I'm not fat!

One of my favorite lines to tell people when my weight comes up is "I'm not fat! I'm fluffy!" (thanks Miss Lime). But the truth is, I do need to loose some pounds. And I've been trying. My health is relitivly good, need to work on the trigs, but other than that, docotrs arn't too worried about it. But I have been trying.
My plan was, before the babino, to go on a bike ride on the trail by our hous after work at Cookies. That got blown out of the water.
I'm also having a hard time movin' and shakin' it recently because I'm just so tired! I was like this with Sean, where all the energy I have is just sucked out by the growing baby. That's how he got his nick-name.
Does anyone have ay advice on how do get some exercise in when I'm tired and preggo? Help?

The Trouble with Teeth

Mark Twain said "Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principle one was that they escaped teething. " And at this moment, who I wish that Sean could too.
Let's go through the list off teething symptoms and see which Sean has:

Irritability - Yep. Cranky all morning. Drives a knife through my gut knowing there's nothing I can do to make him feel better.
Drooling - How do you turn it off?!?!
Cold like symptoms (runny nose, etc.) - I just want to stick a wad of tissue up his nose to keep the snot from coming out.
Coughing - Yes, unfortunately. Combined with the previously mentioned, people think I'm bringing a sick child everywhere.
Chin rash - not yet....
Biting & gnawing - Oh my gosh! Everything! Seriously, nothing is safe, not even my arm.
Cheek rubbing and ear pulling - Not really; he'll stick his finger way back in his mouth and chew on it where the molars are coming in, though.
Diarrhea - Funny thing, Sean actually gets plugged up with teething. Always has.
Low-grade fever - Off and on.
Not sleeping well - Oh, of course! And that means that Mommy is not sleeping well, too.

So, here it is, quarter after midnight, I'm up just waiting for Sean to screech out in pain/discomfort/low grade/whatever, knowing full well that I have to get up at seven (I'm trying to get up at the same time) and work tomorrow afternoon. Not only is teething messing with his sleep routine, it's messing with my (newly established) routine, too. Gotta' love motherhood at night....

Goodnight world.

NaNoWriMo!

Well, I am unofficially participation in National Novel Writing Month. The goal; write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. So far 67 words down - 49,933 left.
But, I'm tired and going to bed. I just thought I'd update, sim=nce Nate has been pestering me that I didn't last week. I may tell y'all later

Sleep Sleep Sleepy

The theme of our house had been "I'm tired" for the past several days.

Tobey, well, Tobey is always lounging around. It's just part of his temperament, but also he's getting old (almost 8). And while he is lounging, he demands tummy rubs... and I am a sucker for an exposed tummy.
I really need to get him together with his dog cousins; they always give his a good burst of energy, since one is a terrier and the other a puppy. Plus, he really enjoys playing with them.

Nate has been tired form allergies. If it's green and grows, he's allergic to it; the main reason I haven't gotten flowers in over two-and-a-half years. He's feeling better now; the sinus infection has been killed with antibiotics and grapefruit juice.

I have conic insomnia, which always gets worse a week to week-and-a-half before.... um, 'that time' and I'll be up till sometimes 2:30am. It's not like I want to do it or I'm trying to stay up on purpose! I just can't shut off my mind and go to sleep. You think that I should see a doctor?

Last is Sean. Sean slept form 9:45pm to 7am and is now back to sleep at 8am. I don't blame him and I am not worried in the least.
1) Sean had a very busy weekend. Friends came in town Friday, Daddy and Sean ran all over town on Saturday, and Sunday, Sean went to his friend, Tommy's, first birthday party.
2) Sean got his flu shot yesterday. Yes, I vaccinate my child. Look at some of my older post on what I think about it. But tiredness is a very common side effect of the flu shot. I'm keeping an eye on him though, just to make sure nothing new shows up. (A slight fever is also common with the flu shot, but I know how to handle a low grade temp. ^_^)

I wish that I had some more newer photos of Sean... well, I do, but their on my phone and I have yet to figure how to get them onto my computer. But I do have this next one of Sean and Nate and my new nephew dog, Cooper.
~Say good-bye, boys!

Word-full Wednesday?

Okay, so I made a post on Sunday evening, I get it just about done, and the internet crashes and didn't save what I had written. GRRRR! And the icing on the cake (mmmm....cake....), the server isn't letting me upload a photo for Wordless Wednesday. But I guess it isn't that bad; I mean, I get to talk your ear off, right?

