Bad Blogger

I’ve been a bad blogger. But in my defense, I have been on the verge of either tearing my hair out or ready to tell people to piss off, so really, the idea of sitting down at a computer screen after work would not have been a good thing for anyone involved. 

So here’s another one of my famous recaps. 

I am not at week 30. I have 69 (teehee- yes, I am giggling over something completely childish, but if you’re reading this, you already know I can’t help myself) days left to go till the new little one comes along.

What’s new?

It’s a boy!

So far everything has been going as smoothly as possible. I haven’t lost feeling in my hands like I did the last time around and the morning sickness actually seems to have dissipated when the books said it would. Woohoo! 

Ooh… this weekend, Aaron took me out for a weekend of relaxing… sort of. I relaxed at a spa all day on Sunday; he gambled and played in a tournament. I don’t mind, I was overdue for some R&R and my toenails were in terrible since I haven’t been able to reach them in weeks. The down side was that I missed the Baby Girl. She went to stay with my parents for the weekend. Yes, she can be a handful but she really is the center of our world. Well, for now.  

Work… work is work and the main source of my stress and aggravation lately so I will refrain from going there. 

The family. The family is… Well— One brother and his family just lost their long-time buddy and one of the best dogs I have ever known, Benny. I will also miss him greatly. Meanwhile my other brother is going through a rough time in his marriage and it will not likely end well. Luckily my parents are doing very well. They’re just kind of doing their own thing. 

My extended family is doing very well. We’re supposed to be having Aaron’s two half-brothers out to visit us in June.  Aaron’s siblings and the two half-brothers haven’t had a close relationship for years. But then their two aunts, on separate occasions, each asked me to make them a promise to make sure Aaron keeps in contact with the two from Texas and crazy me, I kept my promise. So now after many, many years the five siblings will actually be together for a week. Happy day.

So that is pretty much the bulk of it all lately. The whole work stuff would take up its own entry and quite honestly, I don’t think I have it in me to go into it all at the moment.

Cheers!

Monster in the Water!

Gah! It's a new lake monster!

First, Nessie, then Champ, now this one. Teehee... I can't help it, I love these. 

Russian Lake Monster Found!

Wassup?

Well good golly Batman! I seem to be forgetting everything. I mean everything. I know the whole pregnancy brain thing can hit pretty hard but, really? Today alone, I got up at least three times to get another cup of water and forgot what I needed the moment I turned the corner of my cubicle. Ah well, at least I’m getting some exercise, right?

But yes, other than the attention span of a gnat, I’m doing pretty good. The nausea seems to have given me some kind of a break for a little while. And my tummy is now getting to the point where I really can’t fit into my clothes. I think I may have to ask Aaron to go to the attic and get my bin of preggy clothes.

I’m also in a pretty great mood because the girls were over this weekend. We didn’t do a whole lot, mostly hanging out and relaxing. It was lovely. We also got to catch up on things; some great, some kinda sad and some things that left me scratching my head. We also got to run through a few great movies before calling it a night. You know you’re in good company when you can just recite movies and not have to really watch the thing. :) I just wish the weekend were longer.

Hungry?

The signs so far are pointing to this little one being a boy. I say this because so far, this is pretty completely different form the first time around.

For example, the last time I only battled “morning” sickness for about three-ish weeks in the beginning of the second trimester. This time around, I have been REALLY nauseated from about week six or so. I have been feeling moody as hell and all I want to do is sleep. Last time around, I wondered what I had heard all the other women complaining about. I felt perfectly happy and had enough energy to do just about anything. 

Then there’s the hunger/complete lack of hunger. On any given day, I go from feeling fine and not peckish in the slightest, to I am about to eat your face if you don’t hand over that cookie, NOW! It’s kind of scary, actually. I have to keep my purse stocked with extra food, just in case. Then of course, once I eat about three bites of something, I feel full to the point to discomfort. I try to keep small snacks around in an attempt to stay at a happy mid-point, but that hasn’t really worked.

So yeah, I am still guessing (and hoping) it’s a boy, but I won’t really get to find out for another few weeks. I should really start taking bets on this. :)

Angry and Disgusted

Just recently I was hit with some pretty disturbing news. Not to worry, it’s not about me, personally, but someone very close to me. And while I’ll avoid the gory details, I will say this; I hate it when I am right about a person— particularly when the initial gut feeling wasn’t favorable.

