Saturday, November 30, 2013
Blame it on the NaBloPoMo
Friday, November 29, 2013
Naked & Chocolate
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Blogging changed my life
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Sniffles
Have I mentioned Eleanor has a cold? Because she does. And that's kinda rotten. It's not stopping her from being pleasant & playful & wanting to go outside. It is, however, stopping her from wanting to sleep. Which is unpleasant on many levels.
The up side is with the colder weather, there are hats & gloves all around and babies in hats are adorable, even ones who are toddlers & sniffly.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Welchling Watch continues
Well, a firm eviction date has been scheduled. If he doesn't get his little butt moving towards the exit by Dec 2nd, this baby will be forcibly removed. That's still 6 days away. Let's all pray for a November baby.
I'm still walking & yoga-ing daily to keep things in as good a position as possible. I will not list all the things I have tried to start labor, but short of acupuncture & communing with elephants, it's a fairly exhaustive list. I still feel fine, just eager to meet this little man. Who, after this much cooking will probably be bigger than some Thanksgiving turkeys by the time he greets the world.
My freezer is stocked with good food. (Some of) My closets are organized. Floors have been cleaned. The pantry & Tupperware cabinet have had an overhaul. My toes are painted. My hair had been cut. My eyebrows are tamed. Baby monitors have been installed to cover the cradle. I've located sheets & towels for my mother's stay with us. I'm ready, is what I'm saying. Everything is ready. Except the baby.
Eleanor was born the day before Easter. Maybe this one is waiting for Thanksgiving? Eleanor was also born the day after Passover, so maybe he's waiting for Hanukkah? Oh, wait, they fall in the same day this year. So, the news is we're fine. Healthy, happy, and given the all clear to wait until the full 42 weeks before they go in after this little dude.
But everybody hopes it won't take that long.
Once this baby is born, I'm probably never wearing this top again. Maybe I'll put together all my growing pictures for this time around. Maybe after I nap.
Monday, November 25, 2013
I hate waiting
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Rough Day
Friday, November 22, 2013
The colors of fall
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Lip service
For my birthday, a friend gave me a sampler of lip stuff from Sephora. There were many brands that I hadn't had a chance to play with yet and some real gems.
The best of the bunch is the Tarte Lipsurgence crayon thingy. Now, I've known about these for a while. My friend Kathleen has several that she wears at her day job, in fairly unobtrusive, neutral colors, which her job demands. I'm generally a fan of louder lips, and since the brand name Tarte makes me giggle, especially given my Queen Anne's Lace associations, I've always looked at their brighter shades. This one is a lovely pink that on me is just a hint of color. It smells good, feels good, and looks lovely and natural. I don't think I own any matte lip stuff, and only a few matte anything else because I am all about the shine, gloss, glitter & glitz. I'm slowly coming around to the versatility & understated grace of mattes. These crayons do come in a variety of finishes, not just matte.
Anyway, try this stuff. It's rad. Here's a before & after shot of my face.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Compare/Contrast
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Bathing beauty
Eleanor loves bath time. OK, honestly she loves water in all forms--even the pets' water dish. She loves to "swim" at my folks place. Tonight she spent over half an hour scrubbing her feet. Just a dribble of water from the faucet and a goldfish sponge. Endless entertainment.
Monday, November 18, 2013
In Due Time
It's my due date. I'm still pregnant, to the surprise of no one. Due dates are rough estimates at the best of times, even if you know date of conception, not just a guess based on cycles. Only 10% of women give birth/go into labor on their due dates. I know all this. I expected to be here.
But I want to meet my baby. I'm not uncomfortably pregnant, I'm just bad at waiting. There's been some kerfuffle over when the final eviction date will be and since I really do want labor to start on its own, I'm willing to wait, but I'm bad at it. Second guessing every twinge and gas bubble is kind of exhausting.
I've gotten all the usual advice for what to do to make this baby come out, from the well-meaning and generic (walk, eggplant Parmesan) to the crazy and somewhat personal (trampolines, adult activities).
Good news is that I'm healthy as can be & everything looks good, so it's just a matter of time. Time to wait.
So, here's what I look like at 40w pregnant, with Eleanor. OK, not pregnant WITH Eleanor, but pregnant and Eleanor is also in the picture.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Church family
So, we joined a new church a while back. A little local church where we sing out of hymnals and stand to greet each other. It's where Eleanor attends her Mother's Day Out program that she loves and I love and they love her. It's both small enough that I feel like we matter and belong but big enough to have resources that make our life easier.
