bad bad blogger

I am a bad blogger! However, I do have 2 small children and a full-time job, so give me a freaking break people!
So many exciting and interesting things have happened in the world that I have not blogged about. Michael Jackson kicked it the same day Farrah Fawcett did. North Korea continues to test nuclear weapons and their leader is probably demented. Sarah Palin "resigned" her governorship and made no sense when she had her press conference announcing this. Obama and co are trying to get a reasonable and affordable health care system put together. Al Franken was FINALLY sworn in as Senator from Minnesota (yay for MN!). Jon and Kate filed for divorce (I saw that one coming, didn't you?) yet are still making their tv show, stupid people. The economy is still in the toilet, our house market value went down for the first time in several years (boo!). I have divorced myself from my alma mater for the time being. Jonah is smiling up a storm, laughing and is a chunky monkey. Jude is hilarious and clever in every way. I am back at work, bringing home some bacon and frying it up in the pan.

funny Jude quote

From a conversation earlier this week while waiting in the car:

Jude "I told Seda you are my mommy."
Me "Yes, I am your mommy. Seda has a mommy, who is her mommy?"
Jude "Erin."
Me "I am, however, also Jonah's mommy."
Jude "No, you not Jonah's mommy."
Me "Well, who is Jonah's mommy then?"
Jude "Daddy."

Mommy wars and unsolicted advice

I am currently on maternity leave, but am seriously contemplating sending my older child to daycare 2 to 3 days a week once my spouse returns to work in a few weeks; mostly for the sake of my own sanity and so I can get enough rest. My spouse is supportive of this, and I know of several other people who see no issue with it either, however some seem to think I am being silly. Well, try living in my house for awhile, you know? I had a freaking c-section 3 weeks ago, a newborn, and a smart and busy toddler; not to forget the 2 dogs and 2 cats that also reside here. While I feel pretty good following the c-section, I also have been reminded by my doctor that it was "major surgery" and I should really take it slowly and easily during my maternity leave; which is hard to do when one has an older child. Anyway, dear hubby's advice is to ignore the naysayers, and while I agree, this is easier said than done.
This brings me to the topic heading "Mommy Wars." Why the hell are women so hard on each other? I know I am guilty of this at times too, but I know I do not sit and tell women who choose to stay home what a foolish financial choice they are making; or say to them "what if something happened to your spouse/partner, how would your family survive financially?" I think that the choice that best suits the family and parent is the best choice. For me, I enjoy being a parent who works. Is it easy? No. Do I feel guilty from time to time? Sure. Am I glad I bring home close to half of the household income, enabling us to save for things that are important to our family, such as college educations? Yes. Am I glad I have the outlet work provides me creatively and intellectually? Yes. But, I also know I am lucky, I have a spouse who is very hands on as a parent. I have met many women, including one the other day, who seem to think it is odd that I would leave my children home with my husband, for any reason. Are these women married to idiots or serial killers or something?
On to unsolicted advice. I am a pretty damn assertive person. I had to bite my tongue often during my last pregnancy as to not say stuff that would get me fired, but generally I am able to communicate directly and appropriately with others. I am so damn sick of unsolicited advice. Particularly from people I think are idiots. Or at the very least delusional. That is all I am saying about that for now, must go find an ice cube to soothe the tongue I keep needing to bite.

recent dr visit

Learned I have lost 25 lbs as of Monday! WTF! Can I lose 25 more, just breastfeeding?

double stroller world

Yep, we got one. It is the semi of stollers, but it handles really nice. Jude thinks it is cool. Jonah doesn't really have an opinion yet.

d&*( modem!

