A Quick Review

Let's just do a quick review of things not to say to a pregnant woman especially close to her due date.

1. "Are you still pregnant?" (or variations of, ie "No baby?")

Let's think about this people. A woman in her ninth month of pregnancy walks into a room. It should be fairly obvious that a birth has not taken place.

2. "Somebody's ready to pop." (or any variation of the size of the pregnant woman)

I don't find offense in this myself although I can completely understand how one would.

3. "You know it's going to hurt, right?"

What birth, or my fist in your face? I'm confused. In fact, if you feel compelled to start any sentence with "You know..." and you haven't given birth yourself, you should probably keep your mouth shut.

4. Do not use words or terms such as "waddle" or "prego" or anything that implies the mother is looking or acting abnormally.

5. Do not refer to your pregnant wife as a whale when she swims and then go on to make 'blow hole sounds'.

6. Do not complain about how *you* feel uncomfortable or confined.


Just something to keep in mind...

Still here

I'm still here, life has just been taking over that's all.

Part of the reason I've been MIA is that for a good chunk of the last 48 hours I either had a migraine or I was recovering from one. Today though I feel great. In fact I've often thought about it and I seem to feel really good right after a migraine, almost as if you don't know how much pain they actually are until you are done with one.

Mr. Sloth, who is just about done dealing with the needs of his wife, was wonderful though. He massaged me and brought me ice when I asked and arranged to have his mom watch Helen during part of the day so I could recover, because keep in mind a migraine is bad enough, but a migraine while 9 months pregnant is beyond misery. Not only is there only one way to get even a little sleep while *this* pregnant I can't take any medication that would help and I can't load up on caffeine that would usually help. I just have to hope that the one position I CAN sleep in is capable of causing unconsciousness.

It actually felt like a practice round for when baby comes. I got to practice all of my techniques to deal with pain and just like with child birth the pain doesn't go away you just find a way to deal with it...or pass out. I dealt with it as long as possible before waking Mr. Sloth for help and when he couldn't help anymore I took a bath in the dark. It was during this dark bath that I realized this is what it might be like when baby comes. Demand's room is right next to the bathroom and she sleeps with the door open so I didn't want to wake her with light from the bathroom. Afterwards, I moved downstairs, so that my whimpering wouldn't wake Mr. Sloth and so I could in all honesty sleep with the living room door open. For a while I imagined Mr. Sloth finding me outside frozen with my head in the snow in an attempt to deal with the pain, but it was too painful to actually move that far.

Since I would most definitely choose birthing a child to having a migraine, I should be good to go then. Remember; childbirth is a part of nature, migraines are not.

Anyway, I'm better now and my head did not explode.

Demand and I had a packed day. We ran errands all morning; groceries, Target, and tied up some loose ends at Church. (Baptism arrangements, tithing, CCD...) Then it was time for a late lunch. I let Demand stay up a little later before nap time since we had a late lunch. At first I thought it may have been a bad idea but once I started reading her "new" library books in a slow monotone voice she nearly fell asleep in her chair.

As always I told myself I would just nap for a half an hour. Then I begged Jesus for 10 more minutes. Then I promised Jesus I would seriously get up after just 10 MORE minutes. Then I decided I was pregnant and needed the rest.

After an hour and a half nap I was hungry and needed to get up and gorge myself on food I didn't want Demand to see. I ended up getting a lot more than eating done. Demand didn't wake up until 5:30pm when we woke her up (and she wasn't happy about it). She's had a cold for a few days so I think she was sleeping it off.

We had pizza and salad for dinner. I also snuck veggies into the pizza sauce (red pepper, spinach, and sweet potato so I feel it was a decently healthy meal. In the middle of dinner Demand shouted "CAKE!!" remembering that I promised she could help me make cupcakes when she got up from her nap.(At the time of course, thinking it would be at 3pm not 6pm) So after dinner Mr. Sloth headed to the gym and Demand and I had a full evening. We made and decorated cupcakes. I steam cleaned the living room carpet (although it hardly feels clean) I swept up most of the round candy sprinkles that she poured everywhere, I cleaned up a 'potty accident', did the dishes and picked up the playroom and her bedroom all before Mr. Sloth came home from the gym. I think I may have burned more calories than he did, but I did eat a cupcake.