We also joined a Sunday School class, which has been delightful. When we first walked in, there was a table with 3 pregnant ladies, so I fit right in. Actually, my baby might wind up sharing a birthday with one of the other babies if everything goes... I don't want to say "right" but it's a possibility anyway.
So, last week, during the "say hello to your neighbor" part, the folks behind me asked when I was due. This week, they remembered me and said they were surprised to see me. Now, that kind of comment can go all sorts of wrong. Luckily, it struck me as quite sweet that they remembered me. Also, I think it helps that even at 279 days pregnant, I don't look so huge that people are on high alert to run and grab towels and boiling water when I walk by. Round though I may be, my nearly six-footness gives me lots of room to carry a baby.
I've had lots of friends to compare bellies with both times I've been pregnant and I'm happy to say that I am happy with the way this one shaped up. Just in time for him to exit.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Like mother, like daughter
Friday, November 15, 2013
Little games
I like computer games. I have since I was a wee Bean. Kindercomp was one of my favorite things to play, though I skipped the math sections to spend extra time drawing. We had a fun tank game called Scortched Earth which taught me about trajectory and that "May the fleas of one thousand camels infest your hide" was an appropriate curse.
I am spectacularly bad at video games, however. I stuck to computers. Puzzle games like Tetris & Bejeweled. Oh, and Alchemy. Not the one where you combine whenever elements to make stuff, but the PopCaps version with the astrological symbols. You can see why Candy Crush appeals to me. (I'm currently on level 419. I'm both proud & disturbed.)
My husband introduced me to World of Warcraft and I got to be pretty good at that. The dress up factor speaks to me. So I have to kill some dudes to get a new dress. I'm fine with that in the pixilated world.
All of this to get to Grim Fandango. My brother have me a copy of this game when I was in college. It's set in the afterlife, Day of the Dead style. Our hero, Manny Calavera, is a travel agent whose job is to help souls navigate to the blissful hereafter. If you've been good, you can take a fast train. If not, your options range from cruise ship, bus, car, all the way down to walking stick. It's very clever and puzzle-esque in that you have to gather clues to solve the mystery to figure out what to do next. "Look pigeons, it's Robert Frost!" OK, that's only funny in context but trust me it's a hoot.
Sadly, I never finished the game. It runs on Windows98. But I still have the disc because I can't get rid of anything. And tonight I learned that you can play it in Windows 7. And there was much rejoicing. Now to unearth my copy and get back to Manny & the pigeons.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Rounding Up
Starting this pregnancy 20+ lb lighter than I started Eleanor's has made a big difference. I was able to buy maternity jeans (which fall right off my slopey belly & irritate the snot out of me). I'm able to still button my pre-pregnancy pants, because I never bought a size to accommodate my new weight before. And again, this baby rides high, all above my belly button, so really, the only thing my pants are containing is the post-c-section-fat-flap we all know and love. Except the opposite of that. Anyway, pants. It's an ongoing rant. For the past few weeks though I've been catching glimpses of myself in the mirror and thinking "whoa, I look pregnant. From the front!" which is new and exciting for me.
Just in the past week though, the great roundening of 2013 has happened. All of a sudden (to me) I'm ROUND. I have a ROUND belly. I look like a pregnant lady. I'm round and round and round. I'm very excited about this. I'm still round above my belly button with 2 bellies, but whatever. ROUND! Can you tell I'm excited?
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The Basket
One of the best pieces of advice that I got for making it through the first few weeks with a newborn was to have a basket. Not to put the baby in, although places to put the baby was not something I realized I needed until another mom mentioned it and so I got a swing and a chair thing and a playmat, all of which got plenty of use.
No, the basket is full of the stuff you need all the time so you don't have to run to the nursery for every diaper change/feeding.
Diapers
Wipes
Butt cream
Changing pad
Nursing pads
Lanolin
Burp cloth
A water bottle
A granola bar or two (for the MUST EAT ALL THE THINGS that strikes two seconds after you get the baby quieted down)
Then you just grab the basket when you change rooms, or you can have whomever is near fetch the basket without having to give directions for all the things your going to need in the next 5 minutes which may or may not be scattered all round the house. It's a brilliant idea and I wish I remembered who suggested it because they deserve a gold star.