Our modem of almost 2 years kicked the bucket last Thursday about 3 in the AM. I just got the new one today and am finally back online. I was having severe withdrawals, but survived. Dear hubby's ipod also seems to be terminal, don't know if the 2 are related, it gave him a sad frowny face and said to contact ipod support. Boo!
Having a 3 year old is hard, especially when recovering from surgery and caring for a newborn. Most of the time he is an absolute delight, but when he throws a fit: watch. out. world. He also made the cover of the Waitsburg Times, as he caught the eye of their photographer last weekend while at the Junior Show with his Nana Cracker. Will have to go and purchase multiple copies to distribute to random relatives. Maybe I can find a way to incorporate into next years Xmas letter, which will probably never get sent, as we are terrible at doing that kind of thing.

the amazing lactating woman

I think I pumped over 30 ounces of breast milk today. WTF. I am a cow. I could feed the octuplets. Well maybe not 8 babies. Its all good, Jonah has gained 4 ounces since Friday, should be at birth weight by this coming Friday. He is doing really well. Did not spend the day weeping, beyond the time I was beginning to watch a birth story on TLC, which was about a lady with a heart condition that was having twins, 1 of which died prior to delivery. I decided I best not watch that episode. Way. Too. Sad.
Lance and I went out to lunch, I ate like a trucker. Applebee's Chicken Fried Chicken. Yum.... Lance tasted it and wished he had ordered the same. Then went to store and bought an obscene amount of food, but we are sticking close to home these days and need stuff to eat. Lactation brain led me to buy Mickey Mouse shaped pasta, which Jude better eat darnit. He likes noodles, fortunately.
Went and bought craft supplies for Jude, which should be fun. I found adorable glittery whales and other sea life for Jonah's room. Yeah, Jonah and the whale. Original, I know. Heck, I also named my kids with same first initial, which I planned to not do, but ended up doing anyway. No one is perfect.

week 1

I hate the post pregnancy hormones. Well, the kind that lead to weepiness. Hopefully this will last a only a few more days, at least that is what Google said when I googled "postpartum hormones."
Jonah is doing great, he is eating a lot, albeit in smaller portions and more frequently than I would like whilst trying to sleep at night. But he sleeps well and is pretty mellow most of the time. Jude is still adjusting, but is doing very well and is excited to be a big brother.
I am losing weight at a nice clip. My stomach is significantly flatter than I thought it would be at this point, although it is still pretty jelly like. Breastfeeding is a good way to melt off the weight gained in pregnancy. I could eat like a trucker most of the time, but am trying not to give into the temptation of eating cookies everyday or cookie dough like I did after Jude was born. Helps that I cannot drive yet, I cannot go to the store and buy crap as easily. I do eat what ever I can, when I can which makes for interesting meal choices at times.

world's 2 cutest kids

A rather busy week.

A lot has happened since my last post. Sunday morning, around 9:30, as I was getting off the couch to head out to do the grocery shopping, my water broke. This time was much less panic, and more "okay, Jonah is coming today." So, I was able to pack stuff and make calls, we had to wait for Lance's mom to come and get Jude to take to her house anyway. We got to the hospital around 10:30 and by 11:45 I was in the operating room and Jonah was born at 12:15 pm. He came out screaming and looked big. My doctor was not on call, and missed the delivery by "a couple hours" but I had the other doc in their practice that everyone loves and it went really well. Jonah's APGAR scores were 8 and 9 right off the bat, which was awesome! He spent a couple days in their special care nursery, but never had apnea or bradychardia, just some slightly lowered oxygen levels at times. He is little, but doing great. Such a different experience than last time. Way less anxiety, although this may be in part due to having some experience as parents this time around. Now we are working on getting him to breast feed, which will take some time. He is little and poops out pretty quickly.

week 36, 3 days (well, yesterday)

