Turns out we are the proud parents of a gorgeous, healthy, very little girl :)
That's Miss Mini Mac to you!
Barely hanging in
I can make it. It's just one more day of work and tomorrow I'm off. I can do it. Right?
Last night we met with a woman about in-home daycare but weren't thrilled. The search continues, which is hardly unexpected but you always hope for a miracle - that perfect situation - early on so you don't have to go through the stress, legwork, and unease of the whole process. No miracle yet.
My big plan for the weekend is to paint the nursery with my mom. I am definitely feeling like things need to start getting done in preparation for this baby. I feel behind already. How did that happen?
Today is a really full workday, and a long and stressful one. And tonight I have a church function, and then I can relax. Finally, I can relax. And hopefully make good use of the Lush bath ball that Hubs bought me in Florida. It's supposed to be calming.
It's cold, and I'm so tired. Life has been so busy lately. It really does feel like a ride I want to get off of. I want to sit a round out. Preferably in the bathtub.
It's gotta be the accent
Funny thing about Hero and my mom: Hero obeys my mom. I'm guessing it's gotta be the German accent, because he really doesn't obey anyone else. That, and the fact that without uttering a word or making a movement, my mom emits a very strong alpha signal. While she's downstairs with him, the laundry basket is left full on the floor, her slippers rest by the sofa, her tea sits on the coffee table. Hero doesn't touch a thing. He might go near the laundry basket, but then he looks up at my mom who looks sternly at him and he instantly retreats. Can you bottle that for us, please?
Hero is seriously loving my mom being here though. For starters, it means he's not left alone during the day while I'm at work. It also means he gets hours of indoor and outdoor ball tossing, and plenty of walks. He's happy as a little clam. Our guest bedroom is in the basement, and I wake up in the morning to find Hero waiting patiently by the basement door for my mom to come up. Every once in a while he gives a little whimper. "Hurry, Oma, I'm ready to play!"
It's so nice to know that Hero is happy while I'm away. It takes a lot of guilt and stress off my shoulders. I can't imagine how I'll leave a kid behind, when I can barely even manage to leave my dog without feeling like the most awful puppy parent in the world.
Not lovin' the Mondays
Today I have a horrible case of the Mondays. I'm here at work, my mom is at home with Hero, my husband is in Florida. And I want to be in bed with my heating pad, a cup of tea and my netbook :( Or my library book. Any old kind of book will do. With my mom puttering around downstairs and Hero running back and forth between the two of us like a cotton ball on speed.
I'm off on Friday, when we have our 20 week ultrasound and find out the baby's sex! Hubs will be home with us by then, and afterward I get to spend the whole day with my mom and have a long weekend. Right now it's what's keeping me going. Only three more workdays to go...
Someone to watch over me
Yesterday evening I came home from a day of errands, took a nap, and woke up to dinner on the table. I love love love having my mom here! For so many reasons. In the short two days since her arrival I've already learned more about my mom than I have in ages - for some reason I'm full of questions about family history, and as it's just the two of us in the house right now (Hubs is at a conference) it's easy to chat all day long. And the pampering is a lifesaver, I have to admit. There's nothing sweeter when you're pregnant and dead tired from a busy life than having someone take over for you for a little while :)
Could it be?
Last night as we were getting ready for bed Hubs told me Hugh Hefner broke up with the twins!!!!!!!! How exactly Hubs knew that is beyond me... he's not a celebrity gossip kind of guy. But regardless, yay! I asked Hubs if he knew the reason behind the split. He surmised that maybe it's because Hef is 83 and the twins are 18. I surmised that maybe it's because Hef is at least moderately intelligent and the twins are dumb as matching posts.
Feelin' fine
Destruction of stolen property. Back to his naughty self :) Never thought I'd be so happy to see it!
Coming together
Well, things seem to be coming together a little bit better these days. This might be a long post, so I'll bullet point.
- For starters, our weekend was super productive. We finished off our guest room. Okay, not completely - we haven't really decorated it - but we did finally take the leap of getting a sleeper sofa so guests aren't relegated to an air mattress on the floor. We had a hard time deciding on how to furnish the guest room - bed, or sleep sofa? Single function or multipurpose? We finally decided on multipurpose, so that if need be (and second child should appear on the scene sooner rather than later) we can always move the study downstairs. Unless we decide to turn the formal sitting room into a study, but that would require the installation of French doors if I'm working from home because company policy decrees that I need a door on my workspace for privacy. And depending on my hours, being hidden away downstairs would be much more conducive to a productive work life is the kidlet's in the house. We actually had a fun Saturday evening at Ikea. After purchasing our sleeper sofa and arranging for delivery, we had dinner in the café - for $10! And it was a really yummy dinner! I had a vegetable soup that rivals my mom's homemade, and a pretty decent salad. Hubs had Swedish meatballs with lingonberries and those were some tasty Swedish meatballs (as is now customary, I finished my dinner and then started mooching off his plate).