I can't find the basket I used with Eleanor but luckily I'm a basket hoarder so I have many to choose from. It's mostly stocked and ready to go. One more thing to cross off the list of "to do before baby" things. I'm actually almost done with that list. I might be ready to have this baby next week.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
The numbers
It's 11-12-13. I suppose in other parts of the world it's 12-11-13, which is both less fun and doesn't serve my purposes. Today would be a great day to have a baby because that's a fun birthday.
Lots of people will have babies today. I'm not one of them. I never really expected to go into labor earlier than 40w but if I did, I wanted it to be today.
Other interesting to possibly no one but me numbers: At 39 weeks pregnant, I'm back to my STARTING weight in Eleanor's pregnancy... wait, gestation. Eleanor wasn't pregnant. I was. Grammar confounds me some times. My total weight gain for this pregnancy so far is more than I gained the whole time with Eleanor, but still within my "acceptable" guidelines so I'm trying not to worry about that part.
I'll be having this baby just a little more than one month after my 33rd birthday. My mother had me almost a month after HER 33rd birthday.
By my calculations, I'm officially 9 months pregnant now. Pregnancy math can get weird because they start counting weeks before anything has really happened, so while I haven't actually been carrying this baby for a full 9 months, it's been 9 months since things got started, in the cyclical sense. Feb 11th, when I gave up being un-pregnant for Lent. Which sort of makes this my tenth month of pregnancy, but I'm not 10 months pregnant because nope. A month is not 4 weeks so even though there are 40 weeks of pregnancy they are still only 9 months. And some spare days/weeks, give our take. But I guess if you count from when the baby actually started growing it's closer to exactly 9 months.
I'm not wearing real pants until after this baby is born. Nothing but yoga pants & maxi dresses until the end!
Monday, November 11, 2013
What do I know
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Learning curve
Friday, November 8, 2013
Trying again
Which is awesome, because I really liked it.
J got us both FitBit Flexes. He says I can't run over my own wrist with a car. True. And I guess the Flex is much less likely to fall off my wrist than the One was to come unhooked from my bra. So now I'm back to tracking steps. And this one will track my sleep. That should be a hoot.
I set out on a goal this year to walk 500 miles. Before I got pregnant. And I know that women all across the whatever do all sorts of amazing feats of fitness while pregnant, and a measly 1.3 miles a day is actually a very small goal and no where near the 10,000 step marker that they say you're supposed to get, but it's been a bit of a challenge. I did great in the spring, talking walks with Eleanor in her stroller. Then it got hot and I got more pregnant. Or neighborhood walks went the way of the dodo. Walking became a thing we did at Target & the grocery store. Thankfully, the 8 weekends of running about at Scarborough Renaissance Festival really helped and I'm still mostly on track.
But sometime in the next 2 weeks, there's a baby who is getting his wee butt born. I have a feeling that might throw me off track a bit. I'm trying to gain a little momentum these last few days. If only multiple trips to the bathroom counted, I'd be set! Maybe I'll wind up pacing at night with a fussy baby. I'm not sure that's how I want to get my steps in either.
To change the subject, Eleanor is getting much better at operating my phone. The other day she managed to not only tweet a random string of letters, but she must have swiped enough that autocorrect filled in "blogger blogger" at the end of her tweet. Also, she's been taking some STUNNING photos of her daily life.
An artist in the making? We'll just have to wait and see.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Family photos
But I am wiped out. So I don't have lots of words to say. What I do have is some pictures we took tonight. Eleanor's "Halloween" pictures & some family/maternity pictures. So here. Look at my family.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Learning the lingo
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
4am is the worst
I'm more familiar with the 4 am hour than I ever wanted to be. After college, I got a job working at the local TV station, doing production graphics for the morning & midday news shows. I worked 4-1pm. I had to go to bed by about 6pm to be functional. I missed my non-work friends, though having the grocery store largely to myself in the afternoon was nice..
There's this annoying sleep pattern thing that I've developed as an adult. I get woken up around 3:30/4 and then can't get back to sleep until after 6. Something about sleep cycles or some such. I don't know. When working a regular 8-5 job, it's the worst. Just when the sleepy creeps back in, the alarm goes off. Bad words are uttered. Grumbling ensues. It's also the worst when you have a newborn. They wake up, you feed them, they go back to their adorable, tiny person sleep and you... stare at them wishing desperately to be asleep too. Just as you drift off, they're awake & asking to be feed again. So basically, it's just the worst.
