backround

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Oh hey 32 weeks - I remember you!

Here we are - 32 weeks pregnant and exhausted.  I am seriously over all the peeing too.  I feel like I never stop peeing.  Even if I don't drink much, I have to pee.  And if I drink the recommended amount of water, it is like I have my finger over a hole in a dam and every time I stand up I take it off and need to rush to the bathroom.

The pre-nesting organization kick I am on hasn't stopped either.  Monday I went through my spice cabinet and made an Excel spreadsheet with a list of every spice and how much I had in alphabetical order.  Then I did the same with my freezers.  Out of control I tell you.

Of course, these little bursts of energy are followed immediately by me plopping onto the couch and watching seven episodes of "Snapped", stopping only when my husband gently hints to me that he fears for his safety since I now know all the ways in the world to kill him and hide the evidence.

I should admit that I am fortunate to have the most patient husband ever.  We are complete opposites when it comes to sleep schedules and he has definitely overindulged my love of sleep and laziness throughout the pregnancy.  He has been the one to wake up with the dog and the kidlet every weekend while he lets me sleep as late as I want to... then he stays up as late as he can so he can watch movies and cuddle with me.  He has also been dealing really well with my need to make list after list of tasks to complete before the baby gets here.  And the crying that ensues in the middle of the night when I think of what we haven't prepared for yet.  Yep, he's amazing.

There is very little left to be done (I feel like this has been my mantra to Hubs over the past few weeks to convince him to keep going).  Hubs is going to paint and finish the last of the big projects during his week off of work, and then comes my favorite part - organizing tiny little outfits and diapers in bins and drawers, setting up the crib and the nursery.  My in-laws have been amazing throughout this pregnancy too... as I purge the house of everything that isn't treasured or nailed down, they've made at least 5 trips over here to fill up their truck and take things to the Goodwill.  We must have given away an entire second house by now, and it is incredible how great it feels to get rid of things you know are just sitting around and you'll never use again.  It has taken a bit longer than we originally thought to get everything finished - but really it is my fault because I keep thinking of "just one more thing"... Hahaha!

Back to watching one of my guilty pleasure shows - "Campus PD".  Today is definitely one of my lazy days.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The One Where I Got To Practice

Last week was an adventure to be sure!  We had a great time grilling out on Saturday with our families and a few of my girlfriends to celebrate Baby Vegas.   Food, chocolate, gossip, and gifts - what's not to love?!  I was so excited to have everyone over I seriously overdid it on the standing and running around, and paid for it dearly the next day.  I spent most of Sunday in bed with sore feet and an aching back.

Me and Hubs!


Monday and Tuesday one of my girlfriends needed a sitter for her little one while she worked.  Her daughter is five months old and the cutest thing I've ever seen, so I jumped at the chance to watch her.  Of course, Monday was astonishingly easy... she ate, she giggled, she slept, she smelled so good I wanted to eat her (Little Man, I love you, but you smell like a Big Kid)... after her momma picked her up I called my own mom and bragged about how I was the baby whisperer.  No really.  I was a freakin' genius with the babies.  I even managed to cook and do laundry. YOU GUYS BABIES ARE SO EASY!

Then it was Tuesday.  And the baby came back for Round 2. Which she won, hands down. She was still really cute, she smelled good, she was really snuggly...  But she didn't have her magical go-to-sleep-binky.  So she didn't sleep.  She just wanted to be held, or she would cry.  Which made my Little Man cry and cling to my leg in response to the noise.  Which made my dog bark at the insanity of two crying ickle beasties.  YOU GUYS BABIES ARE SO HARD!   So my husband came home early from work arrived in the nick of time so we could divide and conquer the tiny humans. [And I should note here that if I hadn't already been pregnant, the sight of my husband cooing at and carrying a tiny little baby would have gotten me knocked up immediately.]  When I talked to my mother that night I implied that perhaps I will be letting Baby Vegas stay in my womb until he is two or three and I am ready to take care of him.

So the rest of the week seemed uneventful after my babysitting adventures.  I had an OB checkup where I found out I am finally gaining weight - 4 lbs in two weeks!  Yikes!  It actually still leaves me under where the "average" weight gain is for 32 weeks (+13 overall) but I am not really thrilled it is all showing up so fast!  If I look at my weekly pictures though I can tell I've finally "popped" and gotten that preggo-belly, so hopefully that's where I put most of the poundage.