But yes, I am extremely disappointed with someone in my life and what hurts is that this person is too damn selfish to even acknowledge they are in the wrong. I really hoped—I mean, really hoped—that this person would prove my initial gut feeling wrong, but time and time again, they just proved that they weren’t worth the effort. I am disgusted with this person and hope that Karma catches up with them and quickly.

"Good News Everyone!"

Hiya all! So I have been kind of stockpiling my posts, well, short thoughts on the days for a while. Mostly because I have been kind of brain dead and not really able to get more than a few sentences "down on paper" at a time.

So here's the good news *ahem* Aaron, Baby Girl and I will be welcoming a new miniature person in mid April! Yep.

We're absolutely thrilled and I will be posting blobby photos of the new little one and, yes, a belly pics from time to time, but since I don't want to dump all this stuff on you at once, here's a little of what I have been going through so far:


August 5: Happy day! We got a positive HPT! The best thing about it is that I used a digital one so this time, Aaron couldn’t argue with me over whether or not he saw a second pink line. Huzzah!

Now that funny part is that the day before, on two occasions, friends asked if I was expecting. I hadn’t taken the test so I said no. I was supposed to have gotten the period at some point between Friday and Tuesday. I jumped the gun a touch. I couldn’t wait. In retrospect, however, the fact that I was doing an impersonation of Frosty in the greenhouse all weekend (even in the ac), couldn’t shake off a crazy, mild headache, and was tired beyond reason, all could have been clues. Ha!

August 6: Made my appointment with the GYN. We’re in on the 23rd at 2:15! Huzzah! By the way, it could all be totally psychosomatic but I swear my stomach is in knots. Could also be a touch of stress given that I am having dog training issues and we now have a bit of a daycare crisis on our hands (see the other August 6 entry). Again, this could totally be in my head, but I also feel crazy bloated.

August 7: Nothing but bloating. Blech. The other thing I’ve noticed is the increased need to go to the bathroom. I swear I didn’t remember it starting so early.

August 8: This morning was interesting, I felt queasy for most of the morning. I kind of felt as if I were just on this side of motion sick. On the verge of feeling like crap but not yet ready to boot. Awesome. Luckily, I haven’t felt a whole lot like an aversion to foods, smells, etc. to anything yet; although, I have been feeling kind of short tempered. But that could be due to the scaling back of coffee.

August 13: The Baby Girl’s first day at daycare. I felt a little sad dropping her off this morning. But in the long run, I know that this will be a good thing for her. Besides the fact that this is a huge adjustment for her, I think she should be able to handle it. She has spent most of her life interacting with adults, now she’ll get to spend the day playing with kiddos.

August 14: She didn’t really take the changes too well, but the lady who runs the daycare seems to think she will eventually catch on and all will be good. She also told us that the Princess is stubborn. As if we didn’t already know that.

August 16: I have been feeling pretty good lately. The other day I had a combination headache (no allergy meds, drastic reduction in caffeine, and lack of sleep because of the baby and dog) but really, it’s been okay. My biggest issue is that I am tired as hell and I am trying to cope with the stress from trying to get everything in order while I can still move freely. The Baby Girl is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances, but she has become really sticky. All she wants is for someone to carry her around.

August 17: Today is Friday, and thank the Lord for it. I can’t wait to get home and rest a touch. I do have to say, I can’t help but feel a little stressed out lately. I am really unhappy at work and I am trying to find a new job. The problem is what to do. Do I keep looking? Or do I stop? If so, when should I stop? Questions, questions.

August 20: I’ve decided it would be for the best to stop looking for a new job. I really don’t need the stress of working, interviewing, and then having to figure out what to tell a potential new employer that I will have to go on maternity leave within a few months.

August 23: First trip to the doctor’s and all is well. We saw an undefined blob on a screen with a wee little blinking center. Yay heartbeat! We’re at week six. Woohoo!

August 26: We’ve reached week seven. I feel okay. Just tired, mostly- a little queasy but not too bad.

September 3: Thank the lord we have a day off. I really needed it. I have been really tired lately and really, really nauseated. Like, just on this side of booting by face off.

September 10: So lately I have just been sick as can be and have thrown up at least two times. What hurts is, those times I booted, I didn’t exactly feel better afterwards. :)

On the plus side, I met up with a few friends today. I was also reminded why I don’t usually hit route 17 in Jersey on Sundays. Everything closes. We initially wanted to go to lunch in the Paramus Mall. But when I got there, I was eerily reminded of scenes from Dawn of The Dead (empty mall). Ah well, at least we were able to eventually find a place for lunch. I shared the news with my friends. It still kind of feels surreal.

