My Mind Overheard

Scoot scoot, the wrong way!

2012-03-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

So today I tried to get a lot done. And I'm not quite done with getting a lot done, but I thought I'd let you, the interwebs, know about them. Also, I've been messaged about the commenting, I tried changing a setting, does that help at all?

I started out this morning getting the scrapbook 100% up to date through Valentine's Day. Woot woot! Auntie M will be proud of me! I also updated the baby book, but I always seem to have the photo I need in vertical or horizontal the wrong way. Le sighs tis the life I guess.

I sorted through Peanut's baby clothes, and now have a few bags for storage. I hung up his bigger stuff, so there should only be stuff in there that he can still squeeze into, stuff that fits, and stuff he'll wear sometime soon. Boi will appreciate this when it comes to dressing him. It's kind of sad to see it go, but it'll be fun/exciting to see him in all sorts of cute new outfits. I also did some tidying up in the guest bedroom, and hung up mom's wall hanging (yes finally, but now it has a good home!) The cats have been sleeping in here, so once they get bored of it, I'll have to wash the comforter. Trivia is coming up eventually and people have allergies to them. I still need some serious help with the bookcase in there, I think I might need some expert help with that though. I've got to make it really sturdy with Peanut around now, and well, it's a mess. Maybe Dad can give me a hand when he gets back in town from visiting Sister down in Texas. They should be back on Thursday. Peanut misses you guys!

I also cleaned his room pretty good. Not that it was messy, but you know how these things get. I've got the bag of diapers next to me all ready to be stuffed and put back, alas Peanut right now is asleep. Or should be, I haven't heard him. We got him a "Magical Seahorse" he hated him during his nap though, but he didn't throw a fit this time. Last night in his swing, tomorrow night, after he's spent the day getting aquainted with his seahorse companion, he's going to sleep in his crib all night long. And you aren't going to wake up 20 times kid, ok? Good, I'm glad we're in agreement on this. Makes me tired just thinking about it :/

I'm also considering what to do with his babyshower onesies, since they don't really fit anymore. Plus a friend sent us some bigger ones, so we're set for awhile and we don't need to wear the ones that fit like a second skin. I set up the sewing machine finally, it's not threaded, but it's in it's home. I did buttloads of laundry, and I stripped all of his old liners finally. They were only lasting about 2ish hours where before I could easily make it 3 hours, assuming it wasn't the morning. Morning diapers go faaaaaaaaaaast! I've got a bit of folding left to do, but that's it. Folding and putting away that is /yawn that makes me tired too!

Peanut and I also took a walk. It got up into the 50s today! So excited for the nice weather and daily walks with the little dude! We saw a little girl, prolly around 12-14 months down the street, next time I see them I guess we'll have to introduce ourselves. They'd likely/hopefully become friends one day.

I'm going to learn how to crochet. I think I'll enjoy it more than knitting, and maybe if I can get into crocheting, I can get back into knitting. Hopefully I'll take my first steps into that tonight, if not tomorrow.

Back to work I guess. I'm hungry too, I should eat something.

As a finale, a video.

Just Another Day In The Neighborhood

2012-03-04T21:06:00.001-08:00

Peanut and a chaotic mess of toys!

March has come in, for days now, and I have neglected to blog. Whoops, my bad! Peanut is now sitting independently :D He still will topple if he tries to crane his head quickly or is handling an oversized toy, but I can plop him down on the floor on his butt, make sure there are a few pillows around him, and go about my business while he plays. It's aweeeesome! He loves it too! Alas, in turn I'm also noticing the begining of some separation anxiety. It's not so bad if he's having fun or distracted, but if he's chilling out and I'm out of sight, he usually freaks out. We were visiting a friend the other day and we were at the mall and she was holding him and walked away with him to get some grub, and apparently when he realized that in the big scary chaotic place that I wasn't in eyeshot anymore, he freaked out and she had to rush him back over to me. Poor little boy, emotional growth is hard! But necessary! He had a lot of fun on that visit, he got a bit cranky, but fortunately he didn't resist his nap... too long...

Momma, I can kick and play?!

Hmmm what else has been happening. The bathroom hasn't been exciting. We were supposed to get the window in on Friday but he didn't show. He did show up on Saturday to set up the scaffolding though, and apologized for not showing up. Window now on Monday! We'll give Peanut a bath again on then after that! Oh! His first big boy bath! It's so slippery and fun! I'm halfway considering buying him this http://www.amazon.com/Dream-On-Me-Niagara-Green/dp/B005FIPDYU but I dunno, we'll see how the next few weeks go. I kinda like jumping in there with him too. But it would be nice for him to be more stable. It's one of those 'nice to have' things. Hah, I've got a nice long list of 'nice to haves' though :D Maybe when my points build back up.

I've got to buy him underwear though! Gasp! My mom's group is putting together a book, all the letters, numbers, colors and shapes, every baby gets one. We picked "U" so my tentative plan is that U is for Underwear, and I'll have him in an upside-down umbrella surrounded by underwear, and some on his head :) Figure though, no harm in buying it early, right? I'm thinking superheroes!

Laying in your Rock 'N Play is for babies!

Next week is our anniversary <3 I bought a Groupon for a photo shoot at JC Penny's, so we're going then to get our first 'official' family picture. I have no idea what we're going to wear though :/ Maybe I can borrow a pair of pants from K? I'm not feeling my cozy khaki's for the picture, and all I've got to wear besides that are loungewear, one pair of blue jeans and maternity pants. Stupid stomach flub. I was losing weight, but alas, the "pouch" isn't going away any time soon, and I have no idea how to dress myself anymore with that, I'm not used to my stomach being the largest part of my body.

Mom and Dad are in Texas visiting Sister, we Skyped tonight, Peanut impressed them by gobbling down avocado-applesauce, sitting and playing, kicking his legs and chilling out on his tummy. Someday video chats will be more fun, when he realizes that the faces on the screen are somewhat interactive.

No dust bunnies under the bed!

I ate wheat, and no noticeable reaction! I started out small though, and we're working our way up, today I had actual pasta. So far so good. He's sleeping good so far tonight - but that's because he's in his swing. He's in his swing until Wednesday, hopefully on Wednesday we're going to get Seymour the Seahorse. He lights up and plays gentle music when squeezed. If that doesn't help his sleep, we're going to invest in some weighted sleepsuits :/ I know we're getting to the point where he's a big boy and he needs to learn not to wake up every 40 minutes in his crib. But he sleeps so darn good in his swing, we're just continuing on the 'whatever works' theory for a bit longer. He should only wake up once tonight, around 5am. If he were in his crib he would have already woken up at least once, if not two or three times. Exhausting.


Stripping diapers? Not making baby stew?

So assuming wheat goes ok, I'm going to try soy. Supposedly around 6 months he can start to grow out of his allergies. But I want to give him some time, giving up dairy/soy/wheat did a number of things for us, including him nursing better instead of kicking and screaming. I want to make sure that doesn't return as it builds up back in my system. But the lack of immediate reaction is great!

So yeah, tomorrow is going to be great, window, Boi will be home, I have a few things in mind to do. Hopefully the day goes as good as I'm planning it to. I really should get a haircut sometime too, it's getting pretty darn long.

New outfit for him tomorrow as well! I purchased something for him *gasp* with money and not credit card bonus points! But it was on clearance. Well, the outfit was, not the cute hat. But damnit if it wasn't completely perfect for the upcoming nice weather!

Gonna go play with Boi now, we only have so much more time left in WoW before it's gone again!

I almost forgot! Here's the latest video up on YouTube. He's got abs of steal. Plus he's a ham with his yawns ;)

5 Months Old!

2012-02-26T10:22:00.000-08:00

Lookie, lookie, guess who's 5 (months) yesterday! Oh yeah, it's Peanut! And he can officially sit up nicely and play with his toys! So exciting! I'm thinking in the next week or two he'll be completely independently sitting, how crazy will that be? I better start figuring out how to childproof now!

Peanut has had an eventful few days. He went to visit his Great Grandma and Grandpa, who just had his birthday. That was pretty exciting. And yesterday a bunch of his Great Uncles and Great Auntie M came to visit, along with Grammy and Grandpa and Uncle A. He showed off a bunch of his toys and his piano playing prowress. He even consented to some cuddle time, which he doesn't do a lot anymore unless he's sleepy since he just wants to sit up and look around and play all day.

So foods, here's the lowdown so far

Avocado: Not bad
Sweet Potatoes: Meh
Squash: Pretty tasty
Bananas: Yummy
Avocado+Banana: Not bad
Oatmeal+Banana: Pretty tasty

Next time we try sweet potatoes, we'll probably try adding some spices, since that's how I prefer to eat it.

Hee, Daddy is putting Peanut in a new outfit after he demolished his couple tablespoons of oatmeal. Picked out an outfit that's likely too small for him now. I guess we'll enjoy it for the last time today! Peanut is giggling something fierce! But Boi can almost always get him to giggle now.

Boi has the day off today, hopefully we'll all enjoy it! Here for your viewing pleasure, was Peanut's dinner last night. I have frozen chunks of avocado in a freezer bag, and I just eat a banana whenever he gets some :) Yummy for us both!

Banana-avocado before

Banana-avocado after!

And finally, a video of his piano playing prowress. It's a comparison video. Changes - they be coming faster now!

Fun with Food

2012-02-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

So avocado was fun and ok. Sweet Potatoes were meh. Of course he doesn't really get eating yet, so I can't blame him too much on the sweet potatoes, we'll come back to that one :) Tonight we're trying butternut squash. It was going to be bananas, but alas, we don't have any. So squash it is!

Thank goodness he has discovered he can have fun on his back again. For a few weeks there, he hated being on his back. But right now he's playing laying down, he can kick the piano while he's not playing with his feet, and he's got a few things around him he can grab.

Last night he slept! He totally slept! He was in his swing all night, but who cares?! He slept from 9ish to 4ish, then ate and slept till 8ish. Holy moly, and I slept too! I feel aliiiiiiiive! Boi comes home at 6ish, and I'm finally going to be able to get some work done! Zomg zomg so happy!

Tomorrow Peanut gets his shots again :( And Boi got his schedule changed and since I forgot to write it on the calendar, he had it changed so he works during the appointment. So I'll have to deal with the appointment with post-vaccinated Peanut all by myself. Not looking forward to that at all :( He reacted somewhat ok to it last time though, maybe with each time he'll get better and better? I don't know, we'll see.

Today the wallpaper got scraped out of the bathroom. I thought the inspector was going to be here, but I guess it's tomorrow. Then things can start getting closed off. Also they told me the tub is 100% ready to go, so I guess Peanut's next bath will be in there! Which is awesome because he is way too big for the sink now! I've already pulled out his bath toys, whether or not he plays with them, they're going in there!

Boi is home! Time to go finish up dinner (smashed rosemary potaotes, anything else he can make ;) and start working!

A post full of video

2012-02-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

It's been a long day. I verified another growth spurt, he's grown another half inch or so in the last week, so he's 25.5 inches. Which hopefully explains the craptastic sleeping. We had *several* 20 minute stretches of sleep, the rest weren't great, and he wanted to wake up at 7 this morning even though he didn't sleep till after 10 last night. Well, he did sleep 4 hours after the avocado. But even with that I ignore a few wakeups, like one always after 40 minutes, and usually another one an hour or so later. But he's asleep now, let's hope.

And now, I really was just posting this because I have video overload for you! We had the funs tonight!

Yummy Yummy Avocado

2012-02-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

Today has been a good day. The plumber came and did much work. Boi was home and we did much cleaning. We got some shopping done. We invented a new way to get Peanut to not play with his feet while sitting. I got to eat meatloaf. And Peanut eated Avocado! Omnomnom!

The last two days we've been trying to do one stretch of 3 hours awake time. It's worked out really well. Usually we just do 90 minutes, because that's how long sleep cycles are, so he naturally is more tired at that point. So a second cycle hits at three hours. He's pretty pooped by the end, but he isn't fussy or anything really much. Just ready for his nap. I think we'll continue doing one long awake period a day. That is, as long as he seems like he's happy. Obviously if he seems tired, to bed he goes! I'll try adding on a second long awake session after he's 5 months. He'll be even more active then. And his Great Auntie Mary will be here to see him on his 5th Monthday!

Mmmm Avocado. He seemed to like it. Though he wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Look at those cute big ol' blue eyes though! So I'm kind of thinking, once we get a few foods under our belt, we'll do like say, oatmeal and peaches or something in the morning, and like, avocado and squash or bananas in the evening. Or whatever we're doing that night. After a few days of this, we're going to move on to sweet potatoes. And once he gets used to eating, we'll add on the morning startch session. Kid doesn't know how yummy he has it! ;) And maybe he won't wake up every 1-2 hours tonight! Especially tonight, I can't ask for Boi to help since he leaves for work at 630, which is rather early for us.

Tomorrow the contractor should be here. We've decided on having one really long vanity with only one sink. And it'll also contain a hamper unit. He might also start to cut for the window or take down the wall. Excited for more progress! A lot of the stuff the plumber does is less appreciated because I can't really see the pipes and such. It's all important, sure, but it's no window in the wall.

And also, a video, the beginning, middle and end of the session.

20 Weeks!!!

2012-02-12T20:19:00.000-08:00

Guess who's 20 weeks old? That's right, Peanut is! Here's a blast from the past, what life was like at 20 weeks pregnant (remember I was alternating calling Peanut a boy/girl since I didn't know then) :

Ding! Times up, turn baby around when halfway done. Wait what? Erm. I think I'm just going to leave her in there and hope she finishes cooking. Less than three days till the possible gender reveal! The cats are practically giddy with excitement.

Oh yeah, we're halfway through, woohoo! Celebrated today with Mom for Mother's Day at the Great Dane, then worked s'more, and worked s'more on the garden. Then Boi raked up leaves, and I discovered a limit in the number of times I could bend over to assist while cleaning up the yard. So many sticks, too few times able to be able to bend over.

Crazy no? We're working on getting our master bathroom remodeled. So far no sign of mold, water damage yes, but no mold. Which is great, but I wonder where the awful smell was coming from. Maybe something in the pipes? Either way, we'll soon have a bathroom we hopefully both will love and use. And Peanut can have his own bathroom! Though I'll be bathing him in ours for awhile, just more room by the tub. Can't wait for it to be done so I can stick him in there!

Hee hee!

Hello, I'm Peanut and I'm a sitting up boy! We picked out tiles today, it's going to be more grey than I originally imagined, but it's cool. I can make this work. It's still going to be waaaaaaay better than it was before. I didn't even really like going in there. Peanut is bouncing on his Grandpa's knee right now, looking at a toy train. Gotta teach him early. So tomorrow the work begins anew. We still have to go look for a new mirror, the one we have screams "I live in a rental." I want something more... well, not rental. We can put the mirror up somewhere... or freecycle it or something.

Peanut's going in his jumperoo here while we eat. Jump-jump-jumperoo! He's really good at jumping in the one here, he's just starting to figure it out in the one at home. I guess they are all a lot different. This one has fish. He looooooooves fish! And he loves red/orange.

Changing table! It's almost impossible to change his diaper these days, because he's got his hands on his toes the entire time. We distract him a bit with a musical toy, but you have to be swift! His baby-hawk will be gone in the morning, washed his hair and brushed it down, gotta keep it interesting I figure.

Well, I better get back to more important things. Like working and cleaning and eating potato chips. Mmmm potato chips. Potatoes have been my staple as of late, and I've got more from Mom's! Tomorrow I'm having mashed potatoes and bacon wrapped chicken! Omnomnom, can't wait!

Toes!

2012-02-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this picture! I was laying on the couch and he was sitting on me, playing with his feet, when he decided today was the day to eat them. So he did. They must have been good because he kept going back to sample them s'more.

The screaming... the screaming! 40 minutes after he fell asleep for bed, he screamed on and off for an hour. Sighs. If you're going to do this, you'd better sleep longer now kid! This stops eventually I hope. Like by the time he's 18 he won't still be crying/screaming after going to bed I hope.

I told myself after I did a few things online, I was going to finish cleaning the kitchen. Alas, the screaming has worn me out. Craig Ferguson is on in a few minutes, I also might read. My fellow mom friends are doing a book club thinger, we're on our third book, we're reading Wyvern.

Argh the screaming again! I missed the beginning of Craig! At least Boi should be home in a few minutes... early bedtime tonight I think... assuming Peanut is done screaming.

Bedtime!

2012-02-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

So the last two nights, I did bedtime, rocked him till he was pretty drousy, put him down in his crib, kissed him goodnight, left... and he fell asleep :D win win win win win! I'm going to try it for a nap tomorrow. The only problem is his nook... everytime it falls out when he puts himself asleep, he wakes up. Bleh.

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I never did finish this last night. Boi was able to use the same technique to put him down for a nap. And without his sleep sheep. So another step towards sleepy independence. I want to take away his nook sooner than later too I think, especially if his sleep stretches don't improve. Of course, then we also need to be more firm about no nook except for sleepytimes. We'll see where we are at 5 months I guess. If he's sitting independently I would imagine he would be less fussy since he would have more abilities to do things. Maybe I'm just crazy.

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I never did finish it yesterday either! Or was it the day before? Ah well, this post is dragging on now so let's just finish it up. If he's in a good enough mood, Peanut will do a 180 while on his belly. The video takes awhile, but it shows most of it.

The bathroom should start this week. I guess our contractor had a little extra difficulty getting the permit, the village needed some guy in another town to authorize it or something? Anyways he said it should be good to go tomorrow, so yay! I've started to set my alarm for a half hour before the earliest time they said they'd arrive, so if nothing else I can be dressed and have the bed made. Peanut usually has a wakeup around then, but I'm still hoping one of these days he'll sleep through the night and not wake up every 2 hours! It looks like he made it past 40 minutes without looking for his nook... so that's a good start!

We played the piano today!

2012-02-02T21:33:00.000-08:00

Just a quickie post, took some video today of Peanut playing his piano. It's pretty epic. He played hard today, he was reclining on my legs, at a pretty good angle I thought, and sat himself up from it. I was actually trying to give him a break and keep his head inclined at the same time because sitting up creates SO MUCH SPITUP! We've been through so many outfits... So that was exciting, the getting himself into a seated position from a reclined position. Alas I think he got pretty sore after that though, because he started making a different noise after that, but he didn't realize that sitting was hurting him and he kept wanting to siiiit!

So I distracted him with a different game, handing him his nook for him to put in his own mouth. He was getting pretty good. So tonight he started crying (actually it's been a little reminiscent of his colicy days, hopefully those aren't coming back now that we've stopped the probiotics) and Boi went up there, said he saw him take it out with his left hand, switch it to his right, and then pop it back in. He's such a showoff!

But he seems to have forgotten how to roll from stomach to back. He's been trying like mad the last few days and has gotten no where. Silly kid!

The Sitty Uppy Diaries

2012-02-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know I said it didn't seem like he was getting much better. But he is. I just was frustrated because he wasn't doing it for me that night. So here are some pictures! And video! Also he's getting good at spinning himself. Both on his back and belly, we'll find him in positions where we didn't leave him (like waking up in the morning, he'll be turned 90 degrees). Mobility is beginning! Slowly but surely!

Ehh ok it's formatting weird, but whatever. I don't have a whole lot to say today, I'm hungry, but Boi found me some plausible bread I can eat so that's yummy. And we picked up some counter samples, so that's fun. I signed the contract for the bathroom and wrote out some checks. Bank accounts, depleted! Hehehe... but it'll be great when it's done.

Boi goes back to the grind tomorrow. And I go back to same ol' same ol' trying to get the house straightened up, trying to figure out what the heck I can eat (full time job right there) and trying to raise a good little Peanut. Last night he slept 3 hour stretches, woo hoo! Hopefully he can keep that up tonight! Please oh please oh please! I'm tired of being tired!

I'm Still Counting Weeks - 18 tomorrow!

2012-01-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

His cheeks are getting better! Oh-so-glad! Hopefully he will take one last nap tonight and then sleep well tonight, he hasn't napped well so far this evening, so there have been many naps... I hate many naps days. Getting him to go to sleep over and over again is tiring. And he's rubbing his eyes, time for another nap!

Cranky little bugger is rocking in his swing, he's had enough of being held today, he just wants to chill out. He was fighting sleep, but he was having some restorative quiet time so I let him be. He shouldn't lose his nook as long as he's in that mood, and be asleep soon enough. ... unless he sneezes. Nook back in!

Soooo tonight I've got to get his clothes put away, I'll do that when he wakes up. Maybe replace the batteries in his swing tonight, though he shouldn't be using it tonight. We're doing pretty well with him self soothing himself to sleep in the crib. As soon as he starts fussing, I go back up and replace his nook, and then he's pretty quickly out after that. Sounds like his diapers are done in the dryer, if I weren't feeling so lazy I'd go down there and get them out and start stuffing. I also should really email Mr T about the bathroom renovation. Heck, I'll just do that right now.

Done. Ok, so I've done something at least. *yawn* I'm going to try to get to bed before 1 tonight. Hopefully I can fall asleep. If he's asleep by 10, then that should work. Alas he wakes up a lot those first two hours, so we'll see what happens. And either the girls are getting really good at emulating Peanut, or he just cried in his sleep, which is unusual for a nap. He must be realllly tired.

So the side by side comparisons. The blanket it 3 weeks - 17 weeks, and the chair is 5 weeks - 17 weeks. Sooooooooooo big! And now he can relax his legs out easily, and keep his hands unfurled. His hands are sooooo soft!

Gotta start thinking about childproofing soon. Bleh, I guess might as well start slow, take one thing a week, like outlets and such one week. Not sure what we're going to do with the dvds. The plan is to keep him in the lower floor more once he gets active. Of course then I also don't know what I'm going to do about the laundry room for the cats... one step at a time. He's not sitting independently yet (though I will admit I thought he'd be doing better by now, he's still just sitting for 5-10 seconds). We'll see what the next few weeks bring. Besides stress with construction people in the house.

Ok, I'll go get the diapers out of the dryer...

4 Months Old!

2012-01-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

Peanut is 4 months old today! We've been doing better on the screaming (well, not so much tonight but vaccination day will do that to you) but alas, it appears that either the probiotics or 4 month sleep regression has hit us. He's waking up like a newborn. We figured if he was going to do that, we'd just restart crib training. So he's sleeping in his crib. Or "sleeping."

So we started this morning with Peanut having gone to bed super swaddled. This means with his arms pinned to his sides with one blanket, and then swaddled over that. We woke up with a new scratch on his cheek and him trying to smother himself with the swaddle. The night before we tried sock hand. One arm swaddled and the other one with a sock over his hand. We woke up with blood on the sock and his eczema spot itched to high heaven. We've now changed our treatment of his eczema to cortizone first and aquafor over it. So far he seems to be less itchy, here's hoping. His nails are shaved back as far as we can get them. He's going to bed unswaddled from here on out. He's woken up 4 times so far :/ Hopefully he gets used to this soon.

So then we got our pictures in, and went to the doctor. Peanut weighs 14 lbs and 15 oz, and comes in at 24.75 inches. He was on the low end of all the stats at birth, and each check in he's getting higher and higher in the percentages. Our little piggy :) We were there a lot longer then I imagined, but there was a lot to talk about, what with his colic, food intollerances, scratching... She's never heard of excess farting with probiotics, so I'm not sure what to go with there now. We put a blanket under his legs tonight, so he's in prime farting form. Hopefully he can expel the gas in his sleep easier this way.

Here's hoping we have happy baby back tomorrow! And we have a date tomorrow night <3

I haz a Happy!

2012-01-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

Owwiee!!!!

Tonight we didn't have use the swing to get Peanut asleep. We got into the habit to save our sanity with the colic, and then after a short while that was the only way he wanted to get put down, but tonight, he has only slept in his crib :D Success! He's woken up like... 6-8 times already, and I still expect him to wake up every 2 hours tonight, but he's out now. And he's going to stay there! I've been wanting to do this for the longest time, now I can move his rock 'n play someplace else, like the dining room or something so he can hang out with us there. Then someday we'll get him napping better in his crib and we'll move the swing back downstairs.

Aww yeah, he scratched himself during the night last night pretty darn good. It looks like he was snuggling up with the cats or something (they get locked up, no worries). I had such a sad :( Plus then I had to be extra careful putting on his eczema stuff.

I got crafty, I made a newborn shadowbox earlier in the week, then today I'm working on a board for the kitchen where I can keep like important letters pinned up on, my weekly cleaning schedule, pictures of Peanut, etc. It's turning out well, I'm still hesitant on how to handle some of it, but it'll work out. Plus I've been cleaning up the kitchen good. Trying to focus on one thing a week for the year. Got the counters reorganized, and going through the drawers and cabinets. It'll be harder tomorrow with Boi back at work, but hopefully I can still get some stuff done.

Toes!

Peanut will be 4 months next week :O Holy Cow! Time is flying by. The little guy is trying to scoot, he's rolling over, he can now sit kind of ok if he's got a toy, he crunches and helps with me pulling him up by his arms. He's been trying to sit up from time to time if he's not too far reclined on something. He follows me around as I move about the room. I just need to get him laughing more and we'll be set!

We weighed him today before his bath (which was the first bath he didn't cry about at all) and he's almost 15lbs! I can't wait until our bathroom is finished (thanks mom and dad for backing us up so we could finally get that started again) and we can use a real tub for baths. It was cute though, Boi was leaning Peanut forward so I could get his neck and back clean, and he grabbed on to the sink plunger thinger. Silly little guy!