Mr. Sloth is just putting Demand down for the night (9:30pm) but at least the house is clean and I'm not as exhausted as I would expect.


I'm going to have the baby tonight, aren't I???

Um, what?

Today was Bible Study day. Last night Demand seemed to be coming down with a cold, of course, right after we told her she had Bible Study in the morning. She slept through the night though and I was first one awake at 7:30am. I worked on my Bible Study (What did you think I did it ahead of time?) until Demand woke up. The first words out her mouth this morning were "Bible Study!!" Good thing she didn't seem to sick.

While everyone worked on breakfast I finished my Bible Study. Then we spent the rest of the morning getting ready to go. When we got to the Church we headed to the younger children's room first. It was then that I was asked to stay for the whole time because the teacher needed help.

Ugh. There went Bible Study. No group prayer, no small group, no video lecture. I spent the whole morning with 10, 2-3 year olds. I know how selfish I was about it. Every mom has to take a turn, I just never wanted it to be my turn. It had to happen sometime. My first assignment was to take a 3 year old boy to the bathroom.

"Um, what?"

Yeah, I know nothing about boys. And before you say anything I understand that there might be one growing inside of me right now, but I keep praying it's a girl. So my initial response was, "Does he know what he's doing?". Luckily he did, because I would be no help. I don't know what happened in there, I just made sure he washed his hands.

The first hour of class Demand kept coming up to me randomly saying, "Bye Momma!". Sorry kid, I'm here all day. The kids were great though, much quieter than I would imagine 2-3 year olds to be. My only problem was the only problem I've been having everyday. I'm at the end of my pregnancy.I didn't wear standing up shoes so my feet were killing me, all me feels swollen, and baby needs to make it self known in painful ways just about constantly.


We survived though. It was time to head home, Demand was more than ready to leave. We had lunch and then Demand headed down for a nap. I took a bit of nap myself before getting ready for my, now weekly, doctors appointment. Mr. Sloth stayed home so Demand could sleep, but of course the garage door opening right below her room woke her up as I left.

Everything still looks good. I gained four pounds this week so I'm playing a new game called "Where did it go?". (I have some ideas.) Doctor and I decided that any unpleasurable symptoms I may be having are just the glories of late pregnancy and nothing to be concerned about. I've had a few people comment that I've dropped. My chiropractor was one of them. After discovering that my hips were way off she definitely thought baby was arranging a few things in preparation for making an exit. The hip issue makes sense anyway because the one remotely comfortable way for me to sleep is on my right side and I usually wake up every half hour in sheer pain needing to flip over only to remember that baby doesn't like it when I sleep on my left and if I try I'll get a foot between the ribs. So I flip back to my right side only to remember a half an hour later that it hurts on that side. Repeat cycle till sunrise or until Demand wakes up.

Oh, to sleep on my back again! But for now I should expect baby to stay put for at least another week. I do have to mention though that Demand is apparently understanding more and more of this baby business. She insists on seeing *her* baby at least 10-20 times a day. She'll then hug, kiss and talk to my belly. She wanted baby to bounce on the big ball with her. She then said something really mature. She said, "Baby come out of you?". Then again she does insist that my belly button is actually baby's nose. Right before she went to bed Demand was watching the slow process of me re-threading the cover onto the baby's carseat. We discussed how the carseat was for the baby. Demand then spoke of the swing that goes with the carseat and Demanded the baby get in the swing. Not happening kid, but at least she's getting excited for baby to come out.

We all are.

A Guessing Game

I have "a friend" who is due with her baby almost any day and her blog has inspired me to start a guessing game of my own.

So tell me what you think.

Boy/Girl?
Date?
Time?
Weight?
Length?

A little FYI is that as of last Thursday baby has shown some progress (I won't share the details for those who are squeamish, but feel free to email me if you'd like to know) and I continue to have contractions and such daily. Remember though, all this could mean nothing. I've also had girl dreams which I had with Demand even though we thought she was a boy.