So, Sunday my darling mother -in-law (and that is sincere) came to visit her little Irish grandbaby. She and my sister-in-law had come down on Friday and stayed with my brother-in-law and his family right out of the city limits. She was suppose to come up on Saturday, but all hell (yes, hell. H-E- double toothpick. I said it!) broke loose and between co-worker's mothers dieing, and my sister-in-law using the only car (we never did see her...) and mother-in-law having to watch my nephew so brother -in-law could fill in for said co-worker... well, Sunday seemed to be better.
I was kind that Kathy (mother-in-law) was able to come, just her. I think that it's important that Sean has some one-on-one time with his other grandma. My mom get's a lot of it, but Kathy lives out of state and, well, it's hard to get together sometimes.
We went out for an after church lunch and Sean promptly took a nap as soon as we got home. "Ahh. Sean is resting. So nice, since he was up a lot the night before teething. We'll let him sleep for an hour and a half" Well, that lasted all of 45 minutes when he woke up pooping himself. He was MAD! He was fine it I was holding him, but not Daddy. And Grandma? Don't even go there.
He was fussy for, maybe half-an-hour, but after he woke up more, he decided that Grandma was okay to crawl around on the floor with him. I got dinner ready
Scott and Naomi came over for dinner, we are, we talked, we did dishes, the three left and the three of us crashed! Phew! What a day!

Well, tonight I had a cake class. Sean needed a sitter, so Auntie Naomi came to watch Mr. Monkey Butt! He was pretty good for her, I heard. He cryed for about 15 minutes but dozed off. He's teething and he's going through a groth spurt. I feel so bad for him! But this was the first time that Naomi had the chance to have Sean all to herself! I think that she really enjoyed it.

But, I'm tired now. I made a metric butt ton of baby food today and am now wiped.

Goodnight voiced
Goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere.

Sleepless in... Des Moines?!?

I don't know why, but I have been having very severe insomnia. I just cannot get to sleep. Once I am asleep, I stay asleep; it’s just the getting there.

It really is frustrating. I always have been a night person, but not like this. There are nights where my mind doesn’t start to slow down until 2am… or later. Then the next day, I have no energy. Usually, I need to get 9 or 10 hours of sleep to function properly, always have. Since Sean came out, I’ve been fine with 7 ½ - 9 and can get through the day. It’s just the past few weeks I’ve been averaging 5-6…3 ½ last night, since Sean didn’t sleep well. And I’m still awake and NOT BY CHOICE!

It’s not like I’m staying up on purpose! I just cannot slow my mind down; it keeps running a mile a minute! I’ve tried going to bed earlier, but my mind will race and I’ll just get frustrated and aggravated if I stay in bed… and Nate get’s frustrated, too because I’ll keep him up. I would just like it if someone would hit me over the head with a rock me to sleep!

Does anyone else have this problem?

But, hey, good news id it’s ten ‘till midnight and I’m starting to settle. I may get to sleep before 12:30! YEA!! I’m booking it!

~ ’Night

Burnt Out

I am burnt out.
I'm just going to do a quick review of the past two weeks.

• Sean decides he doesn't have enough toys out in his room.

(Full story in later post)

• Nate hates his job right now and I don't blame him.

• Sean's pink eye cleared up. (Yea!)

• My friend Lacy came to visit Sean, Tobey and me one afternoon. :)
  

• I get the stomach flu.

• Sean turns 7 months!

• Sean keeps pooping out his diapers.

• Nate and I messed the Tony's because the tape didn't record! (*cries*)

• I find out that Tobey sleeps really funny.

• Sean is fussy from his tooth.

• Sean is trying to cut a top tooth.

• I'm going crazy; nothing new.
  

• Sean gets a new toy.

(A play yard! So much fun!)

So...

Sean had a tummy ache and teething pains yesterday, wouldn't stop screaming, wouldn't take a nap, finally settles down just in time to go get his shots! He slept well last night (we were at Grandma and Grandpas from baby sitting and we were traveling with them today), but woke up at 5am with poop leaking out of his diaper, running down his legs and between his tows, all over the porta-crib and then won't go back to sleep!
We traveled to Auntie Mary Jane's today to give her her retirement gift, stayed for about two-and-a-half hours, then turned around and came home... a six hour trip both ways. Sean is not happy! At least he's asleep.
And speaking of sleep, I'm going there now. Thank you for listing to me vent! :)

Eye See You!

*sigh* Sean has pink eye... in both eyes. It just showed up yesterday when we had some friends over with their three-year-old daughter, so now I'm worried that she may have got it.
I was suspisios of it yesterday, but my mom and Grammy kept telling me it was nothing, even though my gut kept saying it was.
On the Ravelry group At Home Mom's I posted some photos that I took to get other stay at home mothers opinions. It was a unanimous 'pink eye'.
The doctor called in a script for him over the phone. Now I know that doctors don't usually see kids with pink eye, just call in a script. Hu? Who knew?
Sean is okay otherwise; he looks worse than he feels. He is still climbing up on things to stand, still crawling all over Gods green earth, still smiling and laughing, and he still loves his carrots!
He just looks so pathetic! What with his eyes all red and puffy and watery. At least he isn't acting like he's in any pain, other than teething.
The drops were started tonight. Nate is a wonderful daddy and drops the medication in his eyes while I hold Mr. Wiggle Monkey.
Now all we have to do is watch to make sure he didn't catch my mom's bronchitis....
Pray for us!