HAIRCUT!!!

2012-01-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

We did a little trimming tonight. Peanut's forehead-hawk had gone on long enough, he had a good amount of hair growing in behind his newborn hair, I decided it was time they became better friends. So with Boi's blessing, I carefully took the the extra, and snipped! and taped it into the scrapbook. Because I be crazy like that.

I'm using the crock pot tomorrow, we got a giant piece of meat that I'll be cooking stew like. It'll be something different, which I appreciate. It came with free veggies, which I also appreciate. Lately I've just been eating brown rice, chicken and veggies (flavored up of course). So this will be a nice change.

Boi works 10-8 tomorrow, so he'll hopefully make it home for bedtime. And then he has Thursday and Friday off. I appreciate this.

In other news, I've made it to world 4 in Mario Galaxy 2. I've been trying very hard to play more to help me de-stress a little. Boi played the first one and I did player 2 helper, this time we've switched. I'm not quite as good as he was, likely because I'm a little more impulsive and more easily flustered. Plus I'm attracted to lava for some reason. I can stay on a path if there's grass, water, whatever around it, but put lava on the sides? Yeah. I fall in. Bastard game.

Ok, that is all. Enjoy the haircut!

Wheat :(

2012-01-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

Grammy came to play tonight!

So, as you've read, I eliminated the 'big 8' from my diet. 90% of food allergies in babies come from dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish. We knew for sure he was allergic to dairy. When problems persisted, we assumed soy as well since about half of the babies with dairy allergies are allergic to soy as well. But then things still weren't good, the colic, the gas, the extreme fussiness when eating. So I dropped all 8 and started on the probiotics. Things got good. Things were normal kind of normal as of late. I introduced peanuts and eggs without noticing anything major.

So today I introduced wheat. He was quite fussy his last awake spell, but I chalked it up to just being tired. Put him to bed, went back downstairs to relax, as he's been good the last few nights... but after 40, the crying started. Not the inconsolable, the, I'm so tired but my tummy hurts cry. The, I'll fall asleep and then wake up every minute or two. For 30-60 minutes until I finally am so exhausted I'll just cry in my sleep. Then just whimper until I'm in a deep enough sleep :(

Jump, jump jumperoo!

So no wheat for me I guess. I'm trying to look up how long this one usually lasts (they say dairy allergies often start to go away after 6 months) When he's back to sleeping normal, guess maybe I'll try fish, as I have some salmon in my fridge. Hopefully I just stick with 3 allergens and I don't have to add more. :/

Boi has off tomorrow, and again Thursday and Friday, then 4 days off next week. Compensation for over the holidays. We can't wait! He should be home in 30ish minutes!

Could it be?

2012-01-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

The incredible drooling boy!

So, Peanut went through a growth spurt (hopefully, it's been rough). We've been measuring him at around 23.5 inches for awhile now, and tonight I stretched him out... and got 24 inches and change. He goes through them early, assuming this is his 4 month growth spurt, and then... he shouldn't have another one for 2 months! WE'LL GET A BREAK!

So two nights ago, he slept from 1030 till 5 (then 7, 740, 820, and 9). Then last night from 930-4, and then 4-830. Could it be? Could my baby be finally better? The colic shows no sign of returning, and I just got a good nap out of him (slept for 50 minutes, woke up hungry, fed him, went back to sleep for another hour). We're continuing to work on fun stuff, like sitting and scooting. Here's some video catch up!

I started the video late, but he was sitting for 6 seconds here.

And here he is inching along, pushing off of Boi's hands.

Now if only we could get his eczema to go away. Maybe I'll have to try a different product on it.

Formula/BM Slurries... Not Cutting It

2012-01-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

So we've been trying to give Peanut Nutramigen (the second most expensive standard formula you can get, for dairy allergies) along with giving him probiotics, and well, things have improved a bit. The inconsolable crying is gone (yaaaaaaaaay!) but... he's still not sleeping. He still seems disturbed. He'll drift off... and then he'll wake up and cry a couple minutes later. But he does not like the taste of the formula, and isn't a big fan of bottles anyways, so I have to mix my milk into it, and he gets a little less upset about it. But I've invented a new rule, if he is clearly not going back to sleep, he just goes in his swing. End of story. Bedtime is fucked up, I'm not suffering anymore. Or more then I have to. Then, if it takes 30 minutes or 2 hours, when he's been asleep for more then 20 minutes, we smuggle him back upstairs. It's worked the last two nights. And I can still watch Craig Ferguson. I really wanted to keep him in his room, keep him sleepy, but... at this point, and with looking at another long string of days of parenting alone... yeah.

Yar. So we picked up our snowblower, Peanut approves of it. Also we got a Taggie Car from Uncle A, when I gave it to him, he had a nonstop oooooo look on his face. Right now he's figured out that the tires crinkle, and it has tags. But this is a good toy that will grow with him, it rattles and honks if pressed right. So I'm pretty excited about seeing him with it in a few weeks. I'm thinking about trying a little bit of rice cereal sometime. He just needs something to get him past that light sleep phase, the formula wasn't enough, or hasn't been enough, maybe some rice cereal will help? I don't know, it's just another one of my thoughts. It worked for Logan's online girlfriend, Poppy. But her doctor recommended it, mine just said start with probiotics. And I'll definitely give it a few more days to 'work' if it isn't already at it's max efficiency. He is a ton less gassy, I hardly ever feel it anymore.

Progress is progress though, not going to knock it. As long as he keeps up the not screaming. I should go to bed, since he's asleep, just all the anxiety keeps me running. Tomorrow I'm going to be well fed though, no cans of string beans and bananas and bacon for me, real cooking! Yay for Moms!

102 Days!

2012-01-05T14:27:00.000-08:00

He balanced by himself for 4 seconds!

So I missed posting his 100 day 'birthday' the other day, but so it was. 102 is just as cool. We've been practicing a lot of sitting up lately. I got him to sit up for about 4 seconds. Then Boi got him to sit up for a few seconds the other day too. So far not so lucky today, but we did a lot of sitting up practicing anyways :)

He's 14 pounds!!! Woo hooo!!!! 2 more pounds and he'll be in the minimum for size 3 diapers! Which is good, as I've got just about a month's worth of size 2 diapers left for overnights, and I don't want to start experimenting with cloth overnight until he's stopped with the colic.

Playing with his toy from his Auntie Mary M
(ok, watching the lights)

So we went to the doctor today. Boi went into work 2 hours late so he could go with me, way to go him! Peanut had an episode last night, he woke up for his regularly schedueled screaming, but this time he seemed to pass out and his breathing was altered for about 10 minutes. Obviously scary, and with his past lung problems I wanted him checked out. But he was good, the doctor theorized it was reflux + crying = stuff going down the wrong pipe. But it's hard to say for sure since he's fine right now. But that's good! The last thing we need is a serious medical problem! And we got another NICU bill today. Yaay. Not. I think it's the last one at least, which is good, I dislike seeing our savings getting completely wiped out right before we get the much needed bathroom remodel.

It's a plan at least.

So he's got some probiotics in him now, hopefully they do the trick. It seemed to make him unhappy for awhile after I gave it to him, and he refused to settle down for a crib nap. So now he's been on and off asleep in his swing for.... oh......... over an hour now. Excellent rest while those little buggers go to work repairing his system. It couldn't have been easy for him, first the antibiotics, then mommy eating all that dairy, and then whatever else he may or may not be allergic to making his feedings more fussy. His system just hasn't been able to catch a break.

I feel so super tired today. I guess I did get pretty stressed out over his episode. And then he didn't sleep that great, waking up at 3, 5, 540 and 8. Plus I'm trying to get more active (goal workout above, currently modding it down a lot), avoiding any real cardio so my milk doesn't suffer, but strengthen up. Also I came up with a cleaning schedule, after hearing from another mom about hers. While it's kind of stressing me out trying to get the extra stuff done, I really like having a plan. And not living in a house that seems to get dirtier faster than I can keep up with it. Mom's supposed to be coming over with more plastic sheets for the scrapbook, and then she'll chill out for awhile here and let me actually start. Not sure how late she's staying, I'm sure not late enough to help me endure bedtime. Send positive thoughts our way tonight that I can just chill out in his bedroom with the kindle and he just wakes up every 5-10 minutes to cry instead of crying for hours on end tonight. I won't have anyone to swap with or to rub my feet as I helplessly rock him hoping that it ends soon.

A Picture A Day

2012-01-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

Yay for Grandma's! She came and watched my Peanut for awhile today while I went to the store. I namely wanted some more oatmeal, working on keeping my production up, but I picked up some other nummies while I was out as well. Like more bacon. Which doesn't actually have as many calories in it as I thought, but mixed with some oatmeal, coconut milk and maple syrup, it adds up. Then I'm going to brown up some turkey meat in the bacon fat. Screw butter, I have bacon fat.

To the left is a picture of Peanut playing in his new jumperoo. Yup, I found my camera, so I can add pictures of him in it! It swallows him up, but I wrap him up in that blanket and he can manage fairly well. Can't wait to compare him in it now vs in February!

I'm challenging myself to take a picture every day this year. I almost completed it last year, but I missed a few days. I saw someone else make a board for it on Pinterest, and thought it was a good way of holding myself accountable. I don't need a long blog post or anything, just quick upload. Here's the board link - http://pinterest.com/verdemomma/365-pics-in-2012/ I'll see if I can't add it on a side bar or something as well. (Done!)

Oh and here's our 3 month picture! He looks a little less chubby than his 2 month shot, but he had just completed a growth spurt, so that likely helped re-position those chubby cheeks a little. The letters are a little cropped off, but it was my favorite shot of the ones closest looking like the 1 and 2 month, so a little cropped off will have to do.

Sighs, so it's 745 now and he's in a good nap. Sure. Just when I'd like you to be waking up so we can go to bed at a reasonable hour, you drift into a deep sleep. I see how it is.

Oh oh he sensed my frustration and woke up! And now he is fed, burped, and Boi called to say he should get out on time. Yay for that! He has tomorrow off as well. I like feeling more sane, and he helps me feel sane. Time to go play with the Peanut, be jealous!

I can't find my freaking camera.

2012-01-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

That's right, I suck, I can't find my camera, ugh! We have his new Jumperoo up and ready to go, though it's going to be awhile till he can sit in it at all proper, but I can't take a picture of him all swallowed up in it. At least I have pics in his one at Grammy's.

Oooh another bonus to Blogger vs Typepad, they have a 'add picture by url' option, so I don't have to upload it. Sweeeet.

So it's been miserable. Boi has been miserable. Peanut has been miserable. Sleep has been a joke. I'm cutting out soy now on top of the dairy (and eggs, nuts, shellfish too just to be safe) So today I have eaten... bare bones sauce and spaghetti, cereal with coconut milk, a can of green beans, a banana, and the last of the sparkling grape juice that Boi and I failed to finish last night due to all the crying. I need to find more food though because at my count I still need at least another 500 calories. Maybe some bacon. Mmmmm bacon.

Yeah. We've resorted to leaving a hairdryer running (safely, of course) in his room to get him to go back to sleep. Plus he's been uber picky about nursing. And napping like shit. I just want him to sleeeeeeeeeeep. So he can be happy and I can be happy and we can have fun and I can go back to living like a normal person, getting work done, keeping the house clean, making meals, instead of being a basket case.

So this new years that's all going to change. I am going to get him to take better naps. I am going to eat bare bones food until he sleeps better (I'm hoping I just have to up it to no soy). I am going to exercise more to keep myself from slipping into depressed moods. I am going to be a winning mom!

He can sleep long stretches, I've seen it! I've seen him go 8-11 hours. So what's with this 40 minutes asleep, 30mins - 3 hours awake, 1-3 hours asleep shit doing back here? And I dread days as much as nights, I'll swaddle him, put on white noise, not make a freaking peep, and he still wants to get up after only 20 minutes. Kid, when you only sleep 20 minutes, you get tired and cranky after like 45 minutes. We're taking too many naps a day, you should only need 4 or so! He'll often take a longer nap in the morning and in the evening (like right now, of course I've had to keep tending to him to keep him asleep...), but ugh, afternoons are a bitch.

Whoops, forgot to post this yesterday. Posting now!

3 months on Xmas!

2011-12-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

Logan in a XMas outfit!

So I've decided to transfer to Blogger, I know more people over here, sorry to mess up all your links! Here's a cute picture of Peanut to make it all better!

Peanut will be three months old tomorrow! We'll be in the southern half of the state, celebrating with Boi's Grandma tonight and his Dad tomorrow. And the rest of his family around there. It'll be Peanut's first overnight trip, I'm a bit freaked I'll admit. I know it's a holiday, but I want him to stay on schedule, I don't want an overtired screaming baby. I guess it's just a wait and see how we do.

-Thursday Morning the 29th-
So I never did post this, but I'll use it for this one. As you likely know, the weekend did not go well sleep wise. Peanut was very unhappy from 11pm to 4am that night, and was overtired for the rest of the day. I think as of tonight he's finally fixed though. He had his 10PM wakeup but skipped his 11 and seems to be going strong now.

Peanut got a shitload of presents. Tomorrow we're doing the last Christmas too. And he's getting his 3 month old shots :( He's been EXCELLENT with his toys now. From an occasional smack or sometimes a grab, to actively grabbing things given to him and sticking them in his mouth excitedly. Boi was playing Monnkey See Monkey Do with him earlier, he'd open his mouth, Peanut would open is.

So he woke up at 1 to eat, but that's ok, I was still up. Hopefully we can hit the hay soon.

It's been awhile

2011-12-21T03:13:00.000-08:00

I've been busy. Busy with little Peanut, and busy trying to win a snowblower. But since I last posted, Peanut has had many firsts. His first time getting his thumb into his mouth (without fist/other fingers in there too). His first time grabbing onto a toy. And his first time grabbing his feet. Excellent progress little boy! He's needed much help tonight in his sleep, but nothing so horrible that it keeps him awake for long. Just. For. Short. Bursts. At least Boi is home for the evenings this week. Hopefully by next weekend his gas will be fixed. I can hope! I'm thinking I might experiment tomorrow, we need to go shopping, I'll pick up some soy formula, give him a bottle in the afternoon, and if he takes it and it digests ok, give him another one at night. But I don't know if it's still my milk, or if it's still in his system, or if his system is still repairing or what. But it's an idea, I want him to be comfortable after all.

Feeeeet! Look at him grabbing at them :D He's doing mini situps to get at them too, work those stomach muscles little guy!

He's only been napping in 20 minute spurts the last few days *pout* I'm really hoping that this is his growth spurt. He's a bit hungrier than normal, but not a whole lot, but the problems napping, eating, extra fussy, and the fact he should get one around 3 months (yes, that's coming up this weekend) all point to one thing to me. Growth spurt! It's going to happen whether I like it or not, and it's better now than over the weekend when we're not at home with swings and such to help us survive.

UPDATE It's the next morning, the little guy went to sleep at 945 and slept (with miniwakeups at 1030,1045, 1130, and again sometime after midnight) till 815 this morning. Wow! Alas I slept like crap, and feeling sick (likey just thanks to sleeping like crap) so I couldn't enjoy it. He is now trying a fail nap in his swing and Boi is passed out on the couch. Hopefully I'm back on my feet soon and can make today worthwhile.

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Feet!

2011-12-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

Peanut is starting to get interested in his feet! Several times today, while he's been in a seated position I've noticed him staring very intently at them, and bringing his feet together in a clapping fashion. So exciting! New stuff! Hopefully he'll be grabbing at them soon too!

So on the left are figurines of his foot and hand, much thanks to MIL and SFIL in their creation! Not sure what I'm going to do about a finish on them. But how cute are they :) His pinkie and ring finger didn't fully come out, but from this angle that doesn't matter. And it's still 98% great.

More Feet.

Boi works the next 5 days, boo hoo :( But then on Monday we're going out again! Not sure what we're going to do (wtf, the cats just ran me three times chasing each other) if it'll be dinner and a movie again or what, but whatever, it'll be fun. Maybe I can think of something else in the meantime.

I'm also looking up ideas for our bathroom redo, now that we're funded again. I don't want to spend a zillion bucks on it, but I want to love it. Hopefully I can get it all figured out!

MORE FEET! My (ignore the dying polish) toe against his whole foot! Hee hee! Such a cutie. Oh, he's also started to lurch forward the last few days, so I have to be more careful about how I settle him. He's always wiggle worm, but this is more of a coordinated attack, I watched him do it tonight, he scrunched up his face before he tried to plow it into his feet as I had him propped up next to me.

He's in bed right now, I'm hoping tonight will be better than last night, which was better than the night before, which was... well you get it. He fell asleep nursing, which actually he rarely does, so maybe that will spur a different/better result for tonight. Gotta break him of the habit. Though he did very kindly decide to blowout his diaper this evening onto his activity mat, so that's in the wash. Gives me something extra to do tonight!

I'm hungry. Guess maybe I'll go eat some more fruit salad. I could really go for a peanut butter cookie though... what the heck, I deserve another cookie. Specially made, no dairy. I can't wait until he's acting normalish again and I can start adding in more processed foods into my diet.

Nope, another hell-rific bedtime. Woke up 40 minutes later and cried for an hour. Let's hope that's the end of it...

A Day in Pictures

2011-12-11T13:59:00.000-08:00

This morning's nap, and the beginning of my idea for 'things happening right now!' We were just doing some tummy time while I was waiting for the shower to be open and he wanted to stop, so he shimmied onto his side and promptly zonked out. Too cute :)

He was chilling with Boi, they were playing and doing some excellent daddy son bonding while I was getting ready for the day. I believe some tummy time followed this as well, yay for Peanut's neck and arms!

Chilling out in his swing while we ate lunch. I made vegetarian minestrone soup for Boi, some chickeny pasta for me, and we both had half of a butternut squash.

Nothing makes him happier (other than me of course ;) than watching his fishes go around in circles above his head.

Looks like his pants turned into shorts too, heh, poor little guy!

Now it's time for Peanut to eat! This is the face of a little boy who's looking for some good milk! Potato chips? No! Orange juice? Heck no! Only milk will do!

Just look at those pretty blue eyes :) I wonder if/when they will change. So far I don't see any other colors seeping in!

Oh, and yes he is wearing a plastic ring as a bracelet, don't judge, Peanut likes it!

Time for another nap! This time in his swing. Nothing like being gently rocked as his fish swim above his head to elicit some happy nappy feelings.

This nap actually ended up being longer than I bargained for, but it all worked out in the end. Boi and I played a little bit of Secret of Mana and just relaxed since it was his only true day off with his Mom in town the other two days.

He's still got on his bracelet!

We're getting ready for a walk with K&B, but we forgot to take a picture later with her and Peanut. I did bad :( We got his socks and booties on when she IMed, so then we were just chilling out waiting for their arrival before getting dressed any further. It was a super nice day today, but little boys still need to get bundled up!

We're back from our walk! Look at how cozy Peanut looks in his moby! We stopped at the neighbors to give them a christmas card since they've been so generous, and K recognized him as her 7th grade science teacher. Not mine though :( K and I were seperated, so sad!

He really likes being walked around, and I'm so glad he's finally big/strong enough to be put in the wrap this way. He like it so much better than the newborn hold. He's not a baby that likes to be wrapped up tight or not to be allowed to look around. He ended up staring at K's scarf for mos of our walk though :)

How about a diaper change? We've trying to finish up his size one disposables hense the sposie. He was feeling a little damp though so he got an outfit change, a onesie for bed and just some warm pajamas for over it for now.

Pooh! He dressed in it just for K's visit :)

Hey, it's a football game! Our team is in the lead!

Boi then settled in with Peanut and explained to him the game play by play. They also did that his last night in the hospital for a Badger game. He'll get this football stuff figured out soon :)

I got a headache and curled up in a ball, I did see the Packers win though. Yay Packers! Yay Peanut!

Have you noticed that they're undefeated the same year Peanut was born. COINCIDENCE?

Peanut helped to set up our Christmas Tree, errr Festivus Pole, umm.... Christmas Pole? He's already got some presents! So we ran out to Target today to pick up the... garland thingie to wrap around the pole. Maybe we'll have a tree next year, but I'll leave that up to Boi if he wants one. I think this works perfectly well and it's already driving Kiara insane. So far Kairi hasn't woken up enough to care about it though. Lazy cat :)

Next we attempted some tummy time, but tummy time this late is rarely that productive. He didn't like it too much. Boi managed to keep him entertained for awhile though anyways! I was still nursing my headache, but Boi picked up the slack like a pro!

Sometimes tummytime is so great and he pushes up so far he starts hitting his head on his toys :)

Next we started part two of our project. The night before with MIL and SFIL we started it up, it's a kit to make a model of his hand and foot. So boy made the mixture, they made sure Peanut was calm and held, and then with Boi's help I plunged Peanut's appendage into the gel and snuck it back out when it had hardened enough.

Today we mixed up the concrete and poured it in. So in 12 hours, or before Boi leaves for work tomorrow, we'll free them and see how they look!

Next up was bedtime. What with the project the night before, we figured it was a good time for a bath, just to help make sure he was clean and moisturized after all that excitement. He was quite tired though due to his last nap being so short, so he didn't enjoy it quite as much as he could have.

But here is his, looking pretty happy, in his ducky robe. All clean and dry!

And yes, he is licking his sleeve XD That's the new thing around here, if he's wearing long sleeves, they're rather perma-damp.

And aww look at those baby feet!

And finally, after a quick massage and being put into his pajamas, we fed him, and rocked and sang him to sleep. You can sing to him whatever, and he'll sleepily listen, and then you switch to 'Hush Little Baby' and his eyes will close and he'll fall asleep.

He went to sleep very quickly since he was so tired. Here's hoping that tonight is finally the night he goes to sleep and stays asleep. He should know that after the bedtime routine and he's put down in the dark (redlight) room he's staying there for 12 hours. And he used to know, but ever since his shots he's forgotten. Feels longer than that, maybe it was, but that's when I remember it starting. He's only been alive 11 weeks, and home for 10.

Wait, there he goes, damnit. Boi ran up :( Sighs.

Well, I hope you enjoy my photobomb!

I love a sleeping Peanut

2011-12-11T04:27:00.000-08:00

The in-law invasion weekend is completed. As you can see, much fun was had by all, by the smiles. Tonight or tomorrow I'm going to have a new interesting(ish) post (because my posts are usually blah and mundane) showing Peanut's life in regular(ish) intervals. Like the first two will be a picture of him napping on me, and then 30 minutes later, chilling with Boi. It should be fun, as we have some things planned for the day.

So yes, the invasion weekend, MIL and SFIL flew up and hung out with Peanut on Friday and Saturday. Boi cooked his special Pesto Cavatappi on Friday, which I couldn't eat, but I had Kale and Squash soup. Quite simple it's just.... kale cooked in chicken broth and chunks of roasted butternut squash tossed in, lol!

We played Apples to Apples on Saturday and went to Chang Garden for delicious food. Peanut found both to be quite interesting, but decided he like Apples to Apples the most, and is an excellent card shark! He's sitting on his bumbo with a pillow to help the back of his head. He made it a few minutes before it was no longer interesting, hehe.

Speaking of which, SFIL thought of a slightly different way to play it, and it's quite fun, so if you want to know more, you'll have to come over to play ;)

He didn't do a great job sleeping last night. He had only been waking up to fuss once in the first two hours, last night it was 3 times. And he only slept 4, 4, 3, 1. Someday we'll have consistency, and it will be good. Last night he managed to wake up every time while I was in deep sleep though, so it was especially painful.

So yeah, look forward to the next post!

Back to Side!

2011-12-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

Peanut rolled over from his back to his side today. I almost didn't find the camera in time to snap the picture! I wish I saw him actually turning, but I suppose I'll see it many times in the future! :D Hopefully we'll get a repeat performance soon!

He also recently added the couch to places where he can roll from tummy to back. Score!

So last night, Peanut tried his darndest to not fall asleep again, but eventually succumed... and then slept 8 hours tonight. Of course I didn't, I woke up wondering why my baby wasn't crying to eat. But if he keeps it up, someday I will to!

Shoes! He has tiiiiny feet.

You guys get a short post today, Peanut and working have sapped what little energy I have. Tomorrow is going to be uber busy, but Mom's stopping by to babysit, so that'll make things either. Then it's the In-Law Invasion Weekend!

My Crying Baby

2011-12-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Peanut went to bed last night at 845. He was up at 915 and didn't go back to sleep until 12:15. And even then he woke up around 12:45 and it took me 10 minutes to get him back to sleep. We ended up running a hairdryer while I rocked him to keep him from crying and to make the transition from my arms to his bed easier. Oh little boy. He woke up at 530, 830, then I brought him to bed with me, as he was gassy again, so I could help him work it out until he fell asleep. Well we both ended up sleeping till noon, whoops :) Things were ok, we got some good tummy time in, and then... 1:00 he became unhappy. He refused to eat at 2. And again at three. Crying in discomfort/pain, his voice getting hoarse :( Boi called at 4, I had to move him from looking at the tv to out the window just to kind of hold a conversation with him. Finally got him to eat at 4, had to hold him funny to keep him crying long enough though.

Well, it's 10ish now. Boi is home, Peanut rolled his way out of tummytime again, he's quieter now. We'll attempt bedtime at 1030, he's been keeping himself up so late so many nights, I'd be happy with it. It was a two soda day today, hopefully tomorrow will be better, if not I'll call the ped to make sure that this is still a normal reaction.