Also, here's a pic from a week or two ago just in case you need a visual.

Demand

A quick bit about Demand.

We've recently decided that Demand is a borderline savant when it comes to doing puzzles. We knew she was good, but now she's getting freakish. She can do a puzzle meant for a 6 year old, including a United States puzzle in which she knows not only a good number of the states but where they go as well. By the way, these aren't cut out puzzles, we're talking 48 piece jigsaw floor puzzles.

We've decided to fully support this crazy ability of hers and invest in more puzzles in order to exploit her later for cash.

While I'm on the topic of Demand I shall lend you a funny quote from just a few minutes ago. While semi-watching the Inauguration, Demand noticed the reflecting pool in front of the Washington Monument.

She said, "River?"

I said, "No, that's the Reflecting pool."

D: "Reflecting pool?"

Me: "Yes, the Reflecting Pool is in Washington D.C. Did you know that Daddy used to live there?"

D: pause "I get my swim suit."

Busy Weekend

Today was a big day. I had promised Demand that she could wear big girl underwear when she got up from her nap since she's been doing so well in the potty department. Well her nap went long, really long, she slept until 4:15pm. I thought I heard her stirring so I went up stairs and looked in the doorway to see my sleepy toddler sitting on the potty in her room. Starring into space with her hair all frazzled. Yes I think she's getting the hang of it.

Anyway, she jumped up and asked for her big girl underwear. Ugh, I thought, I had to go to the store, but I promised she could wear the underwear. So I decided to do the unthinkable. I let her wear the underwear to Target. She did great. She peed twice before leaving and once as soon as we got in the store. Of course once she finished her sucker (her reward) she claimed that she had to go again, but I wasn't about to park a cart full of paid for groceries to take her to the bathroom. Shortly after we got home she went in the bathroom on her own and went again. This has been slightly easier than I thought it would, once she got the hang of it of course.

Our weekend was busy. Friday and Saturday I collected food for my big freezer cooking session. Saturday morning I finished my shopping in the morning and started cooking right away. Mr. Sloth was taking the afternoon off to brew beer so our morning was flexible. I got 3/4ths of the meals cooked in a brief amount of time. Then it was time for Demand to nap and for Mr. Sloth to leave.

Demand, using her "toddler sense" slept late and I had to wake her up to head to a 2yr. old birthday bash. I made sure everything else was ready to go so I would wait until the last second to wake her up, and we could head out the door as soon as she was dressed. I planned for everything....except my car keys. They were to be found no where and the clock was ticking. It had been a long day already and I was emotionally spent. I called Mr. Sloth crying that I couldn't find the keys and I had a brown eyed toddler ready for a birthday party ("With Cake!!") Mr. Sloth came home with his keys and Demand and I were only a half an hour late. (It helps that I tend to be early about things.)

Demand was thrilled to be at her party which was at the same place she takes (sniff, took) gymnastics and it was a super cute barn yard theme. The party ended at 6pm, but being emotionally and physically spent I didn't want to head home alone with Demand. I called Mr. Sloth to let him know I was on my way to meet him and would pick up dinner on the way. It was a half hour + drive and my big plans to head to Wendy's drive through were crushed when I couldn't remember exactly where it was. (We were in our old neighborhood) so I had to settle for SuperTarget. Ugh. Again, I was just *done* for the day. The last thing on my mind was dragging my pregnant self and a toddler out of a warm car, through a cold snowy parking lot and into a store. Demand walked at a snails pace and her new 'piggy balloon' in tote wasn't helping the problem.

I called Mr. Sloth to see if someone could have the oven ready for pizza. He informed me it would just be me and Tiger eating. Tiger!! My refuge! I grabbed pizza and comfort food and headed to Tiger's house. My night was not over of course. Demand insisted on going to the bathroom every ten minutes and the only bathroom is upstairs, plus I stuck around as long as I did and kept Demand up so late because I thought Mr. Sloth would ride home with us. I was mistaken. As we gathered our things to go he informed me that he had to ride with Obscure for some beer making reason.

