. He made me feel better about getting the sono, so I think I will. Adam gets on to me when I don't ask all my questions but here's my deal: I've been analyzing myself all afternoon to figure out why I go in with a list of questions but leave only asking a few: I'm a nurse. He's a doctor. I've been working with cardiovascular/thoracic surgeons for five years. If you do not speak clearly, concisely and with a purpose then you lose your audience VERY quickly. You don't get what you want and you don't get what you need for the patient. So when I go into appointments I'm quick, to the point, and I literally feel like I have to do this to not upset the doctor. Is it rational? No. Does the doctor want me to feel that way? Of course not. But it's how I've been trained for five years. It's probably not this way on other uints. Say, on a med/surg unit, it's not so high stress. But in my particular line of work, you just have to be on top of it, think quickly, talk quickly, advocate. . . . This is a really hard spot for me. I want to be the on top of it nurse but I'm the patient in this situation. I should be advocating for myself. Asking every single question I have. I'm telling myself that I have to tell him this at the next appointment. I need to tell Adam how I feel even though he may not understand so that he can help me to be strong in the next appointment and WASTE THE DOCTOR'S TIME by asking my questions. lol. Sad that that's how we're bread, eh? Oh well. Sorry for the long post! Thanks for sticking it through to the end!

Amendment 1: Things we've done in the last four weeks:

Um, Duh! Went on vacation! We went to Dripping Springs, Tx with John, Sharon, their two girls and Mimi. Highlights of the trip: The backdoor that wouldn't close. The gorgeous views. The awesome porch breezeway. The cheating that occurred during a tipsy game of Spades but I allowed because 1. I was sober and 2. It usually benefited me! The horrible Austin Zoo. I can appreciate what they do there but I wouldn't call myself a zoo. Call yourself the Austin Refuge and tell people to be prepared to hoof it and live on the wild side. Going into Austin, we went to Zilker Park and had a great time and Emma took one little step on her own. Still waiting for that baby to get a fire lit under her!!

Amendment 2: Things left to do to the house:

Of course, baby room! Got to get rid of the ikea furniture in there, clear it out and start thinking about baby furniture.

John, I don't know how to delete comments, so I deleted the post and reposted it. Hope that works! Hope that's what you were asking for? I dunno. It's 7 AM.

Okay, I know I just posted but I have exciting news! We signed papers on a honda odyssey last night! Woooooo hooooo! Dude. I had perma-grin on the way home. I am soooo ready for this minivan!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm getting old. But seriously. The element just didn't work because it has suicide doors/ clamshell doors / whatever you want to call them. And rear facing your child's carseat is highly recommended past one year of age, so of course for her safety, we are doing that. So with the Element, I have to either climb into the backseat with Emma and buckle her in or lift her up through the back door up and over the back seat and buckle her in that way. Without a belly, it's semi-tolerable. With a belly, forget it. I get a stupid workout / backache just from putting my kid in the car. Why not get a car? Beacuse the minivan has soooo much more room and with another on the way, you want that room. Why not get an SUV? Because they are high off the ground! And newsflash! Kids are heavy! You either have to swing your kid up into the SUV or swing that baby carrier up there. ::shutters:: The very idea makes my back hurt all over again. Oh and Hans does not jump that high and it's not good for him to jump that high anyway with Great Danes' bad hips and joints.

SO! Remote control sliding doors, here I come!! Fold down third row with enough room for Hans, here I come! AIR CONDITIONING VENTS over Emma, here I come!! That was another reason we moved on this so quickly. There are NO vents in the back of the Element. They are only in the front and you have to just pray your kid is getting enough cool air. So not okay with me.

Here's a pretty picture: (LOL! With deer and rainbows!)

Some Preggo Talk

I got a lot of flack this weekend at work from women who told me I don't look pregnant/I'm not gaining enough weight. Being pregnant is so stressful! My concern of the moment was that I don't want another sonogram at 20 weeks. That would make it my fourth for this pregnancy. That's A LOT. Don't even google it. It just makes me have nightmares. Googling things while pregnant just makes you want to crawl in a dark box and do nothing for nine months except take a pre-natal vitamin and eat three meals a day. There's so much information out there scaring me about choices I make during pregnancy. So my dilemma is: because I'm not gaining that much weight, should I go ahead and get the 20 week sonogram even though everything looked great on the 16 week one? I'm sure my doctor will tell me that my weight gain is fine. I feel like it's fine. I don't remember gaining that much weight with Emma. . . and what's different this time around is I'm picking up 22 pounds of baby a million times a day. That's calorie burning, right? So maybe that's it. Plus, I'm in that part of pregnancy where I get full really easily and so don't scarf down/lick the plate clean like I do when I'm not pregnant.

Some differences with this pregnancy:

Not as nauseous. I remember popping zofran every 6 hours from week 8 to week 20 last time.

Not as tired. But I also don't think I have the time to be tired. With the first kid, you have time to just lay around the house. . . there's no responsibility.

I can't think of anything else right now. I know there's other stuff.

On another note, let me tell you about this blog: http://mamabirth.blogspot.com/

I love, love, love her blog. She posts a birth story every week and does other posts on pregnancy related things except for the last two weeks she's been out because she just had her fourth baby. I used to think having a baby in a birthing center or at home was an outrageous/crunchy idea. Now, I think it all has to do with educating yourself and having an open mind. I don't think these are bad or weird options anymore. In fact, maybe it will happen in the future. I want to try to labor at home as much as I can with this go around. (That is hoping that I get to that point. Obviously if I have to be induced again or have any issues, then my plan goes out the window :-)). . . . Anywho, her latest post is about her fourth birth and eating her placenta for the first time. She cooked it and ground it up and sprinkled it in her orange juice every morning. She talks about how she didn't have "the third day meltdown" or any postpartum depression like she had had with her previous pregnancies. I totally had the third day meltdown!! And unfortunately the third day coexists with them sending you HOME. I bawled the whole way home. My hormones were so insane. Where I was totally grossed out by this before (and still am a little) I'm actually open to the idea of putting my placenta in pill form and taking one a day. Hey, if they help with the mood swings, why not??

Gosh, this time around is so different because I am so different.

Here is my favorite bedding so far for a little boy's room but don't get too attached because Adam hasn't come around to it yet: http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/jackson-nursery-bedding/?pkey=bboys-nursery-bedding

I'm very into whales right now!!! lol