~Next Day~ Well, we were up with him until 1 again, and after projectile spitup this morning and an impressive coughing spell, I called up the ped. The nurses decided to get him in right away, and we ended up having to go to a different location with a different doctor so he could be seen. Fortunately he looks good, gained some weight, and the doctor thinks it's just a stomach bug. So for now I'll put up with the screaming, spitting, coughing, lack of appetite and count on him getting better soon!

End of Mini Vacation

2011-12-02T02:39:00.000-08:00

It is ending soon. It wasn't entirely relaxing, but it was different and good. Boi got off at 4 on Tuesday, and then had off Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday he came home tired, and Peanut had had his appointment. The day started out funny, his sleeping has slowly been getting better as the milk protein has left my system. At it's peak he's sleep in 1-2 hour stretches max, and not always even make it an hour. Then he would manage maybe a 4 hour stretch to start with and 2 hour stretches after that after the first few miserable nights. So I figured that morning when he woke up at 7, that he'd have me up at 9 no problem. His appointment was at 1045 so this seemed perfect. No the little bugger decided he could sleep a 3 hour stretch, so we were rushed and I forgot to grab my list of questions and the immunization schedule I wanted.

His appointment went good, I went in and signed some more papers, then we measured Peanut, he came to 21.3 inches, but I don't believe that, I've been measuring him longer, I thought she did a weak job of straightening him out as she was doing it, and then we the charts came back he dropped from 25% to 1% for height. Bad nurse is bad. He weighed in at 11lbs 5oz, which was a jump from like 15% to 25% (aww my chubby monkey likes to eat!) which was also less than I had him, but it my scale obviously isn't that accurate and I always just did it in a (clean) diaper. So I won't argue that one. Then after her fail job at his length, she measured his head three times because 'it just seemed like such a big jump.' Fail lady, the charts showed that it was the proper amount of growth. His head is also at the 25%. So much for our predictions of a huge headed kid!

We went back in and I told her we were non smokers about 50 times (didn't we do this at his last appointment, wtf) and gave her his reactions to milk. Then the ped took her sweet time coming in and he was starting to fuss so I just held him close and we did some dancing to cheer him up. Then she came and we discussed my shot schedule (she had to look it up, as I forgot it thanks to silly Peanut, and I only for sure knew what vac's I wanted that day - DTaP and Rota) but yay for the internet it was quickly found. I was amused she wasn't more familiar with it, as it seems to be the most popular alternate schedule. But I guess that's small towns for ya. I asked if there was anything additional we should do considering his allergy, she said that he'd be fine, as long as I supplemented my calcium. Which according to on-line sources, fruit flavored tums contains dairy, so FML, I'll have to get some plain tums.

Then whatever whatever whatever, nurse comes in, and slowly gives him his oral Rota, he eats it up very good. Then she gives him his shot... the ladies on my board have said that the first shot their babies didn't even notice, so I figure just let her go at it, otherwise some of the ladies said their doctors let them nurse while they gave them the shot to help distract the babies. So of course Peanut screamed and cried during and after the shot :( Maybe I made the wrong choice to just let him brave it out. So then the nurse left and I nursed him till he was calmer, we packed up, made his 3 month appointment for two of the shots we skipped that day, and headed out.

So then from noon to 5 he alternated from screaming his head off to sleeping heavily. I gave him Tylenol as soon as we got home and again when Boi came home around 5. He was calmer when Boi got home at least, and was willing to play a little. We put him to bed at 8, he woke up at 9 and cried for an hour, then again at 11, crying in pain/discomfort. Poor baby :( But then after that he slept fairly normally, despite Boi's dire predictions.

On Wednesday Boi spent a good chunk of the day trying to finish up the baseball cards for his families Christmas list (I tried to talk him into something that would take less time but I lost) and while he did that I was on Peanut duty. At least Peanut was happier. Then when he was done we switched, and I worked on getting them on-line. Peanut slept pretty good that night slept 5/3/3.

Thursday Boi promised me the day off from Peanut. And it was good. He took charge of putting him down for naps and making sure he had stimulating time and also comfy snuggly time. And just brought him over to me on the couch whenever he got hungry. I got a good bit of work done, along with some household stuff like dishes, laundry, etc. Boi also installed the new light fixture during an abnormally long nap by Peanut. Mom stopped by with a toy for Peanut that played classical music. For right now he likes watching the pretty lights it makes, I'll have to see if he likes one song more than others. We went to the bank to set up a savings account for him, but I was a fail mom and forgot his social security number. But we stopped by Ace and bought some more batteries for his swing and Boi picked up some christmas lights. So now we're a festive household. Alas the plug doesn't seem to be linked to a switch, so we have to go outside to turn them on and off. So they're likely going to be off a lot, lol :) I'm working on a candy cane christmas wreath, just got to get it really sturdy still.

Peanut went to bed pretty easily, he got a bath, then Boi read him a story, he ate and was asleep within 5 minutes after. He usually wakes up briefly about 30 minutes after we put him down for some reason, but goes back down easily... but not last night. Not sure if it was just simple gas or maybe some delayed discomfort from the shots, but after 30 minutes of listening to Boi try to settle him, I went up to help. He wasn't breathing very easily, likely thanks to all the crying, so we put drops in his nose and sucked out some mucus. He was a bit easier to keep calm then, but still would stubbornly not close his eyes. It was 11:00 when he finally passed out in my arms, I carefully transferred him to his bed, and we snuck out. We didn't get a very relaxing evening that night :( But then he slept till 5, and then he woke up again at 830. I went in to feed him, and d'oh, after I started I realized he hadn't had a diaper change since his bath. Sure enough, he didn't eat well and was very fussy. So I changed him, tried to get him to eat some more, but he'd had enough of that and just wanted to jabber. So I brought him downstairs, and he's now napping in his swing, I'm blogging, and Boi is watching the Price is Right.

So there you have it! And here you go, babies aren't just for cuddling and cooing:

9 Weeks Old

2011-11-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

9 weeks old and he's getting quite good at stuffing half his fist in his mouth. Also, here he is taking his morning nap, zonked, arm completely comfortable straight up in the air. I thought it was cute :)

Boi says hi and says I should write "stuff." So there you have it.

Stuff.

I get to snuggle against his shoulder as I type, that's nice. He's got two more days and then I get him for 2 or 3 days. We're both too lazy to go find out. Ok, he's not too lazy, apparently I'm STOPPING HIM from going to get it. The only way I'm doing that is by snuggling against him. What I think he means to say is that he was silly and didn't look when he grabbed the schedule, when the whole point to bringing it home was to find out if he worked on Friday or Saturday. He makes a point in that if that was really all we wanted, then he would have looked and not have brought it home. I SAY THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS! Really, all I want is food. Yummy food, like baby cheeks or baby toes. I bet they be tasty. But no, I don't think you should go wake him up and bring him down here Boi, we spent an hour getting him to sleep. I cheated by putting a finger on his temple and another on his nose, and his eyes shut due to the proximity of my hand, and then he just fell asleep before I lifted them BRILLIANCE I SAY! But then he ended up waking up - which he usually does do at least once before drifting off into nighttime sleep.

Boi gave him a massage, I usually do it, but he got home as I was putting him to bed, as he was becoming fussy and I couldn't wait any longer. He did a good job. Ok, Peanut was becoming fussy, if any of you were confused and thought I was talking about Boi. No, but Boi did warm up a tofurky while I was getting Peanut to bed. LEFTOVERS OK, SHEESH. Anyways, it was stinky and I thought Peanut had farted. INSERT PICTURE OF PEANUT CRYING AT TOFURKY! Boi thought of the picture, so you can thank him for me putting it in. I'm no longer snuggling against his shoulder as I had to reach for my Powerade. It's green flavored. I should just switch to water, as I've already consumed one today (orange flavored), but I needed to take my vitamin so I opened another. I also should be working but I've gotten several hours in and now I'm staring at and going blaaaaaaaaaah so I'm taking a break by snuggling (not that I'm doing that anymore mind you) and blogging.

What else should we talk about Boi? THAT'S RIGHT, BABY HAIR! I had three pictures to choose from, one was blurry, one was EXTREME CLOSE UP and this one was a nice in-between. Boi agrees that you can see the new hair growth nicely in this picture. My tummy gurgled, foooooooooooood I want! Anyways, baby hair, isn't it cute? I hope he doesn't loose the stuff he was born with. I don't know what the chances are of that exactly. I know he doesn't currently have a baldspot, he has baldish spots, but not a baldspot. Just the silly infant hairlines. He's excellent and sleeps on different parts of his head and doesn't favor one spot over another. I don't think. We'll see what the doctor says on Tuesday. I've decided to go with the Sears vaccination schedule. So he'll get the DTaP and the Rota then. And we'll go in at 3 months and get two different ones. And we'll hold off on the HepB for awhile. So there's that.

HANDS! Here are our hands. We tried like a bazzilion pictures, we didn't get any real great ones, here's the best. Boi just left me temporarily for his soda and a cookie. OH that's right, I bought root beer with caffeine in it, darn it all! Bad job me! But it was on sale. But I didn't know. Or I didn't realize. I knew one had caffeine in it, but I can never remember which. Boi is watching the football game and is no longer reading what I'm typing, so I can type evil things about him, like he's a doody head. BIG FAT DOODY HEAD! Hahahaha!

Peanut is slowly improving, I don't think I'll have to cut out soy. Which is good. The rash is still on his face, but his diapers are more normal - so normal THEY TRIED TO DESTORY HIS SWING! He got poop on the safety strap, the cover, and it soaked through that. Eeeeuuu! He also got poop up his tummy and up his back. Way to poop little guy. DARN IT HE'S AWAKE! he slept for like 40 minutes, I wonder if he's gassy? If that's what's wrong, Boi should be able to fix it with a pacifier... we'll see. And while I'm waiting to see, I'll embed a video I took right before bedtime. Yup, he was just crying in his sleep so it was likely gas. I could feel the bubbles moving when I was rocking him to sleep, I guess they started up again. Nothing like plastic in your mouth to make it all better!

Ok, g'nite y'all, and enjoy this video!

2 Months Old!

2011-11-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

Today Peanut is 2 months old! He has spent the day most whiney unfortunately. Lately days he doesn't sleep much, he's whiney. Days he sleeps all day, whiney. We've apparently hit an uncooperative whiney phase. That or the dwindling amount of dairy in my system is still bothering him a lot. He cried a few hours yesterday afternoon while we were up north, while we were all trying to eat and enjoy the game, and he put on a repeat performance for us today. I had to undress him to keep him from overheating from crying so much. Hense the picture on the right there. Hopefully someday soon he'll be back to the happy boy most of the time. He was pretty happy when he was awake during the night, but we're not going back there. And then of course when we got it fixed was when I accidentally fell off the no-dairy horse.

So I made myself dairy free mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. The pie will be ready to eat in a half hour or so. The potatoes were delish, and so was my turkey loaf. Mini thanksgiving for the win! I can't wait to dig in to the pie!

We've got to make it 4 days without Boi again, he's got inventory going on :/ supposedly he'll have an extra day off though after that, so then I can has a happy again. And I'll hide his phone so they can't call him in and he won't know it so it'll be ok. Just don't tell him! And forget this when you read this Boi! It's not ok to stiff people on their vacation days!

I really want that pie now... I hope it's good. I used coconut milk! Same with in the mashed potatoes. It tastes way better than almond milk. I was also going to try to count my calories today... but I didn't really do a good job doing that earlier and now I don't want to try to figure out the homemade stuff today... maybe I'll try it tomorrow. When I'm hopefully much more rested. Chances are I'll be just as tired though. I should also try to do some work, looks like I got contacted today, but today wasn't a really good day. We didn't get to do a lot of the stuff we wanted to do either, like take a walk since it's still was kind of nice :(

I think maybe I'll get a tiny slice, mwaa haa haa! Have a good evening!

I miss milk

2011-11-21T22:05:00.000-08:00

So I screwed up and ate cheese. Then 6 hours later he got scream worthy gas. So then I figured, well lets make absolutely sure. So I drank milk. And ate pizza. And ate yogurt. And I was happy. And then the last two nights Peanut was lucky to make it a 2 hour stretch. So. Fucking. Tired. I had me a wine cooler after putting him to bed and told Boi he was on Peanut patrol. I crashed like 20 minutes. Then I got up every freaking hour to either feed or soothe him. Then at 4 I fed him, he was wide awake, so I tagged back out since he needed to wake up at 430 anyways. I slept like 20 minutes. Boi left him in his swing, but he did not nap after he left, Peanut started crying. Pacifier nowhere to be found, and still too early to feed him, I turned on the swing full force. And now we're laying here. I discovered I was only wearing one contact. For how long no one knows. Well, who else is there but me I guess.

I hate insomnia. I haven't gotten like... more than 4 hours of sleep a night for a week or more. Mostly much less. I think, too tired to remember. Having a baby should cure it. I should be so tired I can't help but just fall asleep. But no, I'm just so tired I can walk around with one contact in and not notice. I'm getting a nanny for kid #2.

We're Just Doing This

2011-11-20T06:51:00.000-08:00

Since he woke up at 7PM, we're obviously just screwed. So we're going forwards and not backwards. We'll get him to bed a little later each night until we're fixed. So I've got my Mountain Dew and we're playing at 1:45 at night. In the dark though. On the off chance that he does just crash. I'd be thrilled but I doubt that'll happen.

It's now 5:45. He got hiccups that derailed naptime, and then he wouldn't nurse them away.

It was 5:45, now it's 8:00, I'm working on waking him up from his nap. He got crazy fussy after I started that last paragraph. I want to make sure this is just a nap and not sleep. Because he can't sleep, we need to move him away from sleep. We need him to sleep during the night!

Sooooo it's 10PM now, he fell asleep in the carseat at 10 am, then we crashed at mom's, got some human interaction and some food, he got bad gas, woke up at 6, stayed up, we went home, and he's been napping ever since. Atta boy.

Boi will hopefully be home at midnight. Then he has tomorrow off. Wee! I think I'm going to have him take the first shift. He's screwed anyways, he works 6am Monday.

All I talk about is sleep.

Update! He woke up for good at 1:30. Boi sent me to bed, got up a few times to help him with the crying, and then we swapped at 6. Got him to nap in the swing, but then we both crashed around 9. Woke up at 1130, woke up Boi for the game and to help me wake up Peanut so that we could continue to force awake time. It's now 2:30, the Packers are winning. Peanut has been napping again for an hour, gonna be plenty loud now in hopes he wakes up on his own.

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

5am again

2011-11-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Fuck this, neither this kid nor I are ever sleeping at night again. He's been up since 1145 and it's 5 now. His longest nap was maybe 30 minutes. He's been like this since Sunday. I'm doomed.

Life at 7 Weeks

2011-11-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

9:45 PM (Last Night) Peanut and I chill out on the couch, he has minor gas issues, doing some work
10:45 Peanut wakes up and bedtime starts, got almost as big of a smile as Boi got a week ago while giving him a massage.
11:15 Talk to Boi, he's not going to be too late so I stay up and wait
11:20 Fold laundry
11:30 Curl up on couch staring mindlessly at 'No Reservations' then an episode of 'Inuyasha' on Netflix while poking at the facebooks. Wishing I was tired enough to fall asleep or awake enough to be productive
12:30AM Boi comes home
1:00AM Go to bed
1:00-1:45 Awake listening to the loud radiator
1:45 Change a stinky diaper, Feed Peanut and lie awake for awhile listening to the radiator some more
5:00 Feed Peanut and lie awake for awhile listening to the radiator and now a snoring Boi and scratching in the walls
6:30 Boi's alarm goes off. More than once
730 Boi is gone and Peanut wakes up. Bring him to bed with me and feed him. Doze on and off while a noisy grunting baby chills out next to me who is suspicously doing a lot of coughing/sneezing
10:30 Feed Peanut, get up, put him in the swing, do morning things while he half dozes and half stares at his fish above him
11:00 Eat eggs on toast and ham (Boi got me a giant free ham) while watching 'No Reservations' on Netflix
11:15 Peanut permanently wakes up. Play with Peanut (tummy time, fish on mat)
11:30 Hoping Peanut has had enough awake time to poop if he's gonna, change him. Peanut pee's three times, but I avoid. Dress Peanut in something cute. Peanut starts spitting up clear liquid. Still sneezing and coughing. Nose looks clear though
11:40 Peanut starts pooping
11:50 Peanut gets changed and pee's again. All over his cute outfit. Still sneezing and coughing so I decide to try to get him to sleep a lot today and put him in something warm.
12:00 Peanut gets the hiccups and I nurse them away while watching a new episode of 'No Reservations'
12:10 Put Peanut down on the couch for hopefully a nap. He stays asleep
12:15 Start looking up possible heating repair guys while talking to Mom about getting their guy over to patch up the siding outside our bedroom.
12:30 Eat more ham and a few oatmeal cookies and get a can of coke for headache and continued sleepiness
12:40 Start blogging and start looking for something randomish to put on. See 'Wonder Years' and figure what the heck
12:50 Start working
12:55 Peanut wakes up
1:00 Finish up an amazon order thats been open a few days while holding a coughing baby
1:15 Put Peanut in his swing to watch his fish, put on the next episode, clean up kitchen/do dishes
1:25 Watch Peanut to see if he's sleepy or going to stay awake. Uncertain. Kairi starts to want attention
1:30 Attempted playtime (singing and dancing and spinning and the mirror) after downing ibuprofin for headache. Got a few semi-gummy smiles.
1:35 Take a picture of him next to a Pooh
1:40 Settle down on the couch with him on my lap after more coughing up clear liquid. Is he just becoming a drooly baby or is a symptom of being sick? He's never spat up anything but milk. Sounding a little congested. Start new episode
1:45 Radiator goes on the fritz and give in to his his fussing and feed him
2:00 Peanut goes back into his swing, eat more ham and finish coke. Kairi goes to the window, and turn on a new episode
2:10 Peanut falls asleep in his swing, KMFX that he stays that way
2:20 Peanut wakes up for a minute, falls back asleep. Feeling hopeful, brings work back up.
2:25 Eyeballs again. Push swing.
2:30 Peanut falls aleep again, will he stay that way? Start a new episode and continue working.
2:45 Radiator makes a loud bang and Peanut wakes up again.... and falls back asleep. Phew. Get a Powerade, Kiara becomes interested in me, meowing... she better not wake him up! Sickish boys need their rest!
2:55 Next episode, Peanut wakes up again... and doesn't fall back asleep
3:00 Pause TV and take Peanut up to the bathroom so I can shower and hopefully that'll help him sleep good.
3:20 Realize the broken radiator makes the bathroom no longer a restful spot. Smell a dirty diaper, change. Skillfully avoid getting peed on
3:30 Feed him, hoping my antibodies will keep him from getting sicker.
3:45 Season 1 of Wonder Years ends. Start season 2 as Peanut sleeps on boppy. One handed interneting while he goes in and out of sleep
4:15 Transfer Peanut to couch and go feed two annoying loud meowing cats. Peanut stays asleep, huzzah for acheiving deep sleep at last!
4:20 Collect snacks (cookies and... yeah. Ham) and more water. Call Boi and ask him to pick up some saline spray for the little guy. Start working again.
4:25 Deep sleep didn't last long, squirming starts. Likely objecting to sleeping flat on his back. Hand on chest seems to calm
4:35 Peanut starts to fight sleep laying on his back (he dislikes it) so I transfer him into his swing. Start to watch him to see if he'll wake up or go back to sleep
4:40 Give him one last chance and turn on the fishes. He quckly zonks Start warming up a pan for pea soup
4:50 Start sauteeing onions. Peanut wakes up coughing.
5:00 Soup bits all together and simmering, Peanut once again napping. Switch into night mode, lights on, shades drawn, fold laundry, play with the cats a little
5:25 Feed Peanut
5:45 Peanut dozes off
6:10 Attempt to put Peanut for a nap in his crib and finish up soup
6:15 Peanut is awake and crying, singing and dancing commense! Spits up on my shirt, this time normal milky color!
6:20 Activity mat time
6:25 Peanut becomes unconsolable
6:30 Boi calls, is headed home
6:40 Finally accpets his nook and sleepily lays on my lap. What was wrong, no one knows, but he's no longer coughing/sneezing and his breathing sounds better
6:50 Place Peanut in swing and put sweet potatoes in oven
6:55 Attempt to keep Peanut happy
7:15 Feed Peanut
7:20 Boi comes home
7:30 Eat soup
7:40 Potatoes are done! Boi changes Peanut, yay!
7:45 More soup and a potato!
7:50 Back to Wonder Years and Peanut is now happy in his swing. time for chat!
8:00 Peanut fusses up, back in my arms, attempt to finish potato.
8:02 Attempt failed, lament potatoes
8:15 Start bedtime, bathtime!
8:30 Feeding
8:45 Asleep

Pretty much a 24 hour period there. *sighs* time to relax and hope he sleeps well tonight! He's sounding and looking better than he did this morning at least, hopefully tomorrow it's the same :) Time to hopefully work and enjoy the evening!

*update* 10:45 now and he's not actually asleep yet. He just fooled us with a short nap. So much for working after he went to bed...

*update 2* 4:00 AM now, Boi went to bed at 2, and it took an hour and a half of him laying on my chest but I finally was able to move him into his rock 'n play to sleep. Of course it's been over 2 hours now since he was last fed so who knows how long this will last. We're down in the living room, I could go upstairs to bed, but I might as well stick it out here, and hope he sleeps awhile. And when he does wake up, goes right back down. I guess if I don't update again, we were both able to finally get some sleep.

7 Weeks Tomorrow!

2011-11-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

Peanut is 7 weeks tomorrow! At the end of the month I'll have accurate weight and measurements! I just have to decide between now and then if I want to do the normal vaccination route or the alternate. It's not like I don't have the time to take him in for additional visits to space them out. And if you're thinking to yourself the ol' "if it worked for you/us then the normal way it will work for your kid' line. Mmhmm. Things have changed since I was a baby!

I want him to be vaxed, I want him to be protected from these things. I do think it's a little insane how much we put in their tiny little bodies. But mainly I just think it's a little insane giving him so many doses together. I had just 4 vacs together last fall, and I had crappy leg pain for a couple months. And there would be nothing the little guy could do to let me know that that was what was wrong :(

Ok, so that's all on that. Below, an even better almost rolling over video!

I miss Boi :( He worked 15 hours last night, booo. He better come home on time tonight, but then he'll be gone before Peanut and I get up for the day tomorrow :( I spend a good chunk of my day trying to fulfill my required calories sans dairy (Soooooooooo hungry!), then over half of it entertaining Peanut or tyring to get him to nap. Whatever bits remain, I fill with work, a bit of fb, perhaps moving pics from the camera to the computer, blogging, with tv on in the background. And then once Peanut gets older I want to try to phase a lot of that tv time out. If only Boi were here, I could be a bit more lazy! Ok, the goal is more productive. At the very least the kitchen is more likely to get cleaned. Someone comes over and I'm like AWESOME here take this kid, and I'm just going to start a load of laundry :)

So I think there's a critter in the walls and/or attic. And the radiators are making different sounds. Possibly broken. The upstairs seems perpetually colder than the rest of the house as if the water isn't making it up there. It sounds kind of like a toilet up there when it's running. And every day more and more insurance claims are coming in. And I can never remember to take my vitamin. And leg raises SUCK! And I want a cookie. And cheese. But I can't have cheese for awhile. It's been awhile now that I've been strict no dairy, and the last couple days Peanut hasn't had any long painful gas episodes. So perhaps no dairy for a loooooong time. We'll see about adding it back in if I confirm later on with a giant glass of milk that it is the problem.

So someone has brought it to my attention that I post too many nice things about Peanut. So I submit example 1 of not so nice things about Peanut. When he decides that he didn't want to eat that much after all :( You guys might get a crying montage next time :P

Timeline

2011-11-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

Born: 9/25
Came home: 10/2
First sponge bath: 10/4
Bellybutton: 10/11
First Bath: 10/12
Held Head Up: 1o/20
First Smile: 11/3
'Rolled Over': 11/06
'Rolled Over Twice': 11/09
Stringed two vowels together: 11/10
Started intentionally using fist as comfort: 11/29
First stomach virus: 12/2

As in 'aa-oo' according to baby books, they're supposed to stick to one, and he's stringing them together. So I think that's notable!

So he was being Mr Fussy Pants two evenings ago, so I was trying to find different things to make him happy. I thought maybe I could convince him to nap on his belly in his crib. INSTEAD HE ROLLED OVER! I cheered for him, then flipped him back over to try the nap again (happy but tired with him at this point) AND HE DID IT AGAIN! So now I'm pretty darn excited, repeat rolling over? I ran downstairs to grab the camera, came back up, and he wouldn't do it again, but he tried. He was jabbering pretty good though, the video doesn't do the jabbering justice though.

Yesterday was date night! I started off with a nice nap when Boi took Peanut down to the living room when he woke up. Then I went in for my final appointment, I'm apparently healing beautifully and now I must do 10 leg raises a day. They hurt, but oh well, will do. No pain no healing. Or less healing I suppose. Then Boi continued to take point on Peanut all day, enabling me to lounge around. It felt gooooooood!