Had a check up today. Dr. K had a line of laboring mom's at the hospital, but still managed to handle my minor freak out. I am effacing, but not dilating yet. Good news. Probably only lost "part" of the mucous plug. Okay. Went to check heart beat and could only find mine. So he went to get the ultrasound, to see where to best check for heartbeat on my ginormous abdomen and I burst into tears. Just a little freaked. Anyway, ultrasound showed Jonah is head down, heart was beating very nicely and was doing just fine. I got to see his little face, and he seems to have the same nice jawline Jude and Lance have, which is cool. He did ask if I wanted a non-stress test, and I said "okay." I think it was to reassure me that everything was going well, which was nice. Nurse then told me that I was pretty easy to work with, "you would not believe some of the calls we get." I can only imagine. I tend not to panic until I know the facts, but I am sleep-deprived, hormonal, and had a scary first pregnancy; so it was understandable that I got upset. Fortunately, everything was fine. The non-stress test showed that his heart rate and activity was 'normal." Phew. Oh, and I gained 4 lbs. Boo. But I also had sausage fingers, so increasing water and watching salt intake, ie reading labels.
And as of today, only 2 more weeks of work. Hooray! Cause there are days I could fall asleep at my desk, not because I am bored, I am just that tired.

36 weeks, 2 days at 3:30AM

I could not sleep last night. Not such a novelty cause I have been having good and bad nights for sleeping for weeks; what with the waking to pee every hour or so, etc. This AM I got up and decided, darn it if I can't sleep, I can catch up on shows waiting on our DVR. Well, the bigger event was the passing of the old mucous plug. A glob of gelatinous goo. I googled it to make sure it was what I thought it was; it was indeed. Almost kept it to show Dr. K, but decided it was probably not necessary. I did not panic, I actually felt pretty calm. I told Lance when he woke up and told him I would call the Dr. after the office opened, as I has not had any contractions or broken water. I have an appointment tomorrow anyway, and unless something big happens over night, he can check to see if I am beginning to dilate then. Since losing the MP is a sign of impending labor, either fairly quickly or a couple weeks from now, I have begun packing my hospital bag, which I was going to do anyway this weekend. I may end up having Jonah a little earlier than planned, but maybe not.

36 weeks

If learned today, from the internet of course, that Jonah could be born later this week and have little to no complications. Given how uncomfortable I feel, I am tempted to ask him to show up sooner than later.

almost 36 weeks

I now understanding why women who get to this point in their pregnancies just want to be done. I am freaking uncomfortable, have constant heartburn, fart a lot, feel like a bowling ball is sitting in my pelvis and have to pee all the time. I also had no sleep last night, which was extremely frustrating. If I had seen my doctor over the weekend, I would have begged him to deliver this kid. Well, maybe not so much begged as joked about it. But, I am also really close to the end and am happy that this pregnancy is much less dramatic. I can deal a little longer.

utter meltdown

So, I had a complete meltdown today. Not entirely sure exactly what was the trigger. one minute dear hubby was talking about Jude being "cowboy" or something like that, the next I am yelling at him to take me back home "right now" and to "just be quiet and leave me alone" while blubbering like a spoiled child. I am completely blaming preggo hormones. That has to be it. I am normally not such a total bitch. So, he took Jude and went to visit his mom for a few hours, i slept. Mood did improve over course of the day, and I feel almost like myself at this point in time. Also watched Hamlet 2, which was freaking hilarious. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day.

less than 3 weeks!

And I will be done working for a few months. I am looking forward to it, mostly because I am tired. Super duper tired. As such, client are driving me nuts. If I had enough energy yesterday, I would have told one of them to shut up, well a parent of a client. But, fortunately I did not. I went home and took a nap. Now, if I could just sleep all weekend.

Turkens!

Here is a pic of what our chickens should look like. Ugly as sin, I know, but they are supposed to be hardy and good layers. We will have 2 or 3, am trying to think of some names. Fried, Roasted, and Grilled?

week 35

I am getting huge. Well, since I have never been this preggo before, I have no idea how huge I would have been with Jude, but am shocked how big I am seeming to get each day. I have heartburn again too, no matter what I eat and am increasingly flatulant (sp?). Oh well. It is not much longer. What is especially strange in the shin splints I have off and on through out the day. I was always told I would have them really badly because I run on my toes, and I am certainly not doing any running these day, and I never did while running, but do when I am knocked up. Strange. I am not even walking on my toes at this point. I also noticed I can get out of my car with relative grace from the driver's side, but can barely hoist myself out of the car when on the passenger side. Equally strange.