September 25: Lucky me! I asked to go home. This stroke of fortune came about after I puked on my boss’s shoes. A bit splattered off the toilet seat. I would kind of feel bad but I already feel terrible. Blech.

October 1: NT Scan fail! The little one was completely uncooperative. We tried for about 30 minutes but the little guy/girl just wouldn’t get into the right position. I tried lying in different positions, coughing, bouncing my belly to the point where I almost puked on the technician but nothing. We DID see the little one wave a few times as if we were pestering him/ her, and at one point he/ she shook his/ her head as if to say “no.” What’s funny is that this happened just as the technician asked it to be nice and roll over. Awesome.

October 8: NT Scan success! It took a bit but the little guy/girl finally agreed and moved into the right position. All looks “perfect.” Woohoo!

What sucked was my boss being all bitchy before I left saying she didn’t understand why I had to schedule an appointment so close to the Gala. I told her that this is the last week to do an NT scan and because tomorrow would be worse and Wednesday was a no go. And the technician is not there on Thursdays and Fridays. I also told her that I tried doing this last week and the baby did not cooperate. I also told her that I made sure I got everything I needed done.

October 10: It’s over! The dreaded event is over and now I feel like sleeping.

October 15: Crap, after three-ish weeks of thinking I was in the clear the nausea comes back with a vengeance. On Saturday I spent most of my afternoon with my head in the toilet. And of course, my face once again looks like I have a bad rash. Some of you might recall from one of my last preggie posts, every time I puke, I get little red spots all over my face, when it's bad enough, it looks like I have red blotches that stick around for a few days. So yes, it is now Monday and I am still rocking enough makeup to make a drag queen proud. What hurts, is that the damn red spots still show through. Sigh...

The New Normal

This has been an interesting week for our little family. Not only have I reinforced some pretty strict rules on house training for the pooch, we were also splashed with a nice, icy dose of a new reality. Our little princess had to start daycare this week. Not biggie, right? Em… Well, not so easy, really. In a few days’ time, I had to reinvent our entire routine and hope the little one can adapt quickly. Because of the addition of daycare, instead of me getting up at 6:00, and letting the little one sleep in, I am now up at 5:20. I walk the dog, feed the dog, hit the shower, get dressed, wake Baby Girl, get her dressed, get her to eat breakfast, take the dog out one last time, and out the door by 7:20. She would normally sleep in till about 8:30 – 9-ish when my parents were with us (the rules were virtually non-existent when she stayed with them). oh yes, to make all of this work, I also prepare her and my meals before going to bed the night before. I even determine what's for breakfast and get as much of it as possible ready at that time, that way I have a few less steps to deal with in the morning. I still don’t have all the steps quite right but it’s getting there. Of course, we also had to get the little one into her daycare routine, which is another challenge altogether. She now has to get used to eating at a particular time but more importantly, get into her crib and go to sleep. And that, ladies and gentlemen is the monster hurdle. See, at one point I used to be able to put the little one in her crib and she would kind of just hang out, get her pacifier and go to sleep. Then my parents insisted on holding her to put her to sleep, and then we were done. My Mom even got offended by my efforts to try to get her to sleep on her own. I was in the room with the baby, mind you, just not holding her. This made the little one wail like a banshee. It got to the point where I had to kick my Mom out of the baby’s room when she stormed in demanding to take the baby to their room till she fell asleep. Awesome. But yes, we were entirely too lenient and took the path of least resistance, and now we find ourselves with a kid who refuses to fall asleep on her own. Note to self, for the future, tough it out. So yes, in daycare, she is put in her pack and play and is expected to sleep. We’re in day three and she is still putting up a good fight. But the woman who runs the daycare is no-nonsense and it shows. The little one has been fussing a touch less about getting into her crib. The one great thing about daycare is that because she is more or less playing for the majority of the day, she has been coming home pooped. I love it, by 8:30 she starts saying, "night night." Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Baby Girl, but she can make it difficult to do things like clean the house after dinner or even relax before my bed time. The other aspect that we had to deal with is the complete overhaul of our finances. I knew daycare is expensive but damn, it stings. Over the next few months I will have to don my Mr. Scrooge top hat and slash expenses across the board. I’m so not going to enjoy that but ah well. Until I win the Powerball—which by the way, is the kind of frivolous spending that I am cutting out of our budget— this will have to be the new normal. F- me!