Then Mom came over and watched Peanut while Boi and I went out for dinner and a movie. I drank two alabama slammers (mmmmmmmmmmm) and ate a big ol' new york strip steak. I'm just doing it for Peanut! He needs more iron! Then we went and watched Puss in Boots. It was cute, but definitely no Shrek. Swung by the grocery store quick for more gatorade and then went back home. And snuggled with my little boy :) It was a fantastic day off that ended with Peanut sleeping for 5 hours straight :D Too bad we stayed up for 2 of them figuring he'd be up as usual, but he wasn't. Oh well :) He still did it which means he's capable of doing it! Now was it natural or was it the oz of formula/bm slushie we gave him before bed that was leftover from earlier. It did calm him down if nothing else so he could enjoy our bedtime routine a little bit more.

Either way, it was a good day.

He's been a good boy today, he's allowed me to get some work done, do some cooking. Boi got me a giant cooked ham, so I made pea soup. I need to think of other things, other than like, a sandwich. I also need to cook that pumpkin somehow. There we go, time to go think/research and get some more work done before he wakes up.

Holy Growth Batman

2011-11-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

So yeah, I'm tired, but I wanted to share this. The day we brought him home (1 week) to the other day at 6 weeks. He's bursting out! He didn't even fit that great the first week so we had to pad the straps a bit!

Aww look at that cute orange pacifier... Jed ate it.

Peanut met his other Grandpa today, and proceeded to sleep most of the day. I got ... well it didn't feel like much done. Maybe I just got a lot of 'soaking in the peace' done.

36ish more hours until my last appointment. And also Boi's day off. Maybe we can make it a date night! Oooo I'm gonna start planning this! Speaking of Boi, here's some daddy son bonding time!

4-6 Week Growth Spurt!

2011-11-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

Looks like Peanut had his growth spurt, hoping that's why he was so inconsolable for me this week. I had him on my lap on a pillow, suspected he was longer than he ought to be since his feet weren't on the pillow, so we stretched him out best we could, and came up with 22 inches :) So he's grown about an inch, give or take, in the last week. I'd be fussy too! I guess that means that the two tiniest newborn outfits that barely fit him last week are now down for the count (striped monkey and the light blue sweet little boy). I'll put him in the other newborn one today and see how that one still fits.

After the couple super awful nights of sleep for me, I went ahead and took a Tylenol PM. Bad Mom! I know, but the interwebs indicated that the main problem with the sleepy part of it was it decreased supply, so it was one of those ok in moderation things. So taking it one night isn't the end of the world. And it totally sucked getting up to feed him that night, but so worth it in the end. I slept like a champ, I've slept great (for me at least) since. I typically sleep like crap when I haven't slept, so I guess for me just like Peanut, sleep begets sleep. And he's slept ok, 4, 1, 2, 3 the night after the last post, then like 3, 1, 2, 3 or something the night after.

Not sure why both nights he only managed one hour after the first stretch. And the last few times I swaddled him for bed, he had his swaddle half off and uncomfortably close to covering up his face. And with the one I was using he basically can not move his right arm at all so it was impressive of him to manage it. So I've decided to just stop swaddling him. I was on the fence about whether it was really helping him sleep better/longer anyways. Plus if he can move his hands, he could possibly manage to get a hand in his mouth and comfort himself back to sleep.

LAST NIGHT THOUGH, I so wish there was an easy way to just know. I had my first glass of milk last night since I cut out dairy a few weeks ago. And he was up EVERY HOUR last night with gas. Was it random? Was it the milk? And he couldn't get himself to sleep after 6 so I gave Boi the big eyes and he got up to try to calm him down. As long as he doesn't work early I don't feel too bad giving him the big eyes. He can sleep whenever however, and once I'm up, naps are near impossible, so it's better for me to stay in bed and keep sleeping, and send him to bed once minimum sleep has been achieved by me. Speaking of which, I need to go wake him up and start his lunch.

Done! So yeah, sleep. It's all about sleep. If I just drink mainly water, it'll be cheaper at least, and cutting out dairy in might make weight loss easier. And then in general, making sure he sleeps in different positions, making sure he isn't always falling asleep while nursing so he learns he can also just fall asleep in his rock 'n play... hoping he doesn't become too dependent on just me singing/rocking/nursing him. Mainly for my own sanity. Because that was the only way he'd sleep for me, aside from a car ride, those couple super fussy days this week. When he would sleep that is.

Oh yeah, and enjoy the halloween pics. Managed to get a couple cute/interesting ones out of him yesterday!

Operation No Crib!

2011-11-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, crib is going to have to wait. His grunting syndrome is much much worse when he's flat on his back, so the plan has been altered to him sleeping in his own room, but in his rock 'n play. He's elevated in it. So I'm trying to put him down for naps laying down flat on his back so he doesn't become too dependent on the elevated position... but alas today that backfired on me. Every time I'd put him down, he'd slip into a light sleep, but wake up 5 minutes later. After being awake for 3.5 hours and now being completely inconsolable, I packed him in the car for a drive to grandma's, taking all back roads so he'd be sure to be asleep upon arrival. Then after they kindly fed me, I woke him up, nursed him, packed him back in the car to sleep. He's still sleeping actually, heh. I finally got to that pile of laundry, got some work done, played with the cats, and other random things I've been ignoring.

No nap though :/ While last night was better, he slept... ignoring feedings, 10-1, 1-3, 3-4, 4-7. I slept... well, tiny chunks. Itty bitty bits. Actually I slept the best around 8 when I came upstairs from trying to nap on the couch and curled up with Boi. Of course if I had tried that earlier it likely wouldn't have worked. Or so I'm telling myself.

We didn't really get any good Halloween shots. So tomorrow or Friday (depending on my energy) I'll likely try to reproduce it. What's a few days, right? Unless Mom and Dad managed to get some good ones, we tried some different poses, but all mine turned out blah.

So I declared on Saturday he could hold his head up properly. Nice and steady, not forever, but if he's resting comfortably on my chest he can raise his head up to gaze at me for quite a while now, without his head bobbing around. Of course then the next time he picks it up it falls towards my shoulder :D but I have to imagine it's pretty tired from impressing me at that point. He's also trying to hold his head up when he's awake during burpings. That is quite annoying because unless he burps quickly, at some point I know it's going to crash in some direction so I have to multitask to keep him safe. But I let him anyways, to become nice and strong! (Video evidence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Wv_S0Wcts )

Ok, so I mentioned something about monthly pics. These were my two ideas - for the life of me I couldn't get him to FACE THE CAMERA but the face one is cute anyways. So we'll have a years worth of pics of his head. Then a monthly one with him on the chair. We'll see how long I can keep up with these :)

https://picasaweb.google.com/112061147386819194738/MonthlyPics

Oh, other milestones! So yeah, clearly he's rocking the head thing, and he's been tracking things since we brought him home. He has no problem looking me in the eye. Hand-eye coordination is awesome, I'm still working on getting a good video of him on his mat, but he's now a pro at grabbing onto hair and shirts. I think that's all the milestones. He has no desire to try to roll over or anything, but that'd be waaay advanced.

Oh also, I think he's growing more hair :) his upper forehead is feeling rougher, and I see little hairs. I hope it's hair and not like cradle cap or something that's making it rough. Let's stay positive!

I think that's it with the updates.

Operation Crib: A night in the life of an infant

2011-10-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

So last night, I decided to try operation crib full force again. I let him zonk out, put him in, and he slept fine for about 2.5 hours. Alas, he zonked out almost 2 hours before Boi got home, and I really didn't manage to nap or be productive during that time. After that, the struggle began. 115, up, fed him, made sure to get a good burp out of him, moved the footrest next to his crib to soothe him to sleep, but then he spat up a few times after that, got another good burp out of him... and around 230 he finally was asleep.

Crawled back into bed, but I'm a horrible sleeper and I maybe slept 15 minutes before 330ish and he was up and crying again. Went in, he was a poopin' so I held him for awhile for him to stop, changed him, fed him, burped him, and this time I swaddled him to see if that would help. He fought it for awhile, but fell asleep again like by 430. Was a little less grunty... that or I fell asleep sooner, but before 6 he was up again. Rinse and repeat, but this time... he wouldn't close his eyes. And freaked out if I didn't have my face within view. Decided, ok well if he just wants to see me he can just come to bed with me now. So, 7amish we crawled into bed... but now he wanted to be rocked and see me. Didn't want to lay on my chest either or in the crook of my arm. Thought maybe he didn't eat enough, fed him again, but he kept it up.

Boi was awake thanks to all his crying by now, so I took him down to the couch. But now he was overtired and not productive awake, so we walked and walked and walked. Finally got him to rest quietly on me on the couch and I dozed off. Boi came down around 9 shortly after he calmed down, took him, changed him, and this time Peanut allowed the swing to put him asleep, while I napped restlessly till about 11. Boi made lunch, I fed him again, and thanks to his morning fit, zonked out and I put him back in the crib. I crawled into bed and Boi put up the gate so the cats couldn't bother us. Around 230 Peanut was getting too restless to sleep through, we got up.

Now I just got him to sleep... but now I have to wake him up to feed him because K&B are in town and we're going out to dinner. Oh well! Better go do that! He should hopefully fall back asleep in the car regardless!

-cut to this evening-

Mom watched and played with him this evening while I nursed a headache and exhaustion on her couch. Fortunately it's gone now, and I just fed him to go to bed, alas I see eyes. EYES? Kid, you were just awake for a few hours, now is the time to sleep! Ah well... wish us luck. At least he's calm so he should go to sleep soon.

Sleep is for the Weak!

2011-10-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, we're trying the crib tonight. I don't know that it's going to help a whole lot, but maybe it will be great. I barely slept again last night, we ended up napping till after 11 just to try to get the required amount of sleep in short bursts. We tried a few more things last night to stop his mid night thrashing and grunting, but it didn't help. So I guess maybe if he can't sense me, maybe that will alleviate some of it. Like we have discovered that I can't give him a bottle, and he won't take a bottle if I'm around. Maybe it's a little of that. Which I don't entirely buy because he will sleep like a rock on my chest. But we'll see. A few nights isn't going to hurt anyone, and Boi doesn't work tomorrow so if it's more of the same, so be it.

Tomorrow he's getting professional pics taken, thanks to K and her family (I love you guys and many hugs). Kinda early, but we can handle it! Especially if we manage to get some good sleep.

We had some more firsts today, we had a few more coos (specifically an uUuu that melted my heart) and we tried on cloth diapers for the first time. The prefolds were huge, but we got on a bumgenious pocket dipe on at the smallest setting. Contained his pee just fine! So yay! We saved a sposie dipe already! Look at how cute he is with that green on his bottom :) And those giraffe leggings that definitely were too big :) He's so stylish!

Then after a bath (mmm he smells fresh again!), we went on the activity mat, and he was staring at the yellow toy pretty hard, and kept trying to swing his far arm over to it, so I pushed him closer to it and after a few more tries, wham, he hit it :D I'm impressed, I figured it'd be a week or two before he actually hit it seemingly on purpose! Right now he's supposed to be just mainly tracking items with his eyes, but he's been doing that forever <3

Then after some more tummy time, just for fun I grabbed his bumbo chair. Boi plopped him in. And he sat there like a champ (note the chair supports the back of his head, angled slightly backwards and I was there for the moment his head started to look too unsteady)! He seemed to like it too! Not to mention he looks kinda like a peanut in that pic. Though rainbows... elephants... future politician in the making? I hope not! Astronaut!

So that was today! I also made chili today, mmm healthy food, and it was I think my first real cooking? Too bad all we have are unhealthy snacks. Tomorrow I'm going to (try to) get some more healthy foods in the house. Only a week and a half or so until my restrictions are lifted and I can start to exercise a bit.

Strange how I can't wait. Maybe more so I can't wait to feel good enough to do it. Though this last weekend I've progressed to not always noticing my incision. Pro yo. Can't wait till I rarely notice it!

The dude is now asleep. Feed him in a half hour and then hopefully we'll all hit the hay. :D Wish us luck!

One Month :)

2011-10-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

Peanut is one month old today! Doo dah! Doo dah! Peanut is one month old today, oh the doo dah day! Peanut celebrated this morning by fussing through a chunk of the night, but then getting breakfast with Grandma and Auntie K. He dressed up for the occasion in a fancy, but still way too big for him, train vest and outfit. Innit he a cutie?

We attempted a nap... or three in his crib. He'd go down for a few minutes just fine, but then wake up screaming :( So right now he's sleeping between my feet, not really great, he keeps fussing in his sleep, but better than he was upstairs. We were thinking in the next few days if we can get a good nap out of him to try him sleeping in the crib, as he's a bit of a loud sleeper. So maybe if he'd sleep longer if I didn't eventually wake him up just because he was keeping me awake. I dunno, we'll see how this week goes. Boi has ... two more weeks of vacation I think? It would be nice if we were sleeping a bit better for when he has to work 5 days all the time again.

Auntie K got him an activity mat! He's supposed to start working on tracking things with his eyes and experimenting with his hands. He's hit the toys once so far when he sneezed, and a few times with me helping him. We'll keep trying it every day and see how he grows. He's already great a tracking things with his eyes. He is getting lazy about progressing his neck muscles though, his next awake period we'll work on that.

His spitup is getting worse too. Just things to keep an eye on. More fussing, more spitup, maybe it's just him getting older, maybe it's something else. I do think I changed my first completely poop free diaper this afternoon though (everyone loves the diaper talk). I now have high hopes that he will someday be more regulated! Yay for growth!

The last few days have been great, having Auntie K here, my Aunt M and Uncles, we finally got a few nice-ish family pics. We ended up both wearing maroon, unplanned but it worked out well. Poor little boy, it was about 50 degrees, we had him all bundled up then exposed him for the pictures in Mom and Dad's backyard. At least he was awake, right?

I had him propped up on my boppy pillow after his last feeding to try to prevent more spitup, and I was sitting there and decided to try to get him to smile. And he was! Several times I'd give him a great big smile, kissed his chubby cheeks, tickle his neck rolls, and he'd give me a grin. I called Boi over, but then we only got a tiny smile out of him. Smiling is hard work! He is also cooing now, not sure if it's socially or randomly, but definite new sounds.

We're taking weekly pictures, and I'm working on a monthly face pic. I have a good idea of how I want to do it, but not 100% there yet. We still have 8ish hours to figure it out.

Two new albums, one just documenting all his outfits (that we remember to take pictures of) :
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/112061147386819194738/albums/5665216703437019505?hl=en

And his weekly growth pictures:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/112061147386819194738/albums/5667530369841915505?hl=en

And finally, a video!

Sister is home!

2011-10-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

Yay, my sister and her bf flew home yesterday! AND she says she wants to change a diaper, score! Though I have to say, for being a SAHM, I have it pretty easy on the diaper front. A) Boi is totally cool about changing him when he's home, so I only change 1 or 2 when he is and B) Peanut is usually pretty relaxed about chilling out in a nice moist diaper. So sometimes I just go to feed him, forget to change him first, and he zonks out... and I let him sleep. I feel a little bad since he's pretty much still always pooping, but if he doesn't care, then hey. Occasionally going an extra few hours isn't the end of the world. He's going to do that when he starts sleeping through the night (sttn) right? Which will totally be soon.

Last night was waaaaaay better than the last two. And by way better, I mean, that last stretch he slept 3.5 hours. I woke up, and I'm used to the last stretch lasting 2, so I ignored him for a little while to see if he was really awake or if he just prematurely woke up (I really need to move a clock so I can see it while vision impaired). But when he sounded a little more anxious than fussy, I got my glasses out, checked the time, and was like, whoa. Little boys who let me sleep that long can totally get fed right away!

We got a soothie paci yesterday to complement his gumdrop, and tried it out last night. Alas he sounds different with that in his mouth, but he seems to have a harder time loosing it. So just get used to the new noises, I guess. We also moved my white noise fan closer to him, I think that helped as well. The bedroom has completely changed, fan moved, we have a nightlight by his rock 'n play, and when that still freaked him out, we put a red light in my bedside lamp, and we keep that on all night. Red light is not supposed to affect your sleep, and it really doesn't seem to. But it's really dim so we still need the night light to enhance it. I'd probably sleep better in the dark, but if it minimizes his fussing, well, he is still only 3 weeks old, he wins.

Sighs, Kairi is much happier at the moment trying to claw my feet than laying nicely next to me. Alas, this means much tossing around for her, since I'd be much happier without puncture holes.

Anywho, Peanut's neck is getting a lot stronger. Yesterday we were doing tummy time on my chest, and he had his head up and looking around for... maybe 30 seconds? It was a really freaking long time. It dipped a few times but never actually hit my chest. At what point do I say he is 'holding his head up' I wonder. When I can sit him up and completely not worry about it? I suppose that's what I'm thinking. The nurses say he could hold his head pretty good from when they got him, so there was really no point where he couldn't. Oh well, some day I'll say he's learned that skill :)

Boi has a random short shift tonight (assuming he doesn't stay late) due to his overnight, so we have time today to finally swing out to look for the light fixture that may be on sale. Then while we're in the store we'll work on my walking some more. I'd say I'm completely drug free now, it's only uncomfortable unless I'm laughing or coughing or moving funny. Then it hurts. But nursing Peanut, now that I'm not constantly taking drugs, is rearing a painful side, and now I get headachey and nauseous. The intertubes say it should go away around week 6-8 and I should treat it like morning sickness, but yay. It could be worse though, there's one lady I know that has D-MER too, which basically I guess is like sudden depression every time you nurse. That'd suck.

The rest of the invasion starts tomorrow! Run for your lives! Well, not me, not quite up for running yet. But soooooon!

8.5 Pounds!

2011-10-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

So this morning, after his diaper change, I carried him down to the scale and did the mommy+baby-mommy weigh-in technique. A week ago, nekkid Peanut weighed 6lbs 14 oz, this morning, Peanut+clothes+clean diaper weighed 8 1/2 pounds. It may not be official, but he's clearly gaining weight! People say it's obvious, but its harder for me to see since he's constantly by my side. But I decided that his smallest sleeper is likely too small for him, it doesn't look like he can fully extend his legs anymore, soooooooo I'm getting my wish :) I tried on a bigger one, and lo and behold it didn't look too huge. So new outfit every day from here on out says I!

He's waking up, time to go soothe him! Ahh, content happy sleepy baby. He's got a bit till the next mealtime, napping is good. If he goes down to sleep after his next meal, I'll likely take one with him. Mmm.

Well, hmm, maybe not, Boi is supposed to call... Oh I have some time. He's coming home tonight, yay! Then he doesn't work tomorrow! Ok - just found a happy medium. Ended up feeding him afterall, then we came back down to the couch and he's napping on my chest and I can still type. I couldn't do this ... I doubt even a week ago, with his weight on my stomach. I think this will be our new favorite position soon :)

Ok, and now he eventually got too fussy to stay there, but now he's in his swing while I eat food and he's reaching his arms up at the fishes above his head :D that's the first time I've seen him follow the fish with more than just his eyes. Clearly, he's going to be president. Or an astronaut. Or a baseball player. Mwaa!

Oh, I also fit into a pair of real pants today. That is all :D

3 Weeks Old

2011-10-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

We're three weeks old today, so he's been home for 2 weeks <3 We're a happy family. We're in the midst of Boi's 5 day stretch, but now that I can drive again I've been taking advantage of my parents and their desire to constantly hold Peanut, and so far I'm staying sane. Tomorrow I'm planning on staying home though, we'll see how things go! Peanut's Great Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this evening, and I've been continued to be assured that he is still the cutest thing ever :) We also got a few books from my Aunt K, including The Giving Tree, which I find to be very exciting. I was surprised that I was really the only one in the room to recognize it, but at the very least Boi said he's heard of it. Maybe we'll have our first real story time before bed tonight :)

We went to D&I's house last night for their housewarming, conveniently after everyone had left so Peanut was less exposed to random germy people. I brought my camera but forgot to snap pictures :( but it was good to be out with friends again. Already my life is completely consumed by Peanut, if I'm not feeding him, changing him, holding him, comforting him, watching him... I'm blogging, organizing his pictures, arranging his outings, etc etc. I've quickly gone from person to mom. Which is fine, but it was a bit weird when I left him with Dad and Mom and I ran out to Walgreens to pick up pictures so I didn't have to carry him in the store (him+carrier may now fit in my lifting limits, but I'm still slow as hell when I'm carrying him). It was a bit weird not having him attached to me... so soon and my brain is fried.

But as soon as I'm able to comfortably lay on my stomach, mom's promised me she's sending me for a massage. Alas, I've regressed, I was able to lay on my side for a week now, but my hip pain is increasing. I was laying there the other night, watching Peanut in his rock and play (pictured) and shooting stabby pain suddenly started up in my right hip (I was even laying on my left) all the way up my back, almost to the point of tears. Suckage! It's been worse the last few days now. Sighs.

Well, can't expect things to just work right right away after giving birth I suppose. My doc said she'd send me in for a xray or pt or something if it wasn't gone by my 6 week appointment, hoping it fixes itself before then. Oh hay, appointment, no blood draw, yay! It was fine, incision is healing good, no more tape on it, Peanut was adored by everyone. Maybe we'll brave the next appointment alone, me and my new guy.

Boi is sitting there just gazing at Peanut right now, so cute :) What a good daddy he is, going out and earning the big bucks so I can stay at home and change diapers and get gnawed on. Even when that means leaving me alone overnight... could be worse I guess, I could be a military wife. Now that'd be hard and lonely! Perspective!

Oh, and here you go, another video! We were doing some tummy time and he took a break and started licking his hand :)

Bellybutton!

2011-10-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

PEANUT HAS A BELLYBUTTON! Boi went to change his diaper, and there it was, so he brought it down to me as a gift :) Lo and behold, he is somehow EVEN CUTER now. So hopefully tomorrow night it's not so gooey in there and we'll give him his first real bath :D

We spent the evening at Mom and Dad's, Brother showed up too. Chicken was eaten by me, and it was delish. Peanut was a gentleman too, he's trying to fool the world about his fussiness over the weekend. Hopefully that's mainly the end of it though. He can save fussing more for some other weekend. Totally not looking forward to next week though :( It's a goofy week for Boi, so even though he's taking a vacation day, he's still working 5 days, and one of those will be an overnight. Sighs - DREAD! Maybe a nice foot rub will make me feel better. First though I suppose I need to make it through my post-op appointment. Not entirely sure what's going to happen there... I hope they don't test my iron again, blegh. Oh well, show up and see what happens I guess. At least Boi can once again come with me :) Hard to be too nervous when he's around!

Other than that, it's just more and more explosive baby poop... and he should be insured soon. Woo. And Kairi just sniffed him. Jed was very curious about him too, so far so good on the pet front though. Oh, also he MAY HAVE grown half an inch. But I'll have to reconfirm that, it's kinda hard to measure a squirmy child. We'll have you in 0-3 clothes yet Peanut, and won't need to wash every day! Still have to do plenty of wash, sure, but I want to see him in something other than the same couple outfits! As sweet as it would be to keep him doll size forever, I know it's not possible, so I'm just looking at the positives. Oh and here's a pic of tummy time, sometimes he's a good sport and he moves his head back and forth, and he tries to help with burping, but tonight, he just laid there staring at me until his hiccups started and I gave in and cuddled him again. Also a few new babyshower onesie pics from the last post!

2 Weeks Old!

2011-10-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

Peanut is two weeks old today, right now resting comfortably on J's lap, as the in-laws have invaded. Which is excellent really, I love the little nut, but it's good to get little breaks. And he'll likely sleep a little longer on her lap than mine. Wee! Today we went out for lunch, and he got a bit fussy, but nothing that wasn't handle-able. And then later on we went up Rib Mountain. I'm not sure if we actually got a picture of him up there... ah well. Life goes on.

It's been a beautiful week to have him home finally, and things were going great, but of course last night he had to turn the fussy not going to sleep. Boi was amazing and stayed up with him for the first few hours, then they were both able to come up and doze off, then he woke up hungry and again wouldn't go down, so it was my turn. So it could have been worse, I could have just gotten a short nap in-between, this way we both got a longish chunk of sleep.

--------

Ok, Monday now, once again no sleep, cluster feeding, crying, fussing, I got a short nap this afternoon. Of course, he's sleeping right now, but if I try to move him to a safer sleeping spot where we can nap together, he'd wake up. Gah. Gotta think of some solutions, I wonder if he isn't scared of the dark, maybe we'll try a nightlight in the bedroom tonight. I'm hoping its just a growth spurt he's going through and tomorrow he'll be back to normal.

Mwaa Haa, 5 Hours of Sleep

2011-10-08T03:33:00.000-07:00

Last night, we got that mystical 5ish hours of straight sleep. I don't expect that to happen again anytime soon, but I looooved it last night. I didn't think he ate enough before bed, and he had the hiccups so he was still awake, so I had Boi give him a bottle. Sure enough he downed it and zonked out :) Too bad he's started to wake up screaming his head off if he's hungry, heh. Oh well, babies will cry.

Mom and Dad came over last night, yay Dad's feeling better! They hung out and listened/watched our style to the game. (Our style being a very cheap feed option from mlb.com on the laptop and the radio) and yay Boi will be happy for another week, as our boys won! I found it funny how it seemed based on my Facebook feed that half of my list"almost had a heart attack."

A sneezing video!

Then I also threw this up https://picasaweb.google.com/112061147386819194738/BabyshowerOnesies an album of pictures of Peanut wearing his baby shower onesies. Gerber runs very small so the 3-6 ones aren't too big on him, though it'll likely be a bit before I try on the ones that are 6-9.