So into the frigid car I climbed. I forgot to mention that I complained about being cold the entire time I was there (sorry Tiger, I was in a complaining mood and not dressed properly). So already cold, I climbed in the frigid car for a long ride home. You know how inevitably, no matter how far you are driving the car doesn't heat up until you get to your destination. I walked in the door and Demand, being overtired was crying because I wouldn't let her watch "a show". Mr. Sloth called to see if I was home yet as he had just pulled in next door. He could hear her crying and knew I was stressed. Without saying a word I went upstairs to take a bath. I wasn't mad at Mr. Sloth I was just.....done.

Sunday Mr. Sloth was up first, even before Demand. So when I got up Demand was eating breakfast and I had eggs and coffee waiting for me. Soooo nice. Mr. Sloth had even showered and dressed both himself and Demand for Church!!

After Mass I worked on a few more meals. I still haven't finished everything but I only have two half meals to work on tonight. After doing my calculations it looks like I spent $125 (+/-) and got 25 meals. So I spent about $5 a meal. It was so worth it!! I hesitated to spend all that money on food I wouldn't be eating this week but I kept repeating "it's $20 to order a pizza" this will save us money.

Yeah me!!

So if you are wondering how this works. I made a number of meals and separated them according to how much we would eat in one night. Everything is labeled and has cooking/baking instructions.

On the menu we have: Chili, marinara, hashbrown casserole with ham frozen separately, Asian marinated chicken, Mexican lasagna, Chicken rolls,Cheesy Chilada Bake, Marichi chicken rolls, cooked/seasoned taco meat, and smoothies ready for blending...I think that's about it, oh and a few frozen pizzas "just in case".

It's a lot of work, but the money and time we save is worth it....right?

Free Time?

So I guiltily staying in bed this morning instead of getting up and doing my Bible Study (that I should have been working on all week). Finally at 7:15am I heard Demand so I got up. While I was in the shower (Mr.Sloth let me shower!) my small group leader called to say that Bible Study was canceled, due to the cold.

I still feel guilty for not doing my Bible Study, but at the same time I'm glad I didn't get up early.

At first I was disappointed that they would cancel due to the cold then I learned that they expected -45 degree windchill. Yikes. And Mr. Sloth has to fill the car with gas "just in case".

So what do I do with my suddenly acquired free time this morning?? I'm biting the bullet and doing more baby prep work and cleaning. Luckily Demand doesn't seem too upset that we aren't going to Bible Study, and she's easily pacified with her Snow White dress and "Wiggles" video. I've already showered which is par for the course (btw I don't actually know what that means) and I have a load of laundry going already. In rare form, I went to bed with a clean kitchen last night. Usually we're so exhausted after CCD on Wednesdays that the kitchen is last on our list. Next I'll work on our birth plan and put away the rest of the freshly cleaned baby clothes. I have to label two packages and if I get them sent out today I will consider it to be a completely successful day. Heck if I get them in the car it will be a successful day!


Demand presses on with potty training. We don't even have to ask if she needs to go because she goes every 10 minutes. She'll finish her "reward" and go right back to the potty. She's totally milking the system!! I even think she's being withholding when she goes so she can get two treats (or more). She may be smart, but she's going to have a sugar addiction soon.

I just want to comment again on my new diaper bag. I LOVE IT!!! I tell Mr. Sloth everyday how much I love it. Partly because I want to share my joy and partly because he judged me for buying and I want him to know I don't have buyers remorse.

Now I'll share the furniture I saw at Sam's Club yesterday that I love and, if we're blessed with a new home in the next year I'd love to own them. First off the living room set. I love the color scheme (green and chocolate, if you can't tell). I really like the dining room set too. It's 'counter height' so it's taller than most tables, but we're taller than most people, plus it's square. We've learned that we enjoy square tables more than rectangle ones because you see and talk to everyone.

There's no remote chance of us buying either of course, but a girl can dream. If we even get a chance to move in the next year, I'd be more than happy. Forget new furniture!

Ok back to the real world. I have one baby to prepare for and one to play with.