Half way

Six months old today! Where has the time gone? Everyday I fall in love with something new.
Sean is looking more and more like his daddy with each passing day, but the one thing he got from me that hasn't changed at all are the eyes. Every one says he has my eyes and I couldn't be more thrilled!
Sean is playing with Nate at the moment. It's always so much fun to hear them over the baby monitor. Sean just adores his daddy.
I adore Nate, too... but he does have his moments where I want to strangle him. That is why I made the promise to never blog in the moment when I'm irked at him. It's true that he may deserve my wrath, but the rest of the world doesn't need to know. I get over it, and I see that it's either: 1) so trivial that I don't know why I got upset in the first place; 2) I know what I need to do to work it out; 3) I was just so tired, I was crabby.

Nights are hard at the moment. Sean keeps getting up at 12 midnight like clockwork. I just went to the library today and picked up the book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Dr. Richard Ferber, which was recommended by our pediatrician, and Nate and I are going to read it together. I think that Sean's problem is he has associated sleep with getting fed/sucking. When he wakes up he likes to nurse, and 80% hes not eating, he's just sucking. When he doesn't nurse to sleep, he just likes to be held until he calms down and can be put in his crib with minimal whining: he absolutely HATES Nate snuggling him to sleepy town. This makes me sad for two reasons 1) I'm the only one who can calm him down at 3:30 in the morning when I'm dead tired, and 2) there is no better feeling than a baby snuggling up to you and getting sleepy and I feel like I'm robbing Nate of that. We'll figure something out and start it AQAP (As Quickly As Passable).

Close, but not close enough

Well, I'm technically in early labor. At the birthing class, we were taught to go to the hospital when the contractions are 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute each, for at least one hour. I'm having 1 minute contraction about 3;3.5 minutes apart... for the last three days.
There the right time apart, but they aren't strong enough to do much cervical change. We went to the hospital Sunday morning and they said that they could have kept me, but I would be more comfortable at home.
My grammy (a retired doctor) has been checking me out pretty much once a day and I'm at a good 3cm, but it's just progressing really slow.
I'm pretty tired of this at this moment. It's hard to get around and do the things I need or would like to do. walking is good to get things rolling, but it hasn't work for me yet. Nate and I will power waddle the mall once or twice and they start to hurt, gut then I'm too tired to keep walking (it's hard caring 20-30 pounds in just your belly!). After we get home, I try to take a warm shower to increase oxytocin, but that hasn't worked too well yet.
Apparently, when I am in "true labor", I won't be able to handle the contractions, they say. The problem, I'm pretty good with pain. I survived dislocating my knee six times before having the corrective surgery and a year with an inflamed gallbladder and stones before having it out, both without post-op pain medication (stupid pharmacist tried to give me vicodin, which can kill me). So if I do go into "true labor", I'm not sure that I'll be able to tell because of the high pain tolerents.
I was barely able to walk the dogs today with all of the pelvic pressure, I can't stay at home by myself because of a doting husband and overprotective mother to finish the
"nesting process", there's nothing anyone can do to make me comfortable, and it's still technically too early for the doctors to move this along! I mean, I'm due tomorrow and they won't do anything still! And to top it off, today's 7th Heaven was the one when Lucy went into labor! Just rub it in my face, why don't you universe?
I just want to be done!

Blurp!!

If anyone out there has had a simply wonderful, nothing but sun shine and lollypops pregnancy…. I hate you all.

Okay, I don’t really mean that, but: I can tolerate the achy, pre-arthritic joints; I can fight through the fatigue most days; the mild cramping from the womb growing is nothing compared to my usual cramping, but God, make the nausea go away!

Most days, I wake up so sick to my stomach, I can’t even think of food until well after 1:00 in the afternoon. And every time I go into the kitchen, there’s this horrible rank stench of bad meat (that Hubby can’t smell by the way) I have to hold my breath or I’ll start dry heaving. And going to work… don’t get me started on how many times I’ve gotten sick there! Yes, even the nice smell of fresh baked cookies sends me into a tizzy.

And with the nausea, that just makes the fatigue so much worse! It seems that when I wake up in the morning, I lie in bed for around half-an-hour to an hour trying to find the energy to go to the bathroom.

Saltines are my friends!

The Leach

So, we're trying to think of names to call the baby/fetus/bun/whatever you call it while it's still in the oven. Chicken Knit had 'The Bean' (go check out the pictures of her daughter!) and our music leader at church had 'E.T.'........ Well, you know when you say something once about something/someone and it just sticks? Ours is dubbed "The Leach". Let me explain...
So far, I really haven’t had very many 'negative' effects of pregnancy; I found a way to control the nausea and I've gone from having to pee every 15 minutes to every half hour. But the only thing that seems to be knocking me on my butt is the fatigue, I just have no energy! So yesterday, my sister-in-law and I are hanging out and we're talking about pregnancy stuff and I said, "Yeah, it's just sucking the life out of me, like a leach!" as a joke. Well, now I think that its name 'till I spit it out will be "The Leach" because, that's how I feel.
By the way, any other expecting mothers out there who are having morning/afternoon/night sickness try Preggie Pop Drops. You can get them at Motherhood stores. They're really good tasting, all natural (sugar, corn syrup, citric acid, natural oils, and natural coloring from vegetables’) and only around $5.00 for a pack of 21. It helps calm the tummy without all the artificial chemical crap!