I'm actually doing pretty good today, got out of bed and I wasn't in a ton of pain, and my right foot looks almost normal. I'm sure I can ruin that with some sitting and standing, but it's the most normal I've seen it yet! Peanut continues on doing pretty good too, being a cute guy. I get up in the morning, eat and change his diaper and clothes if need be, then I take him and plop him on Boi's chest and then I go eat, and come back and they've commenced napping again. It's usually a good excuse for me to get a quick little nap in too :) He's going to be hungry again soon though, hmm, wonder if I can't get a quick shower in first though...

First Day Out!

2011-10-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was quite the day! Peanut had a follow-up appointment with his new Ped yesterday afternoon, things went great, he pee'd all over the scale, but didn't get enough height/distance to take any records. He's now 6lbs 14oz, up from his birth weight of 6lbs 5oz, so BIG EATER! He aced the rest of his exam, the doc decided we could skip coming in for a two week visit (woohoo!) so he's good for another month and a half or so. He then spent most of the day napping, we picked up K and went to Target and Ace, then went out for some nummy sushi. Much nummy sushi, it was so nice to look at the menu and not have to scout for the cooked rolls. Just ordered whatever sounded good :D Peanut was a champ through it all, napping peacefully, wooing the waitress. So our first public outing was pretty much a success! Yay us, not messing things up! We'll have to try going to my parents house sometime when Dad's not sick anymore!

He then got a sponge bath later that night, he wasn't a huge fan of it, he's got this thing about being nekkid. But he calmed down by the end, as you can see in the picture. Though when we went to give him his diaper change at the end, he decided it was a good time to start pooping non-stop... filled the diaper, so I said to heck with it and just let him poop into the towel. Breastfed poo breaks down fine in the wash, why should I worry about it, right? Of course then Boi let his back hit some of it, and part of his bath had to be redone, lol!

Boi was gone yesterday again, and once again Peanut was a fussy little monkey. Finally got him to sleep in the afternoon again though, and then Mom and brother stopped by with subs and they held him and kept him happy and not thinking about food. It was another exhausting day and still riding that hormonal roller coaster, but I pumped Boi a bottle and he let me get to bed a few hours before him so I could rest mostly undisturbed, aside from Peanut crying bloody murder when he got undressed for a diaper change.

Then this morning Boi took him to change him in-between nighttime nappings, I heard a loud yell, and figured that meant I likely should get out of bed and help. Peanut got his first really good distance, got poop on the closet door, the floor, all over the changing table, then when we kind of got things cleaned up enough to resume, he pee'd all over everything! Ah well, it woke us up, but we still managed another nap after it :)

Now we're chilling, Boi is playing video games, which Kairi approves of. The girls haven't been getting the attention they need, so this kind of normalcy is likely very comforting for her, and she's gone and curled up on his lap. Hopefully once I'm cleared to lift things again, I can start to right the wrongs I've committed towards them as of late, but I can't do too much play with them right now unless they come to me, and I'm not holding Peanut. Then right now I've got my feet up and the laptop on my boppy pillow (keeping the weight off my incision, but I can keep my feet up and type two handed still this way), Peanut is laying at my feet, swaddled up and contently napping. Aside from an occasional squeak. What a cutie patootie!

First Full Day Home

2011-10-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

First full day home, and Boi works to boot. We did ok last night, well, Boi pretty much slept through the night, though I nudged him once to go change him. Penaut woke me up in 1-2 hour intervals, but hey, it's kind of like being pregnant. I just can't get him to eat enough when he wakes me up before he passes back out, hence the couple 1 hour spans. Sighs, hopefully nature will take care of that soon. Despite him not actually waking up with me, he's the one who took a nap this morning.

Mom came over this afternoon and the three of us took a walk up and down the street. I made dinner, a box a pasta (first thing I've cooked in over a week!) and it took me 4 or 5 attempts to eat it. The last distraction was Peanut getting hiccups... for 40 minutes. Some of them sounded like he was choking :( So he had my attention, I was holding him and putting away dishes when they stopped, and suddenly he turned into CRAZY OMG MY WORLD IS ENDING baby. Apparently either his hiccups are comforting, or they were distracting him from clinking dishes and now he couldn't handle the noise?

He's now sitting in his swing/chair, staring at one of the fish hanging above it. At least I'm pretty sure his eyes are still open, his head is tilted away from me... oh no, he's asleep I think! This will help my desire to keep him on a at minimum 2 hour feeding schedule during the day. Not that it's working too well, lol, and I suppose feeding him more often will just get him more milk in the future, but still, sanity yo.

Today's Onesie!

So he got his social security number today. Also his first bill. Not sure how the insurance thing works, we've called, they say they need his birth certificate within a month of his birth. Apparently most people get a hospital copy, but we got nothing?? But at minimum it'll take 3 weeks to get we're told... so in the meantime... just pile up the bills I guess. Sighs, Boi has called them and the hospital, and no one seems to have a straight answer. I don't want to see the NICU bill before insurance takes it's stab at it!

Must... get... supply... up. This is today's lesson. That and keep him awake to eat.

Such the cutie Patootie :)

Peanut - A Quick Overview

2011-10-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon through Sunday evening I labored to get little Peanut out. I wanted a natural and un-medicated childbirth, but by the time contractions stayed consistently around 5 minutes, I was already very sick. Peanut was sunny-side up, which is a very poor position to labor in, it causes back labor, which is worse than regular labor (so I'm told, I'm inclined to agree) long labors and long deliveries. In my case, Peanut actually ended up getting stuck, so I dilated to a 6, and then stopped. They tried to increase the intensity with drugs, but that also didn't work, nor did the epidural. The doctor told me I really only had one option left, a C-Section.

I was scared about it, but defeated, I suspected Boi was as well. I couldn't imagine going on another hour or two till even another check, never mind making it to 10 some day and pushing. So we agreed, they stopped the drugs, and gave me something to slow down my contractions. Stuff happened around me, time seemed to go so slow while we waited. All I could do was keep breathing, keep breathing, keep Boi giving me counter-pressure, keep breathing.

The first thing I think I said when he was born, I believe, was 'Is he still a boy?' And when he cried his first, I immediately teared up. I shooed Boi away to go be with him, told him to take lots of pictures, asked the anesthesiologist to make sure he was taking lots of pictures. Both Peanut and I continued to cry. I heard them ask Boi if he wanted to trim the cord, I think he said "I guess." If I could have I likely would have chuckled there, that's my decisive husband! I couldn't really see anything that was going on. Finally though they brought him over for me to see. I could touch him and see him, and I wanted so badly to kiss his face but he was just out of reach for that. They told that the little grunting noises were likely just fine, but they were going to go check it out so he couldn't stay. I ordered Boi to follow and to 'take lots of pictures.' The anesthesiologist offered me some valium to help me sleep, and I soon felt groggy.

I must have fallen asleep as I heard someone say I had gotten a nap. They got me back on my bed and wheeled me back to my room. I don't remember if Boi was there then or not, I was pretty out of it. I think he was, as I think after a bit I asked him to go back to the nursery. When he returned, he told me that the grunting noises Peanut was making had them concerned, and they were going to do xrays. (It turns out my friend 'I' actually was the one to do the xrays on him) Commence more crying! He told me that the pediatrician would be in within an hour with the results. We sat there and talked, we may have turned on ESPN by this point as background noise, trying to come to terms with the last few days.

Then the pediatrician came in with the news, Peanut had a pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung, and there was air in his chest cavity. It may heal on it's own, the body may absorb the air, but there was a good chance he would be sent down to the good NICU an hour away. We asked a lot of questions, trying to figure out what was all going on. They were going to do a second xray soon to see if it was getting better or worse. Commence more crying!

In the end, the second xray was worse, so they did a procedure to extract some of the air until the NICU team could arrive. It had been about 2 hours after the surgery, I was starting to get feeling back in my legs, and the nurses told me if I thought I could manage they would get me in a wheelchair and take me down. Slowly, with much dizziness and nausea, they got me into the chair and took me to the nursery. They placed him in my arms and finally I could see him, kiss him, smell him, everything I wanted to do when they first brought him to me. He was covered in wires and on oxygen, but that didn't really matter because he was my Peanut and I was holding him and in heaven. Alas, life decided to just be that much more cruel and the heat from his bed made me very very nauseous and I had to cry out for someone to take him so I could grab my puke bag and try very hard not to vomit, as who knows what kind of crazy pain that would have done to my incision. My nurse was there though and pushed a pillow against my stomach to help soften the blow, and I was able to breathe it away. But I was no longer comfortable with the idea of holding him, so Boi took him and I stared sadly at them, knowing that soon he'd be taken away.

In the end, Peanut healed his own lung. I was released after 36 hours so I could go be with him. He had IVs all over his body throughout the week, including his head. He had lots of visitors, Mom, Dad, Brother and K. At one point they were going to release him on Wednesday, but then that got scrapped when he had a 'spell' where his heartbeat and breathing dropped to dangerous levels multiple times one morning. On Saturday we arrived to room in with him for the night. We had a good time, watched the Badgers and Bambi, kept him fed and dry, he somehow managed to gain 5 oz that night :)

Now he's home, bruised some, but a whole happy boy sitting in his swing/chair while I quickly type this up. He's got a crazy appetite, but we're catching up with him despite the challenges we faced. I'm a little sad that Boi has to go into work tomorrow, he was supposed to have till Wednesday off, but I know we'll be ok. The cats have started to get curious about him, but they've learned approaching him gets them sprayed, so they've started to scale that back. Now we're looking forward to our first night together at home :)

Just Some Pics

2011-09-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

So today I decided to tackle the valance, Dad got it up, but it was just a bit sparse. It's not coming down again until... it's retired, so I didn't really want to go too crazy about it. So when I was out at Target looking for the (evil) balloons I found some snazzy sparkly looking alphabet stickers. Which for some reason only had one U, but whatever. It's not perfect, but what is, right? And it should be easy enough to remove some day if I come up with something more creative :)

So that got me moving today. Trying to stay active, getting in postions to encourage him to face my back. Of course, all this work and he probably won't be here for another week.

Then I also figured I'd take a picture of some of the nice handmade blankets and clothes we've gotten. So thank you Mom, K, T, J, and S! I feel like I'm missing stuff to go in here, but I can always make a cooler more updated pic and shout-out later.

Hopefully this dancing and bouncing on my ball will tire me out tonight, slept like crap last night and we have an early appointment tomorrow! Here's hoping I go into labor yet tonight so I can skip that bad boy!

Maternity Leave

2011-09-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

Well, as much as one can be on it when you're self employed. Still pregnant, Boi's Brewers still are at magic number 3, my next appointment looms on Friday. I was cranky Monday, calmer Tuesday, whatever today, and we're getting sick most nights now along with the usual pains and annoyances.

That is all.

39 Weeks!

2011-09-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

Well, we've got one week to go folks. Or three. Sometime in the next 3 weeks or so, I will have a Peanut in my arms. We've had some contractions tonight, but I get a bunch of them and start timing, and then they go away. My contractions are shy. Lots and lots of pressure too... hopefully good for dilation, but so very awkward.

More stomach bug this week, totally awesome. And now I'm sleepy. But I made apple crisp this evening, now all I need is Boi to come home. He was thinking he'd get off about a half hour ago, and said he'd call before leaving. So either he's still there or he forgot.

We'll take another belly photo tomorrow night, but it's going to look the same, I still look completely NOT full term. But it'll be good to compare anyways, especially since Peanut's been laying in my belly different. Not sure if it's the same right now - he's been really active since after my sampling of dessert... but it's like he's got his legs in and his butt is out by my ribs.

Ok, getting sleepier. Every 5 minutes it's getting cranked up a notch. Maybe if I doze off I'll have consistent contractions...

38 Weeks

2011-09-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Heh, it's getting too tiring and painful to even type anymore. It's been a bit of a crappy week. I had a stomach bug or something last week, then we tried going out downtown Sunday and I was a complete wuss. Well, ok, I forgot my hat, it was hot and sunny, I was retaining water, it was exhausting me, then I got a headache and nausea, and we had to just go home.

I think I may have a no pants rule until he pops out. Just too much pain/annoyance in wearing pants now.

We had another appointment today, Boi almost had to miss it, if he had it'd be the first he'd missed, so an awesome streak going. Didn't really learn anything at the appointment, I'm electing not to find out if I'm dilated till 40 weeks, and so it was just be same ol' same ol'. I think my BP was at an all time low of 102/62, gotta have fun somehow, right? I did bring up my hands/wrists though finally, it was just as I figured though, carpal tunnel, now I just have an official diagnosis. I've got the worst one wrapped up (it's just started to get quite painful the last couple days) and hoping to hear from mom about a wrist brace I remember her owning. Our insurance didn't cover the maternity belt, so I assume they won't pay for a wrist brace either ... though I do still have some money left in my HSA account, I bet that could apply.

Boi installed a new garbage disposal for me, and K came by - finished up her Peanut blanket and touched up the paint on the radiator and ceiling for me, Dad installed the valence.... they all rock. Well, everyone who's helped me out in any way lately, big or small, rocks, but you know, those are standing out in my head. And I bought a new toaster? It all evens out in the end, I'll be doing most of the work soon enough I suppose.

We're back to fall weather. Blankets and sweaters oh my! My favorite things! Our cats went wacko this morning though. Boi went down to feed them, I guess they were ok then, then he went back down... and saw a loose or feral cat at the window with Kairi. He shooed the cat away, but we're thinking maybe he sprayed her? Or she was just beyond spooked, because then Kiara starting hissing at her, and Kairi backed into a corner. We had to lock Kiara up while we went to the appointment, fortunately they were back to normal (mostly) when we returned, and let them sniff each other through a gate. And now they're contently sleeping at my feet.

The naughty girls though, I understand it was stressful morning, but Boi found Kiara in the Pack 'n Play (2nd time) and Kairi on the changing table (1st time). I swore if I found either of them on any of Peanut's stuff again, I'd start taking action against them. So we're trying cheap low tech solution of balloons. I'll throw them in the crib/pnp/changing table and that should discourage them (especially if they're insistent and pop one - plus I'll hear that and know what they were doing!) Obviously it's unacceptable for them to possibly be anywhere near the baby like that if I set him down and walk away for a bit. Hopefully this will teach them.

Oh by the way, I'm going to blow your minds. Peanut is due NEXT FRIDAY.

Another Happy Appointment

2011-09-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

Passed my GBS test, no need for antibiotics during labor :D Nothing else new, same ol' same ol'. Next appointment is in one week. We both continue to look good. And no, no checking on if he's ready or if my body is getting ready as of yet. All I know is I do get the sporadic contractions. We had a good long 45 second-er today, Boi excited asked a little while later if I had another - if I did I didn't notice. Ah well.

We've had a productive day today. Reinstalled the car-seat base in it's final position in the middle (well, still not satisfied, but we're closer to getting it to work with the seat-belt vs latch - I think I'm just not strong enough to assist in my weakened pregnant wussy state). Boi did some fancy power tool work for me. Sterilized and cleaned the pump parts and all the bottles. Boi mowed the backyard. Did the dishes.... went to the appointment and also bought a new baby gate to try with the cats... we plan to make salsa tonight. Or tomorrow.

I loved hearing the doctor say as she left 'see you next week - unless I see you at the hospital first!' So we took a 37 week pic, same dress so I could compare to the 35 week. Hard to say if my belly grew at all, sine it definitely did drop. Well, that's not completely true, he was high up in the first pic, but he was also SIDEWAYS (oooooowww) Regardless, good job Peanut! Get down there and get ready to leave. Evacuation orders will be coming soon! He spends most of his time down there now, except when he's being really naughty he comes back up to get his foot lodged in my ribs. And makes me miserable. I say it's worse then him pressing on my bladder... as long as I'm at home :)

I'm actually pretty happy I didn't go into labor yesterday. I think the 'oh how ironic!' comments would have driven me insane :D And even though I don't have a set day to look forward to for Peanut, I am quite excited that on Friday K will be in town and we will be doing dinner! And she'll even let me bring a date! We'll see how good Boi is and if he deserves a nice meal out ;)

Time to go snuggle under a blanket with my sweatshirt on, enjoy the cool air and a nice foot rub <3

We're Term - Woo hoo!

2011-09-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

37 weeks today! On average he should be around 6.3 to 7 lbs. The appointment yesterday was good, my weight is still under control, BP 106/70, Peanut's HB was at 142 and his HB went up when he squirmed so he appears to be free of his cord. Clean bill of health! I go in again on Tuesday and find out if I need to be on antibiotics during labor. Yaaaaaaaay. But only 10-20% ish of women are Group B Strep + (I believe those are the stats offhand at least) so I'm hopeful I'm not. I've never had an IV or any antibiotics, I'm consenting to a hep-lock, but I'd really rather nothing happen with it :)

After the appointment, we went home and started to get ready for likely our last 'trip' alone together for a long long time. Our local cinema stopped showing Harry Potter as of 4pm Thursday :( But I was not to be deterred, we planned on seeing it and timing just wasn't working out previous to today. It was playing in several of the bigger cities, so we printed out some maps (our GPS is dead) and took off on an hour and a half trip to Green Bay. We got there, Boi went north when I wanted him to go south (I was thinking Red Lobster) and we ended up downtown, where we recognized the area and a local vegetarian restaurant we'd been to in the past.

So we stopped there and nommed, then headed to visit M&J and their daughter B. B is almost 2 and very friendly, I asked her if I could hug her when I got there and she threw her hands up, and then wore our shoes around and wanted very badly to snuggle with me on my lap. Haha, what lap! We had a pleasant visit, then took off to see the movie, which we also enjoyed. We discussed dinner and decided to do Red Lobster after all - it was very yummy :)

Then we drove home, the Brewer game not coming in that great, but that was ok because they weren't doing great. By the time we had come back into good signal strength for our local stations, they started doing better! So the evening had a happy conclusion.

Boi went into work at 6 this morning, and quite frankly didn't get enough sleep. I suppose I'm as much to blame as him though, I could have scurried him off to bed, but I enjoy hanging out with him. He threw in his whites for work today and I stayed up to make sure his shirts got evacuated and hung up. Alas I discovered I can no longer reach the back of the dryer :( Gonna have to turn it on in the future to bounce some of the items in the back closer to my reach!

This morning has been a bit nervous though. Two hours into this morning I realized I hadn't felt Peanut move. So I cracked open a soda, downed half of it, and laid back, usually enough to make a parade start. Nada. I had almost gotten to another 2 hours and only 5 movements when my cat spooked me and him and he got mad for a whole minute. Then nothing for another half hour... desperate times came to desperate measures and I finished off Boi's leftover dessert for lunch. My squirmmer is back at the expense of a bellyache! But I'll take it :)

Let's see if I can make something out of today! Boi should be home at 5!

Domestic Goddess

2011-08-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today is diapers day, I'm finally getting around to prepping my diapers so they'll be super absorbent. I've had the ones that need prepping hanging in a bag on the stairs (you can see the bag way back in my week 35 pic, lol) for quite some time, I knew I wanted to boil the unbleached stuff in dawn, as that's supposed to be like the same as 3 washes. And well, my pan was always dirty :D

But that's all done, and the washing machine just beeped at me. I think I'm going to throw the rest of the stuff, but not the covers, in, and then I'll give them all a dry. Hoping I don't mess anything up!

Boi had a good birthday, or so I think. Between the two of us, we got some nice distractions for when Peanut is here, here's hoping he stops crying long enough for us to enjoy them. (I'd make a crack about the both of them crying, but let's face it, Boi is beyond solid, in fact, I'd be goo on the ground without him) Plus lots of yummy food, pie and potato pancakes oh my! Ooooh I think it's time for a list.

Reasons why I can't wait for Peanut to get here:

I'll have a baby. Duh

I won't be pregnant anymore

Boi will be using his vacation time on us, and he's got an extra week this year ^.^

Cute squishie bonding moments

I'll have some new pictures to hang in the dining room

All that hard work preparing will hopefully pay off

Being able to move around without pain

Labor worries will be a thing of the past

Being a 3 person family

Wearing normal clothes again

That's a decent list. It's not necessarily in any particular order.

We've got an appointment on Friday, and then the weeklys start up right away on Tuesday. The next appointment promises to be ...especially special. Boi for sure has Friday off, let's see if he remembers to bring home the schedule for next week. So far he hasn't missed a single appointment though :) But he's coming home RIGHT NOW which is excellent. I should go make sure things are ready for his arrival. AKA make sure it doesn't look like I've been lazy all day. Should be good though - dishes done, laundry put away, bed is made (have I mentioned the bed? Due to my hot flashes and hourly bathroom runs, we sleep with two quilts. Really I just use the blanket as an extra pillow though...) random shit picked up, diapers in their final wash cycle, cats and Peanut are still alive and have all been fed. What more could ya ask for?

Big Day Tomorrow

2011-08-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow Boi turns 32 (holy cow he's old!) and Peanut turns -4 weeks. Alas, it'll likely be a quiet day, in that Boi works. Sighs - I made him an extremely high calorie dessert last night though, so we're spreading out the celebration. That reminds me, I could put his present in something nicer than a brown box. Either way, I'm going to try to get it through his head that tomorrow he should come home on time, as then he can watch the Brewers play on TV since WGN is airing it. And if he can get out a bit early, all the better!

Ooooooooooh hi Peanut, what are you doing? I take it you liked that juice I took my vitamin with!

Yesterday... Boi had the day off, alas he had to do a few things like mow the lawn. But now he doesn't have to worry about it at least :) I went out to give him a hand, cleaning up some sticks and pruning the maple tree so it stops attacking things in our driveway. I came back in for a drink of water and to check my skin for pinkness, and then suffered two close together contractions. Soooooo I hung out inside for a bit. But my body forgave my hauling stuff around and let me get back to life.

Then we had our last childbirth class, a lot of the class was going over relaxation techniques.So basically a lot of massages and such for me. Except that she gave us ice to hold on to to simulate contractions. Yaaaaaay pain.

We got home, I started making him his dessert, and for the last few days, Peanut has been floating very high and sideways. We're fairly confident we could make out his head/torso/butt. I took out the bowl to stir in the living room, and that didn't last very long. I started cramping up, so I sat back and prepared to wait out what I figured was just another contraction for 30 seconds. A minute or two later it obviously was not that, he was wayy too active and it was still going and getting worse. So I opted to just curl up as pain and nausea had joined the fray, and I called Boi over to give me what I hoped would be a distracting massage. 10 minutes of hell later, I could sit up and talk normally again. And lo and behold, the head/torso/butt were no longer stuck in my ribs, and instead I had and still have a relatively shapless hard lump.

So... now I know why babies don't turn much the last month and why they don't like to manually turn babies. Because it's HELLISH. But on the plus side, I'm thinking the shapeless lump that likes to move around up by my ribs are his feet again, which means he's spun into the right position. Now I just need to focus on keeping myself as much as I can in a good position to make sure he's facing backwards too. Then hopefully I won't go to 41-42 weeks! A girl can dream. Alas, about the only relief I can get for my upper back pain right now is to lean back against something.... which is not an optimal position.

Now time to get you guys dizzy! I thought I'd just do a spinny move up in Peanut's room, here's the result

I'm clearly getting lazy about posting

2011-08-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

But oh well. Last night and tomorrow night we had 'Childbirth Preperation Class.' Sitting in a chair for longish periods of time isn't so easy, lol :) But we got our tour, I was the know-it-all (seriously no one else would answer? common sense questions) and Boi said he learned stuff so yay!

Mmmm, just finished off the ice cream.

I've been getting a little cranky as I got some contractions in my 20 week range, and nothing in my 30. But now I've gotten a few in the last few days, so I'm no longer mad at Peanut for not doing anything to prepare for evacuating me. So he can keep at it nice and slow and then in two weeks he can start getting more serious ;)

Less than a month to go till my due date, so 1.5 - 6.5 weeks to go!

Got mom's wall hanging up! It looks very nice :D it's multilayer-ed, the clouds are puffy, and Dad helped out with some perspective stuff, so it looks awesome I think.

Today's been up and down (per the norm I guess) I was in the car and spent the whole time wanting to lose my lunch, bad back pain, wooziness tonight, and a headache, felt like I was having a bit of an allergy problem, and well, Peanut spent a good chunk of time hurting me. We're actually pretty sure he just did a flip of some sort (better not on his way to being head up, but no distinctive kicks since) I hope Boi makes it home at a reasonable hour, I could use a footrub. Even if my feet don't hurt, pleasure hits your brain faster then pain, so it helps to block out some of my misery. Especially when I've got a good mosquito bite going on on my foot.

Heeeeeeey maybe I should expose my feet to a mosquito when I go into labor. Intense pleasure of having that bite rubbed, maybe I won't feel any pain at all? Mwaa haa haa!

35 Weeks

2011-08-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

Well kids, we're at 35 weeks. 2-7 weeks to go. I'm slowly coming off my Patrick Stewart high, but it's happily being replace by a Boi high. My birthday week was great, but now it's time to start celebrating his birthday week. I made him pancakes yesterday, yum! But then I was going to clean, and I was just a bit too miserable yesterday, and my bad leg was hurting quite a bit, so not much happened. Hopefully today it'll be better, I'm doing a Tylenol regimen so maybe I can get a little bit more done. I want to get a variety of things done - from sweeping off the deck (acorns are falling) and the front walk, work on some empty walls in both the master and the nursery, and of course the standard dishes and laundry.

It's definitely getting harder and harder to rev myself up and get stuff done, clearly 35 weeks pregnant isn't quite the same as 15 weeks :) Information on Peanut from the web: Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete � he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

If he's at least 5 pounds for real I'm happy. I keep thinking back to him looking small at 20 weeks, so I figure rounding down is logical. Then he should be 6 pounds in two weeks. That's a good healthy weight.

