Moving On

I have a few more posts to catch up on before Baby comes, but time has a way of escaping me. There aren't enough hours in the day, it seems. We've been spending a lot of family time together recently, which has been nice. There was a lull in D's schedule. He was on overnights last week and will be on overnights this weekend, but we've managed to have some fun in between!

After work on Friday, which was around 8am, D picked up M and me from Mom and Dad's and took us out to breakfast. He did that last time, too, and it was a great way to end his overnight call schedule! Poor guy stayed up til M went down and then he crashed. Both of my men slept for over three hours. M still gives me that great three-hour mid-day break in which I nap and/or get things done. It's wonderful!

I'm in the market for a French coffee/tea press. D said he had one and he looked in his parents' attic a few months ago but couldn't find it. Major bummer because he had the good brand name one, too. I am interested in making my own tea from loose leaf tea and plan on ordering the various tea leaves in bulk to do just that. I'm going to make a specific tea for after delivery healing which is also rumored to calm fussy babies...which is always helpful :). Most of babies' fussiness stems from an immature digestive system and supposedly herbs help with that, as well as with my recovery. Talk about a two-for-one deal!

M and I have been entertaining my grandparents Tuesday mornings for breakfast for a few weeks now and have been thoroughly enjoying the experience. It's quality visiting time for me and prime show-off time for M. I made some pumpkin bread this week because it's actually starting to feel like Fall (except for the 80+ degree weather today, that is). It was a big hit and I'm filing that recipe away for future use. Also discovered that organic canned pumpkin is a very handy baby food. All you do it open the can! Even better is the short ingredient list: pumpkin. I'll be stocking up on some cans for Baby...and for when I get another pumpkin bread craving!

I'm down to weekly doctor appointments now. I was feeling very pregnant last week and complained to the doctor about it and promptly got no sympathy (he did recommend a belly belt, which I got, which works wonders, especially walking around IKEA!). There is no budging that scheduled C-section date, so Baby will have to start something herself if she wants out any earlier. Which I can't see happening. Which is the mildly distressing part. I keep telling myself that I'll miss being pregnant in a few months, so to enjoy it for now. It's somewhat comforting :). D has been absolutely wonderful and such a big help. It's not a big surprise or anything, but I so appreciate his assistance and understanding after his long days at work. He's always cheerful and willing to help with whatever I didn't get done or couldn't do during the day. I haven't even been playing the "But I'm Pregnant" card, either, which may contribute to his understanding :). I've been making all our meals and going on errands like I'm not carrying around this huge belly mainly because I'm thankful to the Lord to be able to do all these things and not be on bedrest or worse (and I enjoy doing all of it, too).

I mentioned IKEA, didn't I? We made our quarterly pilgrimage down there this weekend and were met with a buy-one-get-one Big Breakfast deal to which we promptly treated ourselves. The four of us shared the two meals and they filled us up enough for a leisurely trip around the store. I knew I had seen a French press there last time, but of course they were all sold out. Great product for a great price, no wonder. And I was able to get the breakfast set of felt food that I wanted for M's kitchen (fifteen pieces for $4.99...can't make it for that price!). They did have the dessert set there, but I didn't get it because M doesn't need to be reminded of junk food :) (if you're thinking he's a poor, deprived child, just ask his grandmother whose "surprises" most always include donuts! Or you can ask Auntie Yana who got him organic lollipops...yummy! Or you can us, who keep organic letter cookies and dark chocolate covered raisins in stock for Little Man...). Anyway, the fruit and the veggie basket were all sold out, so I'll have to get them on our next trip. We also got a salad spinner since we've been eating lots of leafy greens lately and what a cool invention that is! We love those random trips to IKEA.

M had his two year old doctor's appointment last week and didn't need to get any shots, so it was almost an uneventful trip. He didn't want to stand on the scale, so I had to lie him down on the baby one, which he promptly freaked him out. He never liked that thing, but I was hoping he would have outgrown the fear since March. Anyway, he's doing great: 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. Tall and skinny like his grandpa. And smart like his daddy, the doctor commented on how well he was talking. He's up to 6+ word sentences and talks all.the.time. He's still doing well with potty training. Don't know if it's training anymore since accidenst are very few and far between. My next goal with him is dry sleeptimes, but I'm not sure how much I want to push it right now. Mom and Dad found a potty like our new one at a tag sale for $0.50 and got it for their house, so we're all pleased with the ease of this potty. Come to think of it, though, M has been using the regular potty at their house now that grandpa built him a stool to stand on. Less work for me!