Last night, I woke up around 1 for my first potty break. Then I had some contractions for a few hours. (Spoiler alert: I didn't have a baby today.) Then it was 4 am and I knew there would be no sleep, so I watched the latest episode of the Korean Drama that Temerity Jane got me hooked on and wow. Dude. Totally worth it. Kim Tan forever. (Heirs. It's on Hulu. Go watch.)
Then there was the drama of the missing cat. I realized that Ruzulka, who only started sleeping with us in the past 2 years (of her 4 year life), hasn't been to bed the past 2 night & I couldn't remember seeing her all day. Or the day before. So at 5 am I went searching for her, waking up Eleanor in the process. There was much wailing & gnashing of teeth. Eleanor cried too. It took about an hour to get her comforted & settled back in her bed. At which point my husband's alarms started going off. And I started crying because the tired had caught up to me & I still couldn't find my cat. I'm feeling wretched for not noticing she was missing all day, but she is the least social of our cats and spends her days hidden in window sills or curled up under things. I'm imaging the horror of having to tell our friend who RESCUED these kittens from the harsh elements that I LOST one of the kittens they entrusted us with. And, well, she's kind of my favorite.
Now, I don't have a favorite cat, except I do. Banshee is my favorite because she's my cranky old lady cat with Resting Bitch Face. She purrs loud enough to be heard rooms away & comes to the living room when we watch TV, only to settle in with her face to the wall. She's the best & most patient with Eleanor, which surprised us all.
Except Valkyrie is also my favorite because she likes to be wherever I am & always snuggles me when I sleep. She also has a purr to be heard for miles & she talks back when you pet her. She's consistent.
But Ruzulka is my real favorite. She's the reddest of our tabbies. She has an orange ring on her tail, but just one. She's the softest & fluffiest of our cats. She's also the best snuggler. You can readjust her & she'll stay snuggled up, unlike the other 2 persnickety ladies. She, like Eleanor, likes to get in my way anytime I have to go to the bathroom. She has the tiniest & quietest purr I've ever heard & it's a treat to get to hear it.
So it's nearly 6 in the morning. I'm sobbing about my lost cat, my non- sleeping baby, and my fruitless contractions when IN COMES 'ZULKA! She had been sleeping in Bagel's room the whole time! All is well that ends well I suppose, but man. 4 am is the worst!
'Zulka, Valkyrie & Banshee
Monday, November 4, 2013
Not to be trusted
Oh don't give me that look. You know what I mean.
"I just need undershirts for the husband." she said.
"And shoes for the baby."
"And maybe some half-price leftover Halloween candy."
"And this would be a great nursing nightgown."
"Oh, might as well look for some Crappy Day Presents while I'm here."
"Hey, look, 70% off clearance rack!"
"What a beautiful crock pot..."
And before you know it, your cart is full, your bank account is empty and you have no where to put all the stinking adorable shoes you bought. ON CLEARANCE.
But it's a good thing I bought shoes, because we sacrificed a shoe to the great beast with the red bullseye in order to escape without adding a new purse, a sweater dress, a hooded Batman onesie (with Bat-belt detail) (in adult size), and some striped union suit pajamas.
But look at these RIDICULOUS shoes. High-top Converse!! Pink & purple with sparkly laces!! And they zip up the inside, because NO WAY am I strapping Eleanor into lace-up high tops on a daily basis. Zippers we can manage. Seriously, if they'd had these shoes in my size I'd be wearing them from now until they fell apart.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Control freak
Saturday, November 2, 2013
When you say it on the Internet
So, as with most things baby/sleep related, if you tell the Internet, the exact opposite will begin to happen.
So here's Eleanor. Sleeping on her pillow. Like a tiny human.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Pillows: You're doing it wrong.
Eleanor, during her most recent cold (September) decided that she wanted a pillow to sleep on. So I got her one of her very own. A memory foam thing that she can't suffocate on & it's a good thing too because while she likes to snuggle up to the pillow when falling asleep, she doesn't sleep ON it, so much as vaguely near it. Or, recently, under it.
Pillows. She's doing it wrong.