My birthday was good - my parents, unlce B and Boi went up the local 'mountain' for a picnic lunch. Oooh yeah, Jed came too :) Then we drove around, Dad trying to get us lost, to check out some stuff we noticed from our birds eye view. We went back to the folks for pie and presents then -yummy and yay! They got me some cloth diapers, a book, a wall sticker for the nursery (pictured).... a frisbee? and an excellent tea brewing cup. I've been very good about getting at least 2 cups of raspberry leaf tea since getting that. It 'twas a good day! K and I also went out and got ourselves mani pedi's, wisely used some $10 off coupons and got me a new 2ish dollar shirt and the dress seen up above for $7. I have a few new options now :) and they're a bit cuter then the plain stuff I was wearing to boot. And mom cut my hair, so Thursday was a pretty transforming day for me.

OOOOOOOOoooh yeah, Mom finished her fantasy wall hanging for Peanut, complete with a dragon and a frog. K got me a little stuffed dragon as well. I have decided that K's dragon's name is Stanley, Mom's dragon is ScottRika, and ... we have yet to name the frog. Mr Frog will likely work just fine. But I don't have that hung yet, I'll update with a pic of that when that's done.

Gonna go be productive!

Baaaaaabymoon

2011-08-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to type out everything as I remember it, so prepare for crazy length!

It turned out great. I was dragging almost the whole time (slept ~ 1 hour Thursday night and ~3 Friday night) but I think I was able to push it aside without getting overly cranky. The planes were both pretty stress free, got to go through the metal detector both ways so no worries about being pregnant with the new technologies. M&J were good fun and good sports, driving us around. I think I walked more this weekend then I have since my pains started at 20 weeks! We went to the Field Museum on Friday, the Horse exihibit was a bit lame, the Whale one was much cooler. Then all the animals were enjoyable - though I didn't see my favorite monkey, the Bonobo. We went over to Boi's cousin's house that night for dinner and had fun playing with their kids.

Saturday was the big day then, Comic-Con (Wizard World, whatever). Alas I only slept a couple hours, as mentioned before, but my stomach once again stayed pretty ok. M dropped us off, and we stood in line for awhile. There was an indian wedding going on outside of the entrance. Lots of loud music, dancing, and a horse - a bit crazy - but they likely thought the same about us :) We wandered around for awhile, oogling cool looking items, each of us keeping our eyes opened for a few things. They had very few kid specific things there, like they had cute toadstool hats, but only for adults. And also not a lot of variety in the plushies... so Peanut didn't get anything.

Then we came across the photo-op area, saw that Sir Patrick Stewart started around noon, so we went to grab some crappy food before moving on to it. We really should have wandered a bit further in as there was a better food court in the photo op area. Then we went back, bought our ticket, and wandered waaaaaaay far away to get to the end of the line. That line wasn't too bad actually, it moved quickly. When we got into the photo area, we noticed that A) he only shook hands with people who had their hands extended and B) if you were a solo female he'd put his arm around your shoulder. Boi immediately offered to just step to the side and let me take the pic alone so I'd get more squee-able contact... but I didn't feel right about that. And in the end I'm perfectly happy with my handshake. He also told me he liked my shirt :) We stood next to him, I begged the photo gods to let the picture turn out, and the next thing I knew we were being shown the exit, and I believe Patrick told us to 'have fun' and I responded in kind, but it was such a blur at that point. We verified with the girl in front of us at that point where the pictures would show up and about how long it would take, she figured an hour or so based on her other pictures (daamn).

Then we decided to head out to sit out in the entrance area and chill out for a few minutes. So we relaxed on the side of a fountain and watched a little girl playing for a bit. Cute as a bug :) Decided then to check out the Q&A rooms since Patrick Stewart was to speak at 2. We found them easily enough, and the original Willy Wonka kids were supposed to start right about then, so we decided to sit in. We saw a small crowd on the side but ignored them. The Q&A was fun, Mike TeaVee and Veruca Salt were the most outspoken, lots of questions about the Oompa Loompas :) Of course when it ended, they cleared us out vs letting us stay. Sigh, by the time we found the end of the line, we could hear someone telling people that there were already too many people in line and they were cutting it off. So we missed the Patrick Stewart Q&A. So we wandered around a bit longer, eventually picking up a comic book for Boi, and we caught the Felicia Day Q&A at 3. Sadly I think I liked the Willy Wonka one a bit better, maybe we should have gone to the LaVar Burton one. But you never know ahead of time, do you?

I was beyond exhausted at this point, and M couldn't pick us up afterwards, so we started wandering in the direction Boi believed the train line was. We had just cleared the convention center when it started to rain. And barely any further when it started to downpour. Of course I can barely walk faster than a meander and we were stuck halfway between the convention center and the overpass, and my pelvis and right leg were already in searing pain from just that distance. Nothing much more to do then grip my leg (fricking feels like it's going to fall off when it gets that bad) and go as fast as I could. Fortunately when we make it there are spots to sit down, and I'm able to rest up and... stop getting rained on. After a bit, we start to get worried as we can't see the train entrance, which should be right around there, so Boi went off to scope up ahead, so if it wasn't there I wouldn't have to waste the steps. Fortunately it was :) and by the time he got back the rain was letting up, so we made our way on, at a happier slower pace.

The train was fun, once we figured out which way to go and how to get a pass. I've only been on these types of transportation due to Boi (first in Atlanta at his younger brothers, then in Philly with his mom) so it was still a treat for me. Then we got off the train, and lo and behold farther away then we hoped, so we got in my first taxi and took off. Anti-climatic to be sure, but the driver put Prairie Home Companion on so hey. M met us with an umbrella (yaaaaaaaaay I hope he meant to give it to me coz I took it - lol!) and soon I was back and relaxing on the couch, getting my poor feet rubbed.

We decide that we're going out, and likely for Peruvian food, but J is still out with the car and we decide to wait for her so it'd be one happy group. So we pop in a video and watch some of the bonus stuff for awhile, then she showed up. We agreed to go with the original food plan, and take off, just a couple block walk. The food was good, though the service was a bit slow. We got a pitcher of some cinnamon and clove carrot juice? that was tasty, and I accidentally spread my bread with super spicy sauce after asking and getting the wrong answer from J, she told me it was just butter :) We split some of my first ceviche, and it was tasty, but didn't really help the spice level on my tongue much! I was still feeling fine at this point. Our food came, I got lamb and rice and beans, and it was really good, plus J shared some of her cow heart with me, also very good. I got like... a third of the way through my plate, when suddenly I felt super full and it was getting hard to breathe. Peanut decided to move up into my rib cage. I got up to use the bathroom to hopefully get him to move back down, and I sat back down and felt a bit better... for about a minute. He was apparently still up there and started going crazy again. Now instead of just feeling uncomfortable, I felt lightheaded and sick to my stomach. Boi took me outside, and I collapsed against the building, the only thing keeping me from just dropping unconscious was my deep desire to throw up and the only thing keeping me from doing that was the fact that I was struggling to stay conscious and breathe. The air outside did me good though, and (I hope only) 5-10 minutes later we wandered back inside, all my organs back into working order. I got a doggy bag, and we took off.

We got back, I laid down, still not feeling quite 100%, and they popped in the movie we were eyeing up before dinner. Then we went to bed. Fortunately that night I was able to sleep. I even fell asleep easily with each of my wakeups. I'd wake up and tell myself, shoot, I'm kinda awake, I'm not going to fall asleep, and then the next thing I'd know it'd be a bit lighter outside :) We chilled out on Sunday, I ate some of my leftovers (forgot to finish it though, sorry M&J!), M, Boi and I played some Mario, and we went out for hot dogs for lunch. I had a dog covered in.... pickled veggies, avocado cream and some other stuff, it was tasty I thought, though greasy. Then we went back and sat around until they managed to get ahold of Boi's younger brother, and they got him on Skype for awhile. But we were running short on time, and soon we were packing up (taking great care of the magical picture) and we made our way to the airport. Our flight was delayed, but only 15 minutes. Zoooooom on the plane, this time Boi got to sit next to me, we watched out the window, Peanut behaving better on the way back than the way there. We arrived without incident and Mom drove us home.

Lo and behold, there was a package at our door. Now we had an incident earlier the prior week. Said package was supposed to arrive on Wednesday and was a gift from my dad. On Thursday when it still didn't arrive, he looked it up, and the notes said it was delivered on Wednesday at 5:06 PM "to a woman." Definitely was not me, as I do my best to avoid all human contact. Alas, I went out on Thursday to chat with the neighbors to see if they saw anything, but came up blank. So 1 of 3 things happened the way I see it. Either 1) there was a shipping mistake and it was delivered over the weekend, 2) whoever accepted the package delivered it to our door for us upon realizing the mistake ( at least 2 days later...) or 3) Amazon agreed to send a second one out at no cost, but it was supposed to be then shipped to Dad's and not till like, today or something. So if he gets a second one, we'll know it's one of the first two.

Can't wait to see what it is if nothing else though ;)

So yeah, that was my Babymoon. Glad we got to use that airplane credit before it expired too. Taking it easy today, drinking lots of water as we have a doctors appointment tomorrow. I don't want to go in dehydrated and stressed out, that's for sure! That was a lot of fun typing, but I think that covers most everything. Time to take a break from typing - though I'll admit, I did this in a few different typing sessions! But I think I has a hungry now... mmmm.... dinner... if only we had food here....

Cleaning!

2011-08-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

<-- Out the Window.

33 weeks eh? I reckon I ought to start thinking about a hospital bag. I don't expect to get it fully packed by any means, but a start. Get his stuff together and some of the less obvious stuff, like a nail file as I hear the nurses won't clip his nails for you even if they're like daggers. Considering I only have a few things that fit me (too cheap to buy maternity clothes!) I can't really pack for myself until the time comes.

Ugh, last night sucked, for both Boi and I. From like 4-11 I was beyond exhausted. Spent most of the time immobilized in bed or on the couch, but unable to actually doze off. Then it flipped off... and stayed flipped off. Boi finished up playing his game around 1230, we went up to bed, he usually passes out quickly. I read several chapters in my book and then realized he wasn't asleep yet. I felt a bit bad, so I flipped off the light and spent the majority of the night alternating between lying on my left side and letting my left leg fall asleep, then flipping to my right so my right arm can fall asleep. I really should have just gotten up and come downstairs to try, but I was stubborn.

Today I was alternating between working, cleaning, and rereading Harry Potter (I've made it halfway through the 5th book) I was very good and kept to the schedule, didn't really watch tv (aside from when I was cooking and such) or surf the net. Still doesn't feel like I accomplished much, but I know I did.

My work timer website is down due to a 'partial power outage' super nervous. I mean, I pretty much know what I did today because I remember glancing at the total time column during my last spurt, but if they lost data, and more then just today's data.... that's a baaaaaaad situation. I haven't pulled down a report in awhile. *gulp* guess I just have to keep watching it. PLUS my internet has been wonky today to boot. Stupid Charter.

I'll just go calm myself down with some homemade bread. Especially delicious after visiting Mom for some blueberry pie :D

Peanut kicks hello!

Going on a jet plane...

2011-08-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

Neeeeeext weekend! Got our plane tickets, ordered tickets for the event, Boi's brother will be in town, everything seems to be coming up roses! We'll see how I do when we actually get there, but I see no reason to be anything but optimistic!

33 weeks, like pretty much now. 7 weeks to go. 49 days.

6 days till our trip. 12 days till my birthday. Ummmm 10 days till we hear Peanut's heartbeat again?

Peanut is what's important here! The little bugger has been (read: I believe) pushing out with his feet like 3 inches above my belly button. After a few days of that, its getting a bit sore. Here you go, straight from the web, a progress report on where he should be at!

"This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood."

Next week, 99% of babies have no problems breathing at birth. Cook baby cook!

My raspberry leaf tea has now steeped and it is going in my belly, it's not bad stuff. I haven't been drinking it long, but it's supposedly good for labor. Hey, if there's half a chance in hell that it shaves a little time off labor or the pushing stage, I'll drink 1-3 cups of it a day.

One more uncomfortable day tomorrow and then we're back into the 70's. I'm going to be giddy. Giddy you hear me? I will frolic in the streets (read: waddle to the deck) and sing songs of joy (read: not bitch about being hot) I think I'll even make chili and bread for Boi.

Happy weekend everyone!

It's our birthday month!

2011-08-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

Crib mattress arrived today, got it installed and sheeted up. Still need to decide on like a mattress pad, pee guard, whatever, just to make sure the mattress stays kosher. One step at a time says I! In the meantime, Pooh and Piglet will have to hold it. Prolly stick them next to the changing table later on here. Right now they're being good guards.

Yay, not only is it Boi's and my birthday month, but NEXT month Peanut will be here! Huzzah and all that stuff.

We're halfway to 33 weeks, so I'm hopeful that he's now reached 4lbs. Excellent milestone. We're back to measuring on track as well.

Picture number two, we have the chair and the tree and the dresser.

I think I'll be putting a garbage receptacle of some sort next to it.

It's a tall picture. So since I don't feel wordy tonight, well, I think you're getting the picture.

Actually I don't have anything else to say. Boi wakes up for work in a few hours, contemplating just sleeping on the recliner tonight. Not the one in the picture, the super squishie one that is hard enough to get out of solo never mind with an infant. But comfy.

Next month you guys. Unless I go late. The doc says she'll let me go up to two weeks late. But Peanut, you won't do that to me right? Plus some random internet quiz told me I'd go 2-3 weeks early. THE INTERNET DOESN'T LIE!

Stanley the Dragon

2011-07-30T05:08:00.000-07:00

Just saying, Peanut's Dragon is going to be named Stanley, not anything silly like Norbert (cough speed-re-reading through Harry Potter before we go to the movie). I need to go visit mom so I can check out how the dragon is coming along! I just think they're cool, dragons. If you have your own pet dragon, then you have a protector! Who's gonna be mean to you if you have a dragon to sic on them, am I right? I need to keep an eye out for a really cool dragon stuffed animal. It's gotta be just right, you know? Not too wimpy, not too scary. He's got plenty of Pooh stuffed animals, and other animals to live in the 100 acre wood with them, but no dragon to protect them.

I guess I haven't updated in over a week. Oops! Happy 32 weeks! Peanut's -8 weeks old! Tuesday we drove down to Milwaukee to visit Boi's mom and grandma. Everyone was good, ggma seemed to be recovering well from her surgery, hopefully that continues! I got to explore the city a bit more and got to eat cinnabons and sweet and sour pork. Peanut was pretty quiet up until the trip back up. Then he decided that he wanted to press on all my organs giving me a symphony of symptoms while I was trying to ignore my headache.

Boi has been working hard since, fairly long week - 6 days on before his next day off on this coming Tuesday. And then he came home to find out that my dad and brother went out and picked up the chair yesterday. Which of course meant that he got to put it together for me :D The angle of the pic is a little funny, I kind of feel like I'm a tiny person in a huge world in this pic (though our walls are apparently taller than standard) And then we thought about the placement of things, and moved the dresser to the wall with the start of the tree, so I could easily reach water or burpcloths or whatever I need while in the chair. So success!

Sudden desire for waffles... and to work on finishing that tree now that the chair is in.

So now already I like to go up there and sit there. It's still got a little bit of warehouse funk to it, accentuated by the fact that we shut the door last night with one of the cardboard boxes and the chair in there so it built up a bit, I'm hoping it's mainly the box, just since that's the easiest thing.

Speaking of warehouse funk, we're back to looking at getting a mattress, don't want the cheapest bottom of the barrel model, but I suppose I'm not going to get away with a $250 100% organic mattress. On my board several women were saying they loved their semi organic model, two stage mattress (firm on one side for infants then softer on the other for a toddler) coming in at a reasonable price, and looking at the reviews, I was ready to jump on it, but then I clicked on all reviews, and there were a few reviews that had come in just this month saying that despite everyone saying it had no odor, there's did. So I'm guessing maybe either they changed the way they were making it or there's a problem at the warehouse... or maybe just the warehouse there's was being shipped from?

Not sure how important it is to have a softer mattress for a toddler, other then the fact that I personally hate firm mattresses. I found another one with that feature, it costs more, but I think it's just under the minimum dimensions my crib dictates (it lacks saying the maximum though, which I think is weird).

Specifically how are Peanut and I doing (besides exhausted - Boi was snapping photos last night and kept telling me that I just looked tired in all of them, lol)? Well, I think Wednesday was the best day for us this week. We got a lot done to boot. Thursday I'm pretty sure I was sick/miserable for most of the day... and yesterday I was in a lot of pelvic pain and super emotional. I even broke out the maternity belt, since the one time I really noticed it helped was when I felt a pain similar before, but it didn't do a whole lot, other than removing a little bit of the pressure. I blame Kairi, as she was going CRAZY so I went to go gather her up to give her a little loving and calm her down, but picking her up didn't feel so good. I'm not sure how I'd handle it having a two year old running around like she was! Just deal with a lot more pain I suppose!

T and her daughter O are coming over later in the afternoon, so that should be fun. And it sounds like there will be food too:) Hopefully they make it this time! Gonna try to tidy up a bit (somedays you really just need a reason to do it) and then I'll feel like a better stay at home mom to boot! Yeah I know, I'm growing a person, but I'm still going to feel a bit like flake after Boi comes home after being gone 12 hours if I haven't at least managed to get dishes in the dishwasher or something.

Speaking of which, it's now noon. I should get started!

We've got a changing table!

2011-07-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

Ok so this post is just getting completely revamped from last night now that I'm on the laptop and not stuck in a hot corner on my desktop that I quickly posted last night. It looks like it's going to be a long one!

Happy 31 weeks! Peanut rang in the occasion by pretty much sleeping through the night last night :) No partying, no kicking the bed, I was able to just curl up and wait for sleep to come. Though I started dreaming about spare tires.... and then my brain couldn't get off of the subject, so from 6-9ish when we got up... it was a bit weird. As I'm sure you can understand - there are only so many directions you can go on the subject, my brain attempted them all.

Last night, the cats were upstairs guarding their new precious item - a changing table, gifted generously by K's Mom and Dad (Madre and Hercules). I'm so excited :D I'll need to order a changing pad to go in it (and maybe some more diapering supplies :D) and some covers for it I suppose.... Oh and I need to order some boppy covers, we've got one from 'I' and it's a beautiful one but I'm not naive enough to think it's going to stay clean all day :D I'll also likely need to look into a mattress pad, hooooooopefully T will be dropping off O's crib mattress and it'll fit and everything, but I want to get measurements for everything, as I keep seeing comments on things as I was making my registries or just researching products how things were just a half inch or inch smaller or bigger and just that difference alone made things look/feel sloppy or even unsafe... so I think I'll try to get these all in one big order after I can measure things.

We had a coupon for some disposable wipes (seen on the dresser), so I went ahead and got them even though we're planning on using cloth wipes. Plus people have said it's a great place to store cloth wipes too, you can get them a bit damp and store them in there... or just store them dry in it and use a spray bottle. We'll see what we like best :)

I'm not sure about the placement, other than that wall is likely best for the changing table. I might be able to shove in the dresser next to it, but really the best plan is to wait for the other huge item we're waiting for, the glider. Once that is in, we'll be able to see where's the best place for the dresser. I also still feel weird about hanging pictures until we have final placement on items... but we didn't fill in nail holes, so I guess I could still go in and just pop in a few things... hey, what the heck, I'll go do that right now.

Hmmmm ok, I've got another problem. In my head I was going to use some of the Pooh art I had in my teenage pooh obsessed years, but the frames on these are super super light wood. The crib and the chair should both be a dark cherry, and the dresser and changing table are a medium tone. I was fine with those two, but adding in the light wood just feels... wrong. Plus, you can see some of my experimentation with the tree art, and that also is very dark. Maybe the room will be less Pooh than I alternatively was thinking and we'll go back to fantasy land. I do have some frames I can use that are nice and dark, I'll just have to create some art for them then. We'll see how this sits with me a bit, who knows, maybe I'll decide just to stain them.... but prolly not. Sigh.

Survived a dentist appointment on Wednesday (BP 104/76) and an OB appointment yesterday (BP 96/68 - It keeps dropping, oh no!) Peanut's heartbeat is still good and strong at 144. Didn't gain anything (haha stupid bloat from last time) and my stomach only grew 1cm when it should have been 2 :( Hopefully he catches back up at my next appointment. And my feet just... hurt. They're not swollen (well, not in the morning), they just hurt. I guess that's just from walking around barefoot with this extra weight? I'll attempt to keep at least some cushioning sandals on as I walk around for a few days.

Last night I finally did some cooking. Like real cooking, with measuring and dicing ingredients, thawing shrimp, multiple pans cooking. Made a creamy tomato sauce with shrimp (though I first cooked up some mushrooms for the Boi) over pasta, and even waddled out to the deck to pick some parsley and basil to top it. And it was tasty :) we ate leftovers for lunch today.

On Monday we find out if Boi might be able to get off a few days in a row to fly down to Chicago for Comic Con. Like a birthday gift for me because Patrick Stewart will be there :D It might just kill me, I can't imagine there will be a lot of opportunities to rest and sit down (unless I do as S suggested and cosplay as Prof X - anyone live near Chicago with a wheelchair?), but surely it will still be worth it! Gonna go dream about it... or do some work. Whichever.

30 Weeks and 3 Days

2011-07-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

9 weeks 4 days to go, or 67 days. I can distinctly feel a body part in my upper left quadrent. At first it was cute, then it was, aww he must be comfy, he's still there. Now it's like, umm, kid *poke*? You're gonna bruise momma at this rate. I think it must be his feet because I get a few good (becoming increasingly painful) kicks in the spot, which would mean he's likely in a good position, and I don't want to discourage him from liking his head down and in, but sigh.

Oooh ow.

We hit the 30 week mark on our dear friends D&I's wedding. Yayhoo! Peanut was so well behaved the whole day, hardly made a fuss, and even let me go bowling with a 6 pound ball (I joined in just for fun, but Boi was bowling AWESOME and got a 187), but when we got home, started to relax, when my entire middle region tightened up into a giant ball of pain. I could barely stand or walk without Boi, or lay down. Kind of similar to the crib night crash. Ugh! It was only margionally better by bedtime, and then I was still sore the next morning.

Then Sunday I was just completely exhausted and headachey, which I guess I was asking for after being active on Saturday. Yesterday it was all But my dad called me out of the blue yesterday early afternoon just to tell me he loved me, which cheered me up, and nothing like getting cheered up to take the edge off and help you fight past it all.

Boi has now been happily putting his hand on my belly more and more now that movements are easily seen and felt externally. Which gives me a happy :D This little 3 pound bugger of joy (my new expression, classy I know) likes to give him a show when he feels the pressure from daddy's hand. He worries he's squishing him, but I like it as I'm often laying on my side when they hang out together, and it gives me a break from Peanut kicking the couch.

Well, back to my normally scheduled activities... mainly staying cool.

A Video Post: Season -1 Episode 1

2011-07-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

I added an intro, some cuts, music, credits. Hopefully I didn't go overboard. I'll get better at it hopefully after time, and soon enough we'll have Season 0 to make it even more interesting :D

Also apparently I don't like the smell of coffee today, so that matches how I usually feel about it. But hey, my brother took Mom and me out to dinner tonight so yay!

Tree Options

2011-07-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

So I realize the statement 'putting the tree on the wall' from last night's post is a little vague, but here are some examples of what I'm talking about. I believe picture number two has the same tree I got - but she must have bought the flowers separate. Basically it's a tree in like a hundred pieces and you can make one big one or a few little ones, or branches like she has. I kind of like having the bottom of the tree hidden behind some furniture....

That's all, I just happened to stumble across the first picture, and thought I'd post a few samples for you guys.

I have Fanta

2011-07-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

And it's delicious. Orangey. Sure it's 160 calories a pop, but they're delicious calories. So they don't count. And this morning the 4 pounds I told y'all didn't exist vanished on my scale. So Fanta = less water retention. Clearly.

Nothing overly exciting has happened in the last few days. Boi managed to get off for D&I's wedding on Saturday, so that's a good thing. K has been worried that I won't have anything to wear, but I still have a nice stretchy fabric dress left. Just because I don't usually dress up for things doesn't mean I don't have something stored away I can pull out :) The only real thing is shoes... eh.I have a pair of flats that should work, strappy sandals that I'm sure will end up hurting my feet. Unless you have a cute pair of brown shoes for me to wear K, though I know most of your stash is black.

I'm sure Saturday morning Boi will be like "I have nothing to wear" and I'll be like, oh yeah? He does that every time, he has perfectly good summery dress up clothes. But he forgets about them. He'd make a great girl in that respect, always needing to go out and buy something new for every occassion. Oh well, he deserves some props, he survived a very tough day at work today (beyond the stress, it was a 6a-4p shift, yuck) so he is himself enjoying a non-orangey coke and some WoW. I stopped wowing, remembering I have been slacking on this.

Not a whole lot went on today, I remember being sleepy most of the day, but never actually napping. Woke up at like 2 and couldn't fall back asleep forever, then woke up at around 4, and there was a party in my belly till at least 520 when Boi came up to grab whatever he was missing for work. Pretty sure I still fell asleep before 6 at least. Then at 830 I was said to hell with it and got up. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight.