See!  Belly-time!
Then on Friday the baby girl came back over for a lunch date (with her mom and another friend of mine), and was such a precious little angel I decided I would let Baby Vegas come out of the womb on time after all.  Not to mention it is getting seriously crowded in there... he is a pushy little fellow!  His kicks and movements are almost sharp, and very aggressive - I definitely don't remember them being like that with Little Man.

So overall, baby-sitting was a great success.  I got to help out a great friend of mine, snuggle with a cute baby, and remember that despite the occasional rough patch with a little one, it is all worth it when they smile at you and fall asleep.  I cannot wait to have a sweet-smelling bundle of newborn baby in my arms come August.   And I will definitely be baby-sitting again sometime, although perhaps I will not be so quick to name myself Baby Whisperer...

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The One Where We Register For School

Little Man is officially in the school system and pre-registered for kindergarten next year.  It kind of makes me want to start panicking.  He will be five in July - that seems so much farther from babyhood than four.

We went down to his local elementary school to register him, which was a feat in itself.  Somehow despite all my best laid plans of having every single piece of information from his multiple doctors and working for weeks to make sure everything was in place, I ended up forgetting to bring proof of residency.  Facepalm.  So in the middle of a monsoon, I end up dragging Little Man back and forth to school 4 times, and then I still had somehow misplaced one of the forms and ended up filling out extra paperwork in the office.  I had thought everything being done at home would make for a short trip, so Little Man was running around the office in circles trying to explore, while I frantically filled in tiny little boxes and bribed him with the stale Sour Patch kids in the bottom of my purse.  Mom of the Year.  Then cue awkward whispers from the staff about how we need to rush his registration because he's *special*.  Little Man does not care at all that he's "special" so there is no need to invoke the stage whisper.  Besides, I think it only works in '90s sitcoms.

Of course, the best part of all the chaos is that Little Man's local elementary school does not actually have a very large special needs program (ahhh the stage whispers make more sense now).  He will more than likely end up being sent to an elementary school that has separate special education classes, which is what I think will be most beneficial for him right now.  Since he's still not potty-trained, still non-verbal, and still putting everything in his mouth - I'm 100% against putting him in a classroom full of boisterous, academically-focused*, germy little kidlets.  While I do think that typical kids can benefit from learning alongside non-typical kids, I think that Little Man is just too far behind his peers right now to be ready for a completely inclusive kindergarten setting.  So we shall see what happens at his IEP meeting.  My ideal setting for him is in a special education class with a para educator following him all day long - including bus rides.  From what I've gathered it isn't out of the realm of possibility, and that other kids in the county do get these services. We got notified this morning that his developmental testing will be the first week of July, and his IEP will follow shortly after.  So hope for smooth sailing and send us good thoughts!

*As in, they are learning colors and numbers while Little Man is focusing on life skills and therapy
My goofball
There are only 64 days left (more or less) til Baby Vegas makes his appearance on the scene.  This Saturday I'm having family and a couple girlfriends over to celebrate!  My mother, sister, and best friend are all leaving the country for long periods of time over the summer and won't be back til a week before the baby is born, so I wanted to squeeze in a quick party before they left.  Hubs and I are in cleaning mode getting the last few house projects in order before they come down to visit.  We just finished the new guest room and are almost finished clearing out the space for the nursery.  I'm a little frustrated because somehow in the 3 moves I've had since Little Man was born I have lost a couple of my favorite baby items to the great moving truck in the sky.  -___-  I know I wouldn't purposefully have thrown them out, and we have scoured and reorganized every single corner of this house with no luck finding them.  Blegh.

Then I opened the trash bag that was storing the infant car seat out in the garage (3 moves, and I'm classy), and the car seat fabric is covered in mold!  Does anyone know if this can be salvaged, and if so... how?!?!  Help!  I think we are going to get a new carseat for the baby anyways because this one is a Graco, which is nice for the travel set aspect but it is so so heavy when you stick that baby in it - but I would like to have this one usable for a backup/the second car.

So that's everything I think I needed to catch up on...It's Wednesday so that means I have some serious grocery planning/shopping to get done today.