And last but not least, iPhones. I have had mine for a week and a half now and l.o.v.e. it. I don't love it because it's an iPhone, any smartphone would have done, but wow, what a useful piece of technology! I'm not looking to add more "stuff" to my life like the games or apps they offer, I like it because I can make my lists and use the calendar and see the weather and all the stuff I usually do, just quicker and more conveniently. I did download some free games for M that he is enjoying and D downloaded a menu planner app that is great! D didn't start off with an iPhone, but he ended up ordering one over the weekend and it arrived today (didn't seem right that my mom had an iPhone and D didn't...). So we're going to pick that up after a Red Robin dinner tonight :) He's selling his iPod and old Verizon phone on eBay, which will more than cover the cost of the phone, so it's a too good of a deal to pass up!

Just when you think your awesome family couldn’t get more thoughtful or generous, they go and spring a surprise baby shower on you. Last Saturday, I was lured over to Rita’s house with the promise of her home cooking and walked right into a beautifully Fall-themed decorated living room complete with a “Baby Shower” sign over the window. And, yes, I was surprised! I totally wasn’t expecting another baby shower because I don’t really need anything and because you usually don’t get a baby shower per baby (and I think my four baby showers with M were enough to last anyone a lifetime!). Anyway, that’s where the thoughtful and generous part comes in.

Everything was so beautifully decorated in Fall colors because they know I love this upcoming season (especially now when cool weather is very welcome!!). Mom said they used dinner plates instead of paper because they knew I prefer using them instead of disposable stuff. Rita always uses lots of veggies and made-from-scratch stuff in her cooking, which she knows I love, and this time she completely outdid herself! And the favors Mom had gotten for everyone were all natural fruit jellies that are so yummy and good for you. It was sweet to see how they had thought of me during each step of the planning!

Grammy, Auntie, Rita, Rita’s Mom, Mom, and Yana were all there, along with Brea and Ry. Micah stayed with Grandpa because it was during his naptime (little aside: he woke up early with a cold that surprisingly only lasted about four days…usually they’re longer. But apparently they had a great time together woodworking and taking a ride up to UCONN to see if there was a helicopter there and then driving by the firehouse to see the trucks. Much more fun than attending a baby shower for his sibling!). It was so nice being able to socialize without interruption with a group of my favorite people!

Baby is now the proud owner of a wooden highchair (sold our other one and was planning on getting a smaller, wooden one…they beat me to it!), four muslin swaddle blankets that I just found out about and heard rave reviews on (see them here: ), hand-decorated burp clothes by Auntie Yana, a few very cute new outfits and onesies, a wooden teether made by Dad, and a few other things that s/he’ll be very appreciative of when the time comes. Everything was so well thought-out; I will be using all of it. Mom said she knew I was in the midst of decluttering and organizing and tried to keep it to things I would definitely use (another aside: our house looks the best it ever has and I’m so pleased with how clean and organized it looks. The catch? Keeping it that way!).

Thanks to everyone who contributed to such a fun afternoon and for going above and beyond in expressing your love to this baby whom you have yet to even meet! It meant a lot to me and we are so blessed to have your love and support. Can’t wait to introduce you to our newest little one in just a month (or less?)!

Our Vermont farm vacation (those last two words together always make me smile because living and working on a farm is anything but a vacation!) was a huge success. I am reliving it multiple times a day with M who, seeing the pictures and videos we took on the farm on a Picasa slideshow, has requested it (“farm amimals? pees?”) hourly from then on. It’s better than all the nonsense and mindlessness on TV, so I give in half the time…

Anyway, we left Thursday morning, but not too early because we all slept until 8:30am and D insisted that I not rush us out the door because this was meant to be a fun and leisurely time. I like to get there and get our money’s worth, but I have to say, I enjoyed the leisure part very much. We stopped for lunch in a small town diner halfway there. It was so quaint and fit in exactly with what I pictured stopping at on the way to a farm vacation. M did really well during the ride up; he had plenty of books and animal DVDs to occupy himself. We pulled over once and took out his potty for him to peepee in, which he did. No accidents at all, amazingly enough, on the three and a half hour ride!