- Sunday I did laundry, finally finished painting the closet in the study, and got things ready for my mom's arrival on Friday. I was so exhausted by Sunday night that I fell into bed and slept harder than I have in ages.
- Also, on Saturday Hubs' dad got released from the rehab place and came home! We welcomed him with homemade signs and had a family lunch to celebrate his homecoming.
- In between putting up signage and lunch, we popped out to visit a church daycare open house that made me think I'd died and gone to Heaven. So. Wonderful. And so $$$$$. But all in all, things are looking up with the daycare situation, at least a little bit. I visited another center about 5 minutes from our house yesterday, and it was a step up from what I'd been seeing. I also got in touch with one of Hubs' childhood friends whose mother used to do in-home daycare, and got several referrals from her (sadly, she herself no longer provides daycare). So there are more options than I'd imagined and I'm excited (rather than dreading) to check them all out and find the best situation for us.
- On a work front, I'm focused on getting my numbers where they would need to be so I'm competitive for an at-home slot. This means über productivity, and I'm exhausted by the end of the week. But I think I could pull it off... fingers crossed. The work-from-home program is becoming very desirable and the competition is definitely stiff, so please cross fingers!
- Today we had an OB appointment and heard the baby's heartbeat - everything's looking good and the baby was moving around like crazy! Our doc had trouble keeping up with him. This is a huge relief because I've read a million things that suggest that as a relatively thin person, I ought to be feeling the baby move by now. And I'm not. At all. So hearing the heart hammering away was much appreciated reassurance. Next Friday we go for our 20 week ultrasound and find out the gender!
- Poor Hero was sick yesterday! He didn't even greet me when I came home last night - he just lay on the floor and looked up at me piteously. He was lethargic and his belly seemed swollen. He just looked up at Hubs and I as if to say "Fix it, please..." It was heartbreaking. But I'm happy to report that last night he threw up, and hence this morning he appears to be back to his normal self - energetic (although still slightly less so) and with wagging tail. When I came home from the OB's he jumped up to greet me and pawed me until I petted him. That's the dog we know and love :)
And that sums up things with us. It's been a tiring few weeks but all in all I'm much more hopeful that things will work out okay for our future. Deep breaths and full steam ahead.
Almost perfect... but not quite
This week at work has been murder, and today's not looking any better. I started off my day with super early appointments, so I was in a rush to make it in on time. I left the house at 6:30, and was making good time. I stopped at Starbucks because I can't take a day like today sans caffeine (and I am not one of those pregnant people who swears off all caffeine - I swore it off for the first trimester but that was mostly because I was vomitting it right back up, along with everything else I ate/drank for 3 months). There was only one woman in front of me in line. Everything was looking good until... she ordered lattes and cappuccinos for her entire office. Srsly. Her entire office.
*$#@&!!!!!!
Opened a can of worms
I'm looking into daycare and so far am not yet finding a center I'm impressed with. Granted, I've just started looking so I'm not saying there isn't one out there for us. But I also want to explore the idea of a licensed in-home daycare provider - anyone have any suggestions of how to go about finding in-home daycares to review/interview? I know the issues with in-home providers (that licenses are not the same as accreditation, that often people providing the care don't have degrees in early childhood development, that there might not be anyone to 'watch over shoulders' that things are being done properly, etc.) but also know sometimes you can stumble upon a real goldmine.
Po-po, why so slow-slow?
On my way into work today, at a time when there should have been no traffic, the drive was slow. Why, you ask? Well I'm glad you asked. It's because there was a state trooper on the highway clocking in BELOW THE SPEED LIMIT and no one (understandably!) wanted to pass him!!! Come on, dude!
I find that in Minnesota everyone, for the most part, goes exactly the speed limit. I had a state trooper pull up beside me one day when I was going 70 in a 60mph zone and instruct me, over his loud speaker, to slow down. Seriously? Well, okay. If that's the way you guys like to play it out here in the frozen tundra.