I think it's been officially long enough with the walls to put up the tree. I just need to decide exactly where I want it. Should it be right next to the crib, or in the middle of the wall, between (the soonish to be here) glider chair and the crib? Though if I do right smack in the middle, are we talking about proper center or the center between the edge of the chair and the crib? I'm making way too much out of this. I can take it down and redo it if need be (though really not sure if at some point the pieces stop sticking as well) but it's so much easier to fret over it and procrastinate. Procrastination is totally the prerogative of a creative mind. Too bad mine is rather dull right now.

Kairi has been a total b*tch today. I opened the patio door while I was making breakfast since it looked so nice out there, a few minutes later I find she's torn through it and is sniffing the wilderness. Fortunately Kiara seemed uncertain about following, as she'll just bolt, while Kairi stops to sniff the roses. Then the proceeded to annoy Kiara and I with her sorrowful meows for the rest of the morning. Then I decided to make sloppy turkey joes for lunch, but the pan I had out wasn't big enough for all the meat, so half went in and I wandered away for awhile... and came back to find her nomming on some of the leftover raw turkey. Eeeeww! Fortunately she didn't get sick, but she did nap then till evening, and she came over and settled next to me while I watched Jeopardy... and she was kneading her claws in my arm but I was barely noticing as Peanut had woken up... only to have her then stop and noticed my arm was all bloody. Argh!

I took some video for an attempt at a new video for Peanut, but alas, I haven't pieced it together. I hardly touched the computer at all today, I got on it for awhile to try to do some work, but my brain just wasn't with it. Boi took me for a walk around the block and I made it the whole way without needing to stop. *cheers* *claps* *good pelvic ligaments* If I could count on them all the time I wouldn't be so nervous about going out and about by myself!

Oh and hay, Mom In Law, if you're reading this, I hear you're going to be in the state next week. When exactly will you be around?

Halfway between 29 and 30 weeks! My new chant is "10 weeks, just 10 more weeks!"

Today was made for relaxing

2011-07-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile, but I've been busy! I guess the biggest happiest news was my appointment on Thursday. I managed to keep pretty close to my required schedule that morning, and we got to the clinic on time. I started to get worried though as according to my cell phone, we had one minute before my hour was up when we got called (plus I was super uncomfortable as Peanut was stomping on my southern regions thanks to all the sugar). But she managed to get the blood drawn in a few minutes (same lady as last time) and we discussed what would happen if I failed with my problems getting poked and my disappearing veins. She said instead of doing a finger poke I'd likely just get an IV thinger put in. FORTUNATELY THAT WASN'T NECESSARY! Before we left I passed my GD with a 109 - anything over 140 would be a fail. And I'm not anemic either, I was a 12.1 when I think anything under 9 is a fail. So I was a healthy distance from both failpoints :)

BP and etc were normal, and the great measuring of my uterus showed him on track and his heartbeat was at 150 :) Alas they weighed me in at +8 pounds, which I don't believe, but I've been super swollen so I'm going to attribute it to that. I had been showing myself on my scale as +3, so I'm aiming to have lost a few pounds of water/bloat for my next appointment in... like 12 days. Yay for 2 week appointments now?

I've got Kiara kneading her claws into my foot right now. Hopefully she'll find a leak!

Since I was feeling well, we took off around 11 for Milwaukee. Well, I was feeling ok, but Peanut still hadn't settled down. He was getting his feet into the most uncomfortable/painful of spots during the drive, so not only did I almost continuously wince, but I kept looking for rest-stops to maybe just maybe take the edge off what he was also doing to my bladder. We stopped for lunch at Chili's (of course he calmed down for that, yum yum!) and then it wasn't long after we got back in the car that he started to be mean again! So I gave up, I felt bad for Boi driving, but I just need to get my mind off of it, so I closed my eyes, and managed to drift in and out of sleep for the next hour. He was a lot calmer around Madison. Then we just had to make it to Brookfield to find our hotel and lay down for a few.

Lalala - we all survived the trip. We went to his dad's, but left early knowing I'd have a hard time making it from general parking to the stadium. Boi's dad sweetly offered us his handicapped thingie, but we both felt that that would be a bit underhanded, and plus he likely needed it more. Fortunately we got good parking, right on the edge and by one of the bridges. I needed a break on the way in, but we found something nice I could sit on for a spell. We looked at the baby Brewer stuff, I was happy to see that while it was expensive, it wasn't as bad as I thought. So maybe we'll buy him something next game, even though he'll grow out of it quick :) Or I suppose something way too big the first year ;) We took a Peanut picture for my Aunt M, my shirt didn't really show my bump too well, so I've got it accentuated best I could. And the Brewer's won, yay! Saw someone I knew from my Best Buy days sitting near us - he OF COURSE noticed me shortly after Boi got me a hot dog and I had just taken an elegant giant bite of it. LOL! We made the trip out in one long spurt, but my feet hurt (they were swollen for bulk of the trip) so I just wanted to get my cute tush in the car. Pushing through the side cramp and aches at a slow walking speed for the win!

The hotel's fire alarm went off at 3am that night though :( that certainly didn't have a good effect of the quality of my sleep for the rest of the night! It was mostly uneventful after that though, aside from me attempt to drink as much water as I could and get my legs elevated whenever I could. Thursday was really the big day!

Peanut is now 29 weeks - so third trimester based on everyone's way of measuring it! "Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day."

Guess I should have a glass of milk with lunch, huh? Mmmm lunch. That goes well with a day of keeping my feet up! Boi even reminded me of it this morning before leaving. My swollen feet and ankles aren't pretty to look at! lol!

Woo it's the Pilot

2011-07-05T03:57:00.000-07:00

Ugh Morning Sickness, I've been feeling on and off iffy for the last week or two, but yesterday just sealed the deal. We're slowly redeveloping our <20 week miseries. Fortunately I was headed for mom's for lunch, and she nursed me back to health with Mountain Dew and crackers, and they made me a special burger. By the afternoon I was back to my happy self! And luckily this morning I'm doing pretty good, reaaaaaaaallly hoping I'm feeling ok Thursday morning.

Ooooh Pretzels! I was being taunted the other day by soft pretzel posts, so I decided to just go and make my own. Yum yum, 'twas a process, but they turned out pretty darn good. Lots of fun crazy stuff with yeast and baking soda baths. We're still enjoying them though :) Clearly it was best fresh, but reheating them in the oven does an ok job!

Yay Campfire! We had a campfire last night, to start burning all the wood that's fallen so far this year (much much wood, we didn't get close to burning it all) Alas the mosquito's were abundant, so it was hard to enjoy. But we got to get our pyro on, and mom showed up and helped to keep us safe ;) Alas, chocolate was forgotten so vegetarian s'mores couldn't be enjoyed :( but there's always a next time!

Oooh Video! I have another one that I tried to edit with clips and credits and such - but I'm having issues so here is the raw pilot!

I think it's pretty fancy.

So Thursday is going to be tough. Gotta wake up early, take care of normal pre-appointment stuff, start eating before 7am... then at 745 chug my sugary flat fanta-y drink. Do that in 5 minutes, then people online recommend rinsing my mouth so I don't then lose it. But I can't eat or drink anything after that. Then we have to be at the clinic by 830 to make sure I get my blood draw at exactly 845. Then my appointment after that... I imagine after that I'll need a nap to recover. As you can see, having morning sickness that morning would seriously screw things up. Then once we're ready to go, hop in the car to drive down to Milwaukee for a Brewers game. Hopefully I survive the trip down! Then crash, visit with Boi's dad, and head back up.

To be quite honest, I'll be happy when the weekend comes. :) Maaaaainly due to the blood draw. How I hate those!

Fluffy Mail!

2011-07-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

I know I just posted last night, but TOO BAD YOU HAVE TO HEAR FROM ME AGAIN!

Got my first fluffy mail today, consisting of a 6 pack of unbleached cotton prefolds, some snappi's and a thirsties duo wrap. Needless to say it took me only a few minutes to put it on, diaper is trifolded, folded down in front and fanned out in the back, snappi'd on, then covered up in cuteness :D

And complete! No leaks out of you Mr. Bear!

He's got a very large butt, I think I need to go through my stuffed animal stash and find a better infant analogous.

Heat Wave!

2011-07-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's Peanut's first day with 97 degrees and heat index in the 100's. I think we handled it well - we spent it hiding out in the bedroom! With the A/C! Well, technically as long as we were in bed we spent the bulk of the pre-boi day napping. So I'm pretty awake right now... which isn't the greatest thing in the world. Boi has one more 6am shift tomorrow... so he's already in bed so the air is out of reach for me.

BUT right now we have the cold front bearing down on us, sporting happy little storms. I think I already hear the wind starting to pick up! *checks radar* it's pretty gosh darn close now, even if we don't get a red cell, I'm going to be pretty gosh darn happy. Hopefully it's blowing colder wind itself, I'll open a window and bask.

In general we just got over two bad days. Well - most of yesterday was just... one of those days. And the night before just kept getting worse. I felt pretty sick by the time Boi got home, a weird sick - I think it was Peanut induced. I think my stomach is changing shape. (RAIN! FASTER THEN I THOUGHT!) It just looks like it pushed down a bit - which would explain the odd pain/pressure I was feeling for awhile. Not like I'm fearful he's dropping or something, just more change.

OOOoooh, there are already little branches rolling down the street, and lightning form far away lighting up the sky. AND the light flickered. Not sure why it did that though, no lightning in the vicinity yet. Just heard the first thunder even.

So today I decided that if nothing else I NEEDED to get out of the house. So fortunately he got home on time (5ish :D) and we tried Pizza Hut, but they only apparently (power went out for a few seconds! woo! yay laptop - yes I unplugged it) they only serve their buffet on Wednesdays :( too bad he was looking forward to stuffing himself and I was looking forward to cheeeeese! So I was like, ok, chinese buffets don't do it for you, so how about mexican or like IHOP? So we did El Mezcal :D Shrimp Chimichanga, and he took my lead and tried the Bean Chimichanga. It may not be the healthiest thing in the world, but it's guaranteed to fill you up AND it's kind of like a mini buffet on the plate, hehe. PLUS AIRCONDITIONING!

So that was good and nummy. And we came home and wow'd for a bit, then the other day a guy on FB linked to a future interesting looking kinda Star Trek movie, and in the related by bit, it had a link to (ooooooooooo fire trucks? but seriously - still no lightning in the proximity that I can tell - weird) (ok, glanced at the radar, there's a giant red cell missing the house by a few miles, looks like the greater city area is getting hit though) what was I talking about? Ahh, anyways, we watched The Captains' Summit, which was good.

I promised some pictures, and today I'm finally going to give 'em up! Here is the closet - it's all fancy and sturdy - got the clothes in there (Peanut will not be nekkid!) and a few other random knickknacks. We're getting it bit by bit done. I figure it's better that way, if I just tried loading it in, I'd be redoing things till I was blue in the face! And that's no good for Peanut ;) (sips water to stay hydrated)

I have a hungry. I just finished off the strawberries in the house... there is more fruit, but I dunno... I could have cheese melted on grilled bread! That would be delicious! Or I could resist... it is 5 minutes till midnight.

Well, for now I'll resist out of hotness and pure laziness.

This picture is really tall, I want to post the next picture

...

OK! So here now we have the pack'n'play, thanks large in part to my sister's gift card! (Also sporting swaddled random teddy bear who was in the crib pic) It'll go next to the bed once he comes, since there's the bassinet insert. Alas first we need to slightly move the bed and furniture to get it to fully fit. So we're BIDING OUR TIME.

I'm tired and hot now, I don't want to type anymore. We're in a storm hole and that makes me sad. Hopefully the next arm will hit us and not disintegrate! I want to run out and play in it!

Oh and Happy 28 weeks Peanut! It's after midnight! Your ability to blink is now activated, and you're forming grooves on your brain. Aww how smart you will be!

We got everything done!

2011-06-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Everything... that was on our list at least :D We went out and ordered a nursing chair, we finished the closet, we made all the calls we wanted to make... mine turned out well, his did not :( Alas, now we're holding on to a thin thread that american airlines is going to cooperate with us. But hey, at least the rest of the day was ok.

So things are moving along, generally speaking, well. Alas it's another night of un-explainable tightening/soreness/pains. It's better when I lay down so I'm just drinking water now and staying down. Not sure if it's related to the SPD or not - I don't think so though. And then I tried to really curl up on the couch, and heartburn flared up. Sighs, I'm back to sitting up but I can still feel it in my back.

Boi should have been home over an hour ago by now, but at least he called to say he'd be late. So I guess maybe I'll see him at 11, if I'm lucky. Sighs - I was going to post pictures but I don't really feel like going to go take them. Maybe I'll post a part two tomorrow. That sounds like a happy medium! Ok, going to go stare at the tv and junk and try to ignore things.

Booo Disappointing Storm!

2011-06-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Boi's Mom! Speaking of mom's, my mom got back yesterday it's good to have everyone back around!

So I was sitting here, giddy with anticipation. I was hearing thunder, A LOT OF THUNDER! I checked out the radar, and a big fat red cell was descending upon my fair city! I went outside, took a deep breath, ahhhh beautiful, wonderful! The rain started! Soon it would be hard and fast and LOUD! But uh. Then the thunder stopped. We're getting poured on, but where's my damn wonderful summer storm? The blasted sun is shining through the downpour for goodness sakes! This isn't what I wanted! Sure, rain, great, I don't have to water now. But... boo. Sighs, and now the rain is tapering, the wind is dying down....

Oh well. I took a weekly belly photo today, just did it myself since I'm horrible at remembering when Boi is home. Apparently I can't smile. So you don't get a smiling picture. But oh well - Peanut continues to grow. Boi is halfway through his shift, then he gets tomorrow off. We have to finish the closet (we got part of the way) and make a bunch of phone calls. But this morning he was super responsible and bought our Brewer game tickets for next week! LOL, assuming the orbitz call goes as planned (sighs, at this point if it doesn't go as planned we don't have a backup plan, gotttttta make that call tomorrow!) that'll suffice as our babymoon. More so for him, sure, but that's ok. He's the one going to work every day after all, he deserves all the pampering I can manage to give him!

- evening -

I should make him a pie... I've been good this week at having a surprise for him when he comes home, I don't have one planned as of yet. I think we've got like a boxed cheesecake thinger sitting around here. That would be tasty.

And there my girls go being adorable - all snuggled up together. They've always got each other, even if we're not home :)

Ugh, I'm so warm - I think my hormones are going out of whack again. But I've relocated up to the bedroom where at least I can flip on the air conditioner and feel a little better. I'd go out on the deck, but there was a lot of wind in the downpour earlier. Meaning wet furniture, even the couch under the overhang. Oh well. Bed's are more comfy anyways ^.^ Oooh, I could read a little while I'm up here - I'm about 3/4 of my way through The Hobbit. I'd read LotR next, but I don't believe we have a copy of the book? Boi, when you read this and if I'm wrong, let me know. Otherwise I have a book on the Romanov's I've been meaning to get into - alas it's a big book (like big, height and length and heft) so not so easy to read... I'll figure something out!

Peanut has been behaving himself today. So I think I'm going to put this down, lay down on my side and get him moving hopefully. That'll make me happy even if I'm suffering through a hot flash! Weee! Have a good evening, hopefully I'll have lots of happy news to report in a few days!

Third Trimester Woot!

2011-06-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Gawdy image time!

Today I'm entering the third trimester! Woot! 2/3 done! Now Peanut just puts on a show to see how big he can get :D He should be topping the charts at around 2lbs, he's in there, opening and closing his eyes, checking out his environment. He seems to be moving around differently, I seem to be getting less kicks. But he still moves around for me when I want him to, so hey. Hard to argue with what he feels/is capable of doing now!

Got some semi-homemade spicy indian dahl soup and homemade bread for dinner tonight. Hopefully Boi is home on time around 9:00! But at least with soup if he's not... well... it's not going to get icky or something :) Oh dear, here's the big question... did I take my vitamin earlier today? ... hmmmm. And if I didn't, do I risk taking it now? It's been a few hours since I last ate.

Yay! Boi came home an hour early and surprised me! And now I have Peanut pressing out on the right side of my stomach. He's moving... our little *face makes a funny face as he hits a nerve or something* wiggler? Boi is now downstairs cutting the closet pieces to size. Then we're going to attempt to attach it. Seeing as the old closet was just nailed in, I'm hopeful it'll go ok, but yeah, not sure what's behind the paneling. Well, we'll see how he feels about attaching it tonight - he didn't sleep much last night due to working far too late.

I've got my wedding ring on my pinkie today, I don't think I've been eating anything especially salty, but I've been eating a lot more then I should - I've just been soooo hungry these last few days. Sighs, oh well, a few days of pigging out, then hopefully the phase will pass. Got my gestational diabetes test to think about in less than two weeks too. Not that I guess I can do anything now to help it. But perhaps the anemia test I can - I'd rather not have to take additional supplements. I have a hard enough time remembering to take the prenatal!

Gotta go stop Kiara from gnawing on the closet pieces!

Woo Hoo Nursery!

2011-06-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

LAST NIGHT SUCKED! OOooooooooooooh pains, I'm not sitting cross-legged on the floor again until October! We had finished painting and I didn't want a repeat of the other night, so I was going to remain in one position to help.... the moment I tried to get up, everything in my mid-region hurt bad! I managed to *fall* onto the bed once, after managing to aim at the giant Pooh sitting on the bed, and moan and groan it away kind of for awhile, put on a smile and went and helped Boi some more. Then after that was done, we relaxed and watch Craig Ferguson, but when we got up for bed, it was back to as bad as it was earlier. I couldn't move my legs more than a few inches to walk, and ended up crawling up the stairs :( Then this time I couldn't get myself into a position to fall into bed, so Boi had to lift my legs up on to the bed for me after me giving it at least 5ish minutes of effort. Sigh.

But today it's a lot better, still not feeling as "normal" as I did yesterday at this time, but at least I can move around. And I have stuff to move around for! The painters tape needs to come down! The crib needs to be oooh'd and ahhh'd at! The whole room needs to be enjoyed! I need to put on my thinking cap for how to complete the room! Still contemplating getting a new dresser too that will work as a changing table. Oh monies. I'm sure you noticed a picture of the room to the right by now, just quickly prepped that corner of the room for a picture! Kairi got in the shot too - really she hasn't left my side in the last couple hours, she's sleeping on my leg now.

Oh wait, you don't care about her quite as much as you care about the picture! So everyone kept telling us to go 'bright' - and while I'm a HUGE fan of color, the 'light and bright' I usually shy away from. But I'm not one to paint in pastels either! And with a concern of mine of the color looking too much like the master bedroom (dark, relaxing, olive green) we decided to just the color that most screamed 'bright limey green!' :D I'm glad I took the jump and just did the whole room in it instead of using it as an accent. And it'll tone down once stuff goes on the walls. just have to buy a nursing glider chair, decide on the dresser debate, and then we'll really know where we stand on wall space.

Teddy got swaddled! Boi was such the champ with the crib too! All the pieces were easy to fit on backwards (and the sides still don't look right to me, but it's the only way everything fits together so I'll get used to it) Which meant of course that we had to go in reverse a few times. But whereas me, while trying to keep a smile on just wanted it to be either done or give up, he never even wavered and when we had to unscrew, he just started doing it all matter-of-fact. Even though it was almost midnight by this time. But now it's done! And pretty! And it's my blog I'll use as many ! as I want! And it's SO MUCH BIGGER THEN I THOUGHT! I've been around plenty of cribs in my day, babysitting and what not, but I so don't remember them being this big! Wider both in width and depth.

I'm going to see if I can't wrap my head around the closet either. I think I know what cuts need to be made, and how it goes together, but I'm also nervous about attaching it to the closet walls. I'm not sure what kind of walls are behind the paneling if it's plaster back there or if it was just paneled right over... might need to wait for Mom and Dad to be home from vacation - Boi works for the rest of the week so he's not going to have a lot of energy to think and figure with me. I've always been the 'just put a nail in the wall and hope it stays up' but I guess I shouldn't be doing that with my son's closet! Kind of afraid we're going to need special screws!

I went out for the mail and felt a good bit better :D So far it seems my careful mixture of not too much relaxation and not too much movement has loosened all those ligaments even further. Or tightened them up since the problem is they're too loose? Whatever, I walked fairly normally to the mailbox :D Time for a Victory Sandwich!

Happy Birthday Sis!

2011-06-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

My sister both had her birthday and flew back home today :):( Boi, Brother and I took her out for lunch, then Boi and I successfully dropped her off at the airport without incident. She should have arrived or be arriving soon, depending on delays. She will be missed :( But we did get to hang out while she was up here, so that was nice. Hopefully she had a good time!

Today has been full of ups and down. It started out baaaaaaaad. I woke up, it was 8 so I figured I'd get up... alas I got up and instantly morning sickness returned. Ugh. So then ended up back down and managed to drift off for a bit, Boi woke me up an hour later, I turned over, and felt the nausea start to creep back up, so I begged him for a piece of bread. So he promptly got it (after I assured him that I wasn't kidding) and about a half hour later it finally went away.

Not sure what brought it on, food helped so it was clearly Peanut's fault... but maybe he had a growth spurt and was demanding more food? Can kicks cause it maybe - he was especially active last night... to the point that if tonight doesn't go better, I may have Boi drag the recliner up to the bedroom for me to sleep on. Peanut's kicks are getting strong, and his cute habit of kicking against where my belly is resting on the bed at night is no longer cute. I don't mind it if he kicks out where the air can absorb it, but not when he kicks against something that isn't going to move :( And up till last night, he wouldn't kick against the right side of my belly, so I just had to flip until he dozed off and then I'd be free to return to my left side... but last night that didn't work, so I propped myself up and willed him to fall asleep, but then when I thought he did and I'd settle back down, WHAMMO!

So I didn't sleep great, I was sick this morning, and on and off queasy all morning. But then this afternoon seemed promising. We got lots done, Boi mowed, I worked on figuring out the carseat and other various things. I was feeling pretty good about it, but I wanted to get some man strength to test the pull tab thinger to make sure it was really as tight as it was going to get. Sure enough, when he got a moment, he came to pull.... and I had gotten it as tight as it would go! Woohoo! Mama is strong enough to safely move/install it!

I got it in via the latch system, and I was then going to test my abilities installing it with the seatbelt... but then I got a sharp pain on my right side. Very sharp, enough to stop me dead in my tracks and grab my belly. It happened a few more times until I got myself against the car to offset my weight, and eventually it seemed to go away. I figured I had just overdid it, and regardless Boi was done mowing, so we went inside to rest for awhile. Boi made some calls with consideration of maybe catching a Brewer game early next month, yay for productivity while relaxing! Eventually we decided it was time to get at painting. We both started to work on getting everything prepped (I had primed the patch job we did on the wall where the plaster had cracked pretty good so I was on paintbrush drying duty) but on my way back up with my self-assigned duty the pain came back :( I got to the recliner, eventually got myself settled with the paint brush and paper towels and set about drying the brush. It took till about the time I got it dry enough for me to be able to shift my weight in the chair w/o aggravating the pain. Sooooo I brought it up, figuring hey it's gone, I'll skip on helping with the painting, but I'll do little things... nope it's back. And now I no longer even need to be moving around, every 10 minutes or so I get a stab of it.

So now we're lounging around, me chugging water, hoping more hydration will help. And actually not - just chatting with Boi in the last 5 minutes I've gotten three. Talking maybe aggravates it? Well I'm going to assume it's round ligament pain, as that's supposed to be one sided stabby pain. I don't know why me not moving at all is causing it though.

...at least Boi managed to finish up the first coat of paint! Can't wait to go look at it! He's AMAZING! Brought me bread, bummed with my family, mowed, made phone calls, and painted! He's such the keeper!

98 more days!

2011-06-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

98 more days - 14 weeks to go! Peanut should be able to start distinguishing mine and Boi's voice from other noises now! He's getting more and more naughty, making me audible more often. Maybe felt hiccups? I felt simultaneous kicking in a couple locations a few times in a row, then there was a break, then it picked up again for a few kicks, then went away again. Makes me think maybe hiccups, I've heard they can be a 'total body experience' for the baby... but what do I know :D I think maybe I just got elbowed too, or something, it wasn't a fast 'kick' and it wasn't like him sticking his butt out at me, it was a jab that lasted a beat or two longer then a normal kick.

SO THAT'S WHAT'S NEW IN MY BELLY! Managed to down my prenatal tonight in only 2 tries (it's big, sometimes I choke on it) and it didn't make me sick to boot, even though it had been awhile since I'd eaten. Yahoo! I'm making Boi cookies tonight. He (better) be coming home at midnight tonight, then goes into work at 8 tomorrow morning, so hopefully a few cookies will make it easier. But then he has Monday and Tuesday off! I think tomorrow will be calm and quiet though. Mom and Dad are leaving on a trip, Kira will still be around, but as far as I know she has other plans. So it's just me and the girls till (hopefully) 7.

Hoping to get the room painted this next week. Realizing though that... my plans for a changing station are going to fall through. I freaked out a little bit (yay hormones) suddenly wondering if all my plans were going to fall through. I calmed myself down, reminding myself that I don't NEED changing table or a permanent spot to put a changing pad. Lot's of people say they have one and they just use floor anyways. Or the couch, or a bed, etc etc, I know, lot's of available surfaces. So if I need to fix it later, there will be time, even if Peanut is here already. Just hope my pain goes away very quickly after delivery - not sure if I'd be able to pick him up off the floor!