We got to the farm in enough time to check into the room we’d be staying at in the farmhouse (we shared a bathroom with two other rooms) and do some exploring for our 6pm dinner. The house is exactly as you’d picture a farmhouse: big, old, homey, country-like, cozy. We explored it a bit, but M was more anxious to start meeting all those real, live animals wondering around. He met the goats and the chickens first, and then moved on to the cows and the cats. I’m not sure Micah could have had any more fun than he did on this vacation. I know he enjoyed every single second he was on the farm, which made me glad D convinced me to go ahead and book the entire thing. We wrestled him down for a nap (actually, it didn’t take too much convincing after all the excitement) before dinner and we rested, too. He slept on a big boy cot and did so well for naps and bedtime that we set up his toddler bed at home as soon as we got back. Dinner was served family-style, so we got to meet all the other guests staying there. Another couple was expecting their first on the same day we are expecting our second. And he is a cardiology fellow at a Boston hospital, so he and David compared doctoring notes. We enjoyed each others company very much and Kelli and I keep in contact via email these last days before our worlds are turned upside down for a bit. But, back to dinner. We were there for two of them, and two breakfasts, and they were so delicious. Dinner was complete with dessert and coffee or tea. All dishes were homemade with fresh ingredients; it couldn’t have gotten any better.

After dinner, we visited the cow barn again to watch the night milking. Micah loved feeding them hay, talking to them, and being licked by them. We also visited the litter of new kittens that were born the night before. Their mother had hid them in bales of hay down the hill from the main farm area. M was fascinated by them, but was more interested in the grown cat that was meowing at him and lying on his back for M to pet him.

Finally, bedtime came and after M was tucked in bed, D and I got our respective reading material and went out to the living room. Little to no technology takes some getting used to, and there was probably a little withdrawl, but it was great. We didn’t get cell phone reception, but there was WiFi, which D tried to avoid. Before we went to bed, other guests came by the living room to chat, which was nice. So ended our first day on a farm. We began our second day way too early at 7am with, “Mommy, Daddy, shoes on! Cow!”

* M has been doing incredibly well both using the potty and sleeping in his big boy bed (we've been getting up between 8 and 8:30am). D doesn't like the potty we have for him ($5 at a tag sale, so much thought didn't go into it...) and I agree that it's poorly designed, especially for little boys. So we are probably going to be getting this model:


* That down there is my belly as of last week. It's safe to say I'm not getting any smaller. After this next appointment, I will be going weekly. The end of this pregnant belly is in sight! Baby is doing very well. She has started hiccuping on a regular basis and after a while, she gets annoyed and does this big roll to the other side of my belly. She's still very interactive when she hears voices near or feels a hand (or a seat belt strap...) on my belly. She'll go right to the side she hears/feels something and starts poking that bony heal everywhere. D has really got to see this in action the past fews nights because we aren't doing much other than sitting in this heat! During the times she is most active, my belly will literally bounce so much that D, who is looking straight ahead, will spot it out of his peripherial and turn to look. He then starts talking to the baby and will put his hand on my belly and they'll play for a few seconds. Exactly what she was looking for...attention. We are so excited to meet this little person(ality).


* D has his huge physics test next week and is so tired of studying. He has had a physics class every day for the past 14 months and is just getting sick of it. Don't blame him. He told me that the test is in the morning and he doesn't have to go back to work, so I'm taking him out to lunch when he's done (kinda like a date since M'll be napping at Mom and Dad's!). And when M gets up, we have plans to bring him to a relatively local fair to experience the rides, the food, and the ambiance of fall fairs that we enjoy so much. Should be a fun day...after the test, that is.

*The nesting phase of this pregnancy is going so well that D declared that I should get pregnant annually. For which he promptly got slapped. I have lots of piles that are disappearing and lots of lists that are all crossed out. I still have a few more piles and lists to go, but mainly it's packing for the hospital and the weeks we're at Mom and Dad's. We may be home on the weekends, depending on D's schedule, to give M some time at home (not that he cares, really) and to show him how it'll go with Baby there. If the back and forth is too much for everyone, we'll just hang at Mom's like we do a good portion of the week anyway! We are really blessed to have this much help, I wouldn't want to do it on my own (where's the fun in that?!) (and especially with D's crazy schedule) and I'm all about having my kids bond with involved family who love them and are good role models.

* An item or two on my remaining list involves putting together a few things for M while we're away from him. I think I'm going with the theme "God Made Me" since I can't help but think of that while this little (not so little?) life is growing inside of me! So I've made him a few books with pictures of him doing things he likes, a few pictures-of-him foam puzzles he can put together, and we got him a few fun things to do from the store that hopefully will occupy him for a minute or two and give Grammy and Grpa a rest! I still have to record the books on tape for him and do a few other little things, but I am having so much fun doing it. Throwback to my teaching days :).

* Just finished a great summer read and am about to start C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Not exactly beach reading, but I'm sure I'll learn more from it.