Exactly the speed limit is annoying, but I can handle it. But below the speed limit is just intolerable!
I know, I know, 'outside my circle of influence.' I just wish his influence hadn't impacted my 20 mile jaunt down 494.
Smile!
Now that I'm no longer nauseous and throwing up 24/7, I was finally able to go to the dentist this morning! Yay! It's Hubs' uncle, so it's not very scary to go there. And my teeth are clean! It actually drove me crazy knowing I was overdue for my 6 month appointment, so I'm feeling a long awaited sense of calm today. Well, that might be mildly overstating my mental wellbeing. I'm feeling, at the very least, a long awaited senes of calm along my gum line. The rest of me is still a little tweaky.
Reprioritizing
It's Saturday and I'm at work. I've been thinking lately, about work. About the baby and work. And about my career aspirations. I think I'm going to focus on trying to get a work-from-home slot before this kid is born. I'd been thinking another route - promotion. The two are sort of mutually exclusive. But lately I've been starting to think about how nice it would be to not have the hassle of going to work, even though I'd still of course have the hassle of doing work. I could drop the baby off at daycare in the morning and go pick the baby up at daycare after work and not have any nightmarish commute in between. One of the daycares we're looking at is less than 2 miles from our house - I could stop in on my lunch break. And it'd be nice not to worry about showering and dressing for work. To be able to start a load of laundry in between client calls. Or empty the dishwasher. Or mail something.
I'd really miss the people. I like socializing at work - I always have enjoyed forming relationships with coworkers. I have several friends here and many acquaintances, and I'd miss seeing their faces. But I think in the grand scheme of things, the tradeoffs might be worth it. I thought I'd need to get out of the house, to never lose this part of myself that makes me feel fulfilled. Not just the work, the going to work. But lately I've been exhausted, and that's without our latest addition doing much other than making it harder for me to squeeze into my dress pants. Once the baby is here, our lives will be so hectic if nothing changes. And I don't like hectic. I like calm, and I'm thinking working from home might offer me my best shot at claiming a little slice of sanity.
Now... to snag a work-from-home slot. I need to start getting ruthless. The gloves'll have to come off for this one.
Pushing limits
Today my commute into work took 1.5 hours, because of the snow. MORE snow. My zen approach to traffic is really being tested.
Plus I faced two horrible words this morning when opening a new package of tights (the only clean ones I have after a week of wearing skirts): control top. Those two words are no friend to a pregnant woman.
Which brings me to another point: maternity clothes. It's odd, but I'm very resistant to buying maternity pants. I'm okay with maternity tops, since I love the babydoll look anyway. But I'm definitely pushing it by continuing to wear my regular pants. I don't want to do the trick with the rubber band, or buy a belly band, so I'm just wearing the pants I own that have a little more give to begin with. About two-thirds of my pants won't button anymore.
What's kept me from ordering from Gap maternity this week is that I'm right at the point where all those Ann Taylor Loft skirts that hung unworn in the back of my closet for years because they were just a little bit too big are fitting perfectly. Score! Except, this means wearing tights. And it's hard to find tights that are comfortable. I guess I could always buy maternity tights - that doesn't seem as scary as maternity pants.
I know my days are numbered here - time is running out.
A mantra to start off your morning
I started off my day sitting in standstill traffic that added 45 minutes to my commute. Boo. I had to call into work to have them cancel my first appointment of since I wasn't moving an inch. It's hard to roll with the punches sometimes, but today I felt oddly calm. Even though things weren't going my way. I just sat back, listened to music, and daydreamed a little bit. It helped that on the morning radio show the hosts were having people call in to recount how they found out they were pregnant and how they shared the news with their partners - those are fun stories to hear. It also helped that yesterday someone said to me in casual conversation, "I realize that it's out of my circle of influence..." when referring to a potentially stressful situation.
That's my new thing now. 'Out of my circle of influence.' I like it! Traffic is 'out of my circle of influence,' hence, no point wasting energy getting upset about it. :)
Try it out with your morning coffee. You might like it too. It's good stuff.
Lamest pregnancy symptom ever
Pregnancy nasal congestion. Seriously?!?!?!
What an unimpressive symptom!
It doesn't in any way make you feel more connected to your baby or like a glowing earth mama. It doesn't even seem related at all. And yet, I snored last night (according to reputable sources) and woke up periodically because I couldn't breathe through my nose.
Here, Mother Nature, I draw the line. That's just stupid!!!