34 weeks, 4 days

We have an insane amount of baby clothes. I went through them today, sorting out and putting away all the newborn and 0-3 mth stuff. 2 drawers of onsies. Hopefully Jonah really will be a boy, and the ultrasound pic was not tricking us, cause we are set with clothing. Lance reminded me that "we had to change Jude's clothes at least 2 times a day" and he wasn't even a puker. He was a messy pooper, but I think we were just bad diaper changers. Oh, and infant boys love to pee when their diaper is off, so we had to change a lot of clothes for that reason alone.
I had a prenatal appointment this week with my "OB-Gynie," to quote a lady from the Discovery Health show, "Deliver Me." Sounded like a Star Wars name for an OB GYN. Anyway, all is going well. Weight good, blood pressure good, heart rate good. I go again in 2 weeks, and then weekly until d-day. I am glad to still be preggo. I a couple weeks, if the baby decided to come, the only people that would really freak out would be work, as they seem to be in denial (no I know they are because they tell me often) that I will be leaving. Maybe that is why I survived a round of layoffs? Hmmmm.... Anyway, while I am achy, tired, and have swollen feet, I am glad to still be gestating. I also had my pre-admit appointment in the Women's Center at the hospital, something I did not get to do last time, and it went well. I got the shpiel on what will happen on 4/6/09 in regard to schedule, etc. We are getting really excited. I am not looking forward to having major abdominal surgery, but I am looking forward to meeting Jonah. Jude is pretty excited as well, even though it means I am not just his mommy.
Speaking of curious Jude, we went garden shopping today; hitting Home Depot and then Northwest Farm Supply. We were really cool parents today. First, "tractors" at the Depot, well really riding lawn mowers. Lance and Jude had a good time on those. Then, baby chickens at Farm Supply. Jude was enthralled. We are getting some chickens for the first time this year. Figure we could use the eggs and , eventually, the meat. They will be arriving at our urban farm later this spring. We can have up to 3 in the city, as long as none are a rooster. Fine with me. I hope that they survive to lay us some free range eggs, and maybe end up being roasted in the fall and winter with the veggies we grow. Right now we plan to have lettuces, tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, pole beans, corn, watermelon, pumpkins, spaghetti squash, broccoli, brussell sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, sweet onions, garlic, and whatever else we decide to grow. All organic, of course. We also have strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, with plans to plan more of each. Jude will be getting to start a pumpkin, watermelon, and sunflower plant all his own. He also has a new junior wheel barrow, which I need to get a picture him with and post it. I read that if kids help grow the veggies, they are more likely to eat them. Plus, we get to practice what we hope to be doing on a larger scale in a few years.

knocked up with a cold...

I am coming up on 34 weeks and am gladly still preggo. I am tired and uncomfortable, but also giddy when I get through another week! It is weird to think that in little over a month I will have 2 kids. Lance looked at me this morning and said something to that same effect with a mixture of astonishment, excitement, and terror on his face.
Jude had another cold this week, his second in a month. He did not get croupy this time, but spent all, and I mean all, Wednesday night coughing throughout the night. He then woke at 4:30 crying. Dear hubby got up with him, and then came in a short while later and said "I think I should call a sub." Goddess bless him. He stayed home with a cranky toddler all day, and said cranky toddler's cough was much improved by that afternoon. Then I got it. It's really not that bad a cold, I have had worse. But a pregnancy complicates what one can take to alleviate the symptoms. Basically, sleep, fluids, and Tylenol. I miss my Alka Seltzer cold, the orange fizzy kind. Oh well. I am looking forward to breathing through my nose again and not drooling when I sleep. Ugh....