But also next week, gonna make sure we get a run through with the car-seat. Boi had too many closing shifts this week (meaning he's even later then with a normal shift because he's the only one left, so longer days) to really ask him to do anything. I hate his closing shifts. Hate. Too bad he says he prefers them ( prefers to be gone longer???). I know it's not that, but that's what it seems like when he's still not home at 3 in the morning. But we have a car-seat, totally awesome, gotta focus on that! Gotta make sure we can install it properly! Gotta finish up the nursery so the crib can go up! Awesome!

Ooh the buzzer went off on the cookies! Hope they're tasty! But who am I kidding, even if they tasted weird, Boi would still eat them :)

Feeling Normal So Far!

2011-06-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I just felt off. Nothing horribly specific, I was tired and could fall asleep on a dime, but I wasn't dragging. My stomach wasn't happy but wasn't being threatening. My head was fuzzy but no pain. Just nothing was working quite right I guess. So far today I'm not feeling any of that, so yay! But even while I was relaxing, trying to ignore it, or just giving in and napping, Mom and my sister finished up taking off the wallpaper in the nursery. 3 days of hard work for them! Boi was very tired last night, and well, me, so we didn't get around to sanding down the rest of the gluey walls or start priming. Then we paint, demolish and redo the closet, get the carpets super clean, and start filling in the furniture!

100 days to go! Woohoo! last day in triple digits!

-Cut to Evening-

Mom surprised me with a visit to prime the walls! Fortunately I had just finished up sanding, so we wiped everything down, I taped up the trim and let her have at it :D so now, the room is primed! Ooooh good feeling! Too bad we didn't take a wallpaper stripped picture, not a pretty site. So major progress, then I had to take Mom home since Kira came along to steal the car, so I got a free dinner to boot!

I'm pretty sure Peanut was trying to cause problems the other night - I felt a ton of pressure on either side of my belly so I'm pretty sure he got himself sideways. So I pushed myself back out of bed and waddled around, hoping he would move, gave up and flopped down on the couch. Watched out the window until Boi came home from work. But then we went to bed and I was out fairly quickly at least.

But now we're off to celebrate Captain Picard Day! Too bad we don't have any Earl Grey Tea... yum yum. Maybe we could go out and get some... Ah I don't know, but I'm off to figure it out. I'm too flighty to write today anyways!

Weekend Over!

2011-06-14T02:38:00.000-07:00

25 week old Peanut and I celebrated by going to bed around 9 last night and sleeping till 8. Sleep pattern is messed up, but oh well! From BabyCenter - Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight � a pound and a half � isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. He's also growing more hair � and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

The Shower! Jed wore a bow and a bandanna! I've got pictures from my wonderful Aunt M, who orchestrated my mom's siblings to get Peanut his crib, yay! but still waiting for the pictures from T and my folks :P It was a good time, K and Mom organized it with awesomeness, as I presumed they would, as they are awesome, my sister pitched in, people seemed to be having a good time despite the weather. Peanut got tons of sweet loot, a car seat from Boi's Mom and Grandma - sweeet, and tons of all the smaller stuff that would likely have driven me to the loony bin trying to shop for myself (being the anti-shopper that I am) from clothes, to toys, baths, diapers, moby wrap, booster seat, blankets, accessories, etc etc etc. Even the kittens came out ahead thanks to my friend I! And when the two little ones A and O started running around and playing, things just got all the cuter! Thanks everyone! Plus just about everyone who wanted to (and I think in a few cases didn't want to) got the chance to touch my belly, thanks to the photographers. I steeled myself and survived!

Kind of getting an idea of what Peanut will go home in. End of September.... could be a balmy day, could be a cold day - so right now I'm lingering on these two. A cute Pooh sweatsuit outfit we got from K, or just simply one of the authentic Brewer onesies I got for Boi for our anniversary. Suppose I also need to pick out some outfits for him to get photographed in at the hospital... and these are 0-3 so maybe a newborn outfit if he comes early or super small. Just to have one in mind since if he does - well I likely won't know what to tell Boi to run home and get if I don't have an idea! But I figure at least to count on the 0-3, should cover most of my bases.

So the nursery right now is being a PITA. A pain. My sister and Mom spent a good chunk of yesterday working on taking down just one wall of wallpaper, then Boi spent hours last night trying to finish up the wall (while I crashed for 11 hours). There's still the border... it's not going anywhere very quickly. But the bed is now out, it's a long day's hard work closer to being done. Someday soon the walls will be green, the closet will be redone, the furniture will be in, and I can go, hmmm what spaces do we now have to decorate. I've got a lot of art from my days as a Pooh nut which should come in handy, and we were thinking about maybe getting a nice big wall sticker, room providing. But that's all I'll reveal right now.

Went to PT yesterday and got fitted for a maternity belt. Then as we were talking about the pain, and not just what my OB prescribed, she attempted to also tape up my leg to my hip. They both yesterday, alas, didn't seem to do a whole lot, and when Peanut started rolling yesterday, I quickly took off the belt, him pressing out and it pressing in? Not a good thing! Maybe if my belly was bigger it would do a better job of just holding it up, but it covers up a good percentage of it at this point. But it also comes with a handy dandy insert that can get heated up for my back, that also could easily come to love. We'll give it all the ol' trial.

Ok... I've barely been up this morning and I'm already crying for a nap. It was like non-stop this long weekend though, so hey. I'll nap if Peanut wants me to!

Big Weekend!

2011-06-09T06:53:00.000-07:00

Busy busy busy, I'm so busy! And I feel like nothing's getting done! And then to make it worse, my computer came down with a deadly contagion! It's tentatively better, but dude, that hasn't happened to me in like, 5+ years. I'm usually such a super safe surfer. So many stumbles yesterday!

K left me forever yesterday, moved 3 hours away to hopefully find further happiness and a job with her b/f. I guess I can't completely fault for that, and it was really only dumb luck that she originally found a job back here in Wausau after college. But still *pouts* And I guess I will still see her again in two days :D and for D&I's wedding :D and whenever I go to visit her :D

Peanut is just vibrating today, constantly feeling him all morning. *tap tap tap tap tap* *pause* *tap tap tap tap tap* :D I may have been able to snooze a bit longer this morning, alas, he was keeping me up. I snoozed too long anyways, well I suppose nothing is too long for Peanut, but much longer than poor Boi got to. But in 3 (I've been ticking this down as slowly writing this today - fun!) hours he's done with work till Tuesday! YAHOO! Not that we'll have a lot of time to enjoy his mini-vacation, but he can at least help keep me sane!

Weather is AMAZING now. Got the windows open, not feeling all icky and sweaty, even have a blanket on over me. I was already outside for awhile today. Impressive, I haven't been much of an early bird or a night owl since getting pregnant, so getting me to do anything after waking up is usually impossible. Though I'll have to get up early tomorrow for the doctor. But I can shower and stuff at least tonight. It's good only being 5-10 minutes away! I'll be coming home with my gestational diabetes drink though *gulp* I'm ready for that appointment to be over.

The giant family reunion thinger starts tomorrow! Good thing my fish consumption allows me to have another portion tomorrow, as she wants a fish fry! I can't wait to going back to eating as much seafood as I want! That's prolly what I miss the most about not being pregnant, I could really go for a coconut shrimp feast or a giant rich bowl of lobster bisque right now!

Baby Head!

2011-06-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

Peanut spent a lot of time these last few days I believe breached, happily startling me off an on kicking downwards. I was fairly sure there was no benefit to this at all (aside from getting me to make some funny noises), but then Saturday night, while we were happily watching the first Star Trek movie, when I was feeling rather uncomfortable, so reached down to put my hand on my belly which usually makes Peanut calm down... and realized I was feeling a hard lump. Quite possibly his head! So I grabbed Boi's hand and was like 'feeeeeeeel c'mon feeeeeeeeeeel' and he had no idea what I was talking about and I wasn't making any sense but I was afraid Peanut would pull away if we lingered too long, so I was like, 'left side hard, right side squishie, feeeel?!' He finally figured it out and agreed with my interpretation :D

Still suffering from some serious bump envy, but I can make myself feel a little better by standing up and looking down. It's pushed out just fine, just not very round, but this angle disguises the fact. I thought boys were supposed to give you the traditional looking bump *pout* I know I know, I still have 16 weeks to go. But I don't want my belly to be a disappointment at the shower. *mentally urges it*

My belly is disguising that, in actuality, I have about 40 mosquito bites on my feet and legs. Two on the bottom of my right foot, bleh. They like me, they really like me! Oh well, it finally rained this morning, hoping to get s'more this afternoon. Just completely wash out the allergens outside, wash all my sheets, etc etc. Haven't felt too bad today yet, drug free, yeah baby!

I think it's time for a turkey burger! Whole wheat bun, Sriracha, spinach, roasted red peppers, onions, healthy appointment coming up on Friday! Woohoo! Pan is heating up, apparently this has disturbed Kiara and she has gone and skulked away. She's impossible to please.

Exhausted myself yesterday, we were in productivity mode, but discovered the need to put my feet up often. Alas, I am useless. Well, mostly, work, rest, work, rest. Then we noticed the sun was setting, and we went for a walk against my better judgement. Oh well, I enjoyed the company :) I think I'll go finish my burger and take my nap.

Welcome To 24 Weeks!

2011-06-04T04:58:00.000-07:00

Way to go Peanut! You're growing up big and strong! I've even seen *slight* movements externally! Plus Momma is feeling better, we finally thought of breathe right strips, which improved my breathing tremendously. And the pollen levels are going down even without rain, my eyes/nose/throat all feel tingly/etc, but nothing debilitating. Yaaay!

Mmmm corn on the cob. Peanut general size food item this week looks delicious! Is it corn on the cob season yet? No? Damnit. There goooooooooes Peanut actually, doing something on the right side of my belly. Yesterday he was using my southern region as a trampoline, pain down there, then pain up by my ribs, back and forth. Just getting in his exercise at Momma's expense. Yay for him getting big enough to feel more!

Should be a busy week, it'll be another 4 day week for Boi, so he should have a little more energy to help out. There are a bunch of things that I want to do, but I shouldn't *pout* Boi did some work downstairs, I was really very impressed, but I went down there last night, hours after he finished, and even though it looked ok, it still irritated my throat *sigh* so I really should stay away. Don't want to inhale any particles that might harm Peanut. The windows are open though, so... I guess it'll just have to be a gut decision on when it's safe again and when it's not. If I could find our mask, I could at least head down there and work on cleaning up a lot of the surfaces. I'm also kind of on the edge about painting, we only have zero-voc paint and primer, so it ought to be safe. But there are so many other things to do, I might as well leave that stuff to the non-pregnant people anyways. Also the people who aren't sick, lol. But maybe nesting is settling in a bit? Hard to say, I could just be excited to do *anything* besides sit in a position that doesn't obstruct my breathing!

Eh... yeah... there are other things to do, gotta get back to working now that I no longer feel near death. And the house needs to get cleaned, kinda got it started a bit yesterday, but it's still a wreck from my bad week. My brother is stopping by this afternoon with the original Star Trek movies, Boi has been anxious to watch at least the Wrath of Khan for weeks now. And I'll sheepishly admit to never seeing them. I always was a TNG girl. Boi jokes that Patrick Stewart is the real baby daddy since I love to wear my Jean Luc Picard top (thanks bro!)

I've decided I need to come up with some pregnant woman rules. Boi's doing a good job, but hey, it's fun :

Remember, I'll be just as sweet and loving to you the next time you're pregnant.

Clean the bathroom for me, I can't stand any chemical smells

Kill any bugs you see, otherwise I'll see them later, they'll be on the ceiling, and I'll feel the need to somehow get to it to kill it.

Even if you don't really care about my crazy planning, pretend to listen. I get enough indifference from the cats.

Don't ask me why I'm crying or ask me to stop. I've already asked myself these things, I don't know, I just need a hug.

Yes, I can always use a hand getting up. It just hurts less.

I'll let you know if I DON'T want a foot or a back rub. You can assume I can use one at any other given time.

Don't eat what I'm craving unless I offer you a taste. Trust me, I NEED all of it.

If what I'm craving requires you/us to go out, get something too. Don't make me feel fat and wasteful!

Don't make jokes when I stop working before you. I don't want to get out of breath or get a nosebleed, and plus remember I do stuff around the house all day that you likely won't notice anyways!

10 rules are good. Got any of your own?

More Allergies

2011-06-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

I've been trying and trying, knowing no meds is always best, but I've given up today after waking up at 5am coughing until I threw up :( So Boi is out now getting Benadryl and cough drops for me. Hopefully it clears it up AND it rains and washes it all away. So this shall be a two part post.

Sooo we gave it a shot, it cleared my head and made me drowsy at the same time. Not a whole lot more... at least not for sure with my airways, they still closed up on me. Too late to call aside for an emergency situation though, so we'll see how I do tonight.

Boi has finally felt Peanut! His hands are too rough, or something, but today he put his ear up against my belly and a few seconds later Peanut gave his ear a kick :D He kind of gave a giggle and went back for more and got another little kick. Super exciting! Now he has an idea of what I mean when I say it's weird ;) Well, the rolling around is more weird than the kicking, but hey.

Boi has off today and tomorrow, he's been a good sport today, and he got to play WoW on my PC (which is a far different and better experience than his laptop). I'm very lucky to have him, I would have been very lost this week without his help.

I haven't watered anything this week... that can't be good... hopefully I'm not killing everything Mom!

Allergies

2011-05-31T04:20:00.000-07:00

It's like the plaaaaauge. Anyone want to drive me back to southern half of the state? Breathing through my nose keeps my gag reflux in check. That's out, so now most everything seems to be triggering it. And I just got a Braxton Hix, yaaaaay. Last year they didn't last long... So I don't want to give into taking something unless it does start to stretch out.

I've managed to consume about an 1/2 of a PBJ sammich so far today. No desire to eat. So I figure nibbling is the way to go. Tried a shower, didn't seem to make a huge difference. Sigh.

Yesterday was a pretty good day, I had a feeling they were starting to kick in, but then going to an area where the allergens weren't, well, that was pretty rad. Visited Boi's family, Peanut went absolutely bonkers after eating a sugary dessert, beat up on some of my organs I think. But ah well, some Tums helps that.

Ugh, I seem to be so negative lately. Maybe we'll just call this post short, call Boi up here, and curl up with him and my kleenex box until he leaves. Then take a nap. Mmm. Nap.

Snug as a Bug

2011-05-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

The both of us are today, Peanut and I. He's having another quiet day in the womb, though I wonder if when I suddenly feel tender somewhere, like around where my stomach ought to be now, if that means he's kicking it. I suppose I'll start feeling it sometime as well. And I am now in a sweater and under a blanket on the couch. I thought pregnant woman were supposed to be warm, oh well. And now the girls have joined me one giant warm pile! They turned 4 on Friday :D They each got a can of wet food, and didn't ask for food again for 10 hours :) Guess it filled them up good!

Yesterday I felt pretty good throughout the day, then this morning I woke up and was really feeling the pain again, and I was a bit queasy :( Then I went and picked up one of the girls and my back started to ache. Bleeeeeeeeh. At least the latter two went away. Until tonight. Vitamins for the bleeeh!

23 week birthday! He's developing tiny little lung sack-a-cles (super scientific I am)! The last step he needs to be able to make it outside of me! Sure he wouldn't be able to take a breath on his own, but that's why we have hospitals, and I'll happily take this step regardless! And he's the size of a mango! Approximately. Maybe smaller. Whatever, he can take his time growing.

Meeeeh I don't want to do anything tonight. I should clean the house, my new power supply is finally arriving tomorrow. And work is filled with gaps where my it's hard to get anything to work while it's processing.

Today! This may look like (well, like nothing to some of you) just another face picture, but to the astute eye, something odd might be in the picture. A strange black hole inside of Peanut's abdomen. Why, it's his stomach! Where all the yummy amniotic fluid goes! Today it's bound to taste like corn and chorizo :)

Ok sure, a black spot isn't all that interesting, but it's neat to see! the little black bits above it are his heart, that's all we were really able to notice, if there were more, the tech didn't call them out. But we did get stomach upon her asking us what we thought we were seeing. Or at least I did, not sure if Boi spoke up ;) I was definitely a bit more talkative during the whole process.

AAAAAh! I'm being consumed by a giant cat! If you don't hear from me again, I've been loved to death!

Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction?

2011-05-25T06:29:00.000-07:00

One of the ladies on my board brought this up, something I haven't heard of before, but sounding a lot more like what I've been suffering through the last few weeks than round ligament pain. From what they're saying their experiencing and from what I'm reading, they all call out some of things that make it hurt the worst: walking, getting in and out of the car, climbing stairs, turning over in bed or getting up from a seated position or laying down. Last night I curled up with a cat on the couch in an awkward position (I'm not known for thinking before acting!), and then found I couldn't get my arms under me to move myself (the best way for me to get to a sitting or standing position) and I couldn't move my legs without a lot of pain to get up, and had to call Boi over to help lift me up. Sighs.

Alas, it's not something that's likely to go away, at least until after birth. In fact it's likely to only get worse. There are a couple exercises to help strengthen the area to lessen the pain and wearing a girdle might help >< great, a girdle?

SO I called the nurses, we talked it over, and she agreed with me that it sounded like that what was going on. She said the only thing they can really do from their end is to refer me to Physical Therapy. I told her I wanted to think it all over, talk to Boi, and I would definitely decide before my next appointment.

I knew growing a baby wasn't going to be easy, but I was really hoping to have as 'normal' of a pregnancy as possible. Oh, I also asked her the nagging question about Peanut's size on the radiology report. She confirmed that Peanut is measuring a week behind, but that my doctor chose not to update my official due date. Now I'm not sure if I can think, yay Peanut is -17.5 weeks and weighs a pound! When I know that, unless he had a growth spurt shortly after the ultrasound, and that's why he was behind, he won't get there for another week in reality.

Yeah. That's all.

Lack'O'Sleep

2011-05-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

I guess I've always had this cycle of every other month or so my brain just goes, heck no! You're not gonna sleep! It seems that even pregnancy can't completely silence it. And then when Peanut drops down, well. Sleep is nonexistent. Not only am I not tired, but I can't stop thinking about getting out of bed to pee. Who cares if it's 3, 4 am? Not my body! Then of course, when I do finally fall asleep and wake up a few hours later, I'm wide awake and I feel kind of crappy. I can't argue with my body, it knows Peanut needs his momma to be better rested. But my brain is awake again - I just gotta trudge through the day. It's been about 4 nights now? Fortunately it never lasts forever, but then I switch to crashing. Fall asleep at 8pm, take naps, generally just never wake up for several days. Until I eventually hit equilibrium and it evens out.

I hear there might be father's chip dip at the baby shower. I'm enticed :) K, you may change my RSVP from 'maybe' to 'yes!' (haaaaaay calm down, I was always going to come...) It takes very little to get me excited, but now all I can think of is chip dip. I just snacked on a peach... but it's not quite the same. At all. For one thing, it's orange, chip dip is pink. Also, you need chips to properly enjoy chip dip, but not so much for peaches. Also peaches like to drip their juices down my hand, while chip dip stays congealed. Oh, and I have peaches, I don't have chip dip. I think that's the main difference.

You didn't really want me to start on a stream of consciencness rant, did you? Sorry!

Still having the pains from the u/s, generally speaking. Not as bad as that first week... and if I do take Tylenol (If I know I'm going to be doing stuff) it does help. Still rather miserable/annoying though at times. But at least for the most part I can get up, limp around for awhile, and then do better. I never did call back since the Tylenol is 'making it better.' And I lack any symptoms that would indicate more of a problem. Although I got a bit concerned yesterday when Peanut was suuuper quiet, even if I would eat. Today he's back to normal though! I've forgotten what it was like before getting nudged off and on all day.

Speaking of baby kicks, Peanut STILL won't kick with a hand on my belly. He can be as active as can be, but as soon as the hand appears, he stops. I guess it's a good way to quiet him up so I can sleep (if I could sleep).

FACE! From left to right, body, chin, lips, nose forehead! Nose looks a little stubby... but maybe that's a good thing, maybe he'll have a recessive smallish nose. Or maybe that's just how the image came back ;) Aw what a cute little face! The little hunk is hovering right around a pound now... that's how much the kittens weighed when I first got them about a pound each. Aww and what cuties they were! Tiny little lightweight bits of fur. Hopefully Peanut has a little less fur than them though. I mean, he's got to keep his skin protected from getting pickled, but I don't think that means he has to be like a kitten in there.

Boi hopefully has left work by now. Let's call! OMG SO MUCH FUN LIVE BLOGGING WHILE CALLING! *mutes TV* *calls* oh poo. Voicemail. 9 times out of 10 that means he's still busy at work, and hasn't bothered to turn it back on yet. Good thing I'm not tired or anything. Sleepy during the day, but certainly not at night. I also left my glass of water out of reach. Ok, this is officially the new End of the World.

Oh, and the belly? Still slanted left. Yup.

Oh, and here is my baby board pregnancy ticker. Maybe I'll just add it in to the posts at the bottom?

Finally a nice warm day!

2011-05-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

Baby clothes, looks like Peanut will be warm this winter! Alas, I ran out of hangers quickly, so I packed all my plain onesies and clothes 9mo and greater to the dresser for now. Looks like one of the drawers is broken on that too, but I think it can be easily fixed. If not by Boi, then by Dad. But I really need better storage, a closet organizer, then I can get more creative for his socks and shoes and etc etc etc. Plus it would be nice to have clothes at his level so he can dress himself one day!

Right now things are just laying all around the room, waiting for me to get the room closer to completion. But mom said she'd come over sometime soon on a cloudy/dreary day to at least give the room a start. Also to discuss paint colors. Not sure when we should dismantle the daybed in there. ALL THESE THINGS! At least I have washed clothing - it's the little things. I've got something done, something ready to go. If Peanut came today (and by today, I really mean if my house was transported at least 14 weeks in the future) I could put him in an outfit. I wouldn't be able to take him home, lack'o'carseat, but I could put him in an outfit, damnit!

Ugh, I'm so tired this afternoon, but I woke up after like... 6-7ish hours of sleep and was awake, so I got up. Though at this time it may not be the wisest to nap. I was going to go work out in the garden once the shade from the house came in, but now I'm not so sure I've got the energy for that. And my work connection seems.... unbearably slow. Yesterday was slow too, slow and unproductive, I'm sensing conspiracy here...

So apparently the world is ending tomorrow. Nobody consulted with me, so I think I'll just sit this one out. I'm not getting halfway through my pregnancy just to have it fall apart. They spent over a million dollars on just billboards? Sheesh, they could have built a kick-ass school with that money, or something... productive. And what's the point? Irritating.

Hrm... my stomach seems slanted to the left. Does it usually stretch one way more than the other, perhaps if he's hanging out more so on one side? I could also be hallucinating, but I just adjusted and it's still more to the left. Also, sadly, still getting belly button pains, but no signs if it evening out with the rest of my distended abdomen.

Baby Picture Time! Here are Peanut's legs, crossed (at I believe the ankle) for your enjoyment. I guess we were lucky we got the boy shot before he went and crossed his legs! Though he was wiggling around, so I'm sure we would have gotten more :) The tech said he was moving more than I noticed, I think partially because she would see him move, and move the wand to adjust, so it would be harder to notice, instead of holding it still. Oh well, I'll get to see him wiggle plenty in 18 weeks :) Hey, we should be around the 5 month marker! Woohoo! That is as long as my due date is still the same... I never did call to confirm that *sigh*

Great... another bloody nose... thanks Peanut...

Laundry Now Makes Me Giggle

2011-05-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

So lo and behold, multiple doses of Tylenol helped. I'm still not convinced it was just round ligament pain, I'm betting I got bruised or something that intensified it, but I'm doing a lot better now, even when the Tylenol wears off. I'm still getting them, but not feeling it constantly, they spike then go away - I can deal with that at least. I was going to try not taking any this afternoon, but then I developed a headache. So a better opportunity will show itself :)

So I was going through the laundry basket, containing mainly Boi and Peanut's clothes. Pull out one of Boi shirts, sigh, fold, pile. Pull out a baby sock! Grin, look for its pair, and display! Great, a Boi sock, pop it out so the heel is down and not to the side like he likes, pile. Oooh onesie! What's the size? Wonder if Peanut will really fit in it in that size range. Start giggling uncontrollably imagining that in a matter of weeks I'll have a squirmy little boy to dress. Display. Rinse and repeat :D

Alas, the girls insisted on helping with the laundry. And by helping, Kairi decided to lay on the first thing I folded. So I finished around her, took an armful or two to put away, and when I came back Kiara had joined her. So for your viewing pleasure, Peanut's big sisters. They turn 4 in about a week :D The same day the family dog turns 11, and an uncle of mine with a promised power supply ages as well. It's just a day full of fun, just got to be sure not to confuse the gifts :)

I'd go and attach another ultrasound pic, but... well, Boi took the disc out of the laptop. Go ahead and call me lazy, but I just had a bout of activity, and I'm still attempting to take it easy :P I had only moved off the ones I attached, since I was stripping out the personal information at the top of the pics.

BUT in exciting news, I felt Peanut up high, yesterday and today. I think I felt him rolling around, or perhaps emulating his sister's kneading instincts by bicycling his feet or something. It felt new and weird, so that's the best I can do to describe it! I'm happy he's decided to utilize all the space I'm providing him, he really doesn't need to start hanging out by my bladder until closer to his due date ;)

...sudden desire for mexican. Thank you TV! I'll either have to go out for that or start making tortillas from scratch! Not hard, but it's work none the less :(