Back to Square One with Baby Two.

I've done a very silly thing. I opened a can that should not have been opened.

Yesterday, I timidly started looking at BABY GEAR again. You know... the strollers... the bouncing, vibrating, rocking, moon launching, MP3 compatible contraptions that cost an arm and a leg and come in every color imaginable: wasabi green, lemonade yellow, mandarin orange, and deep plum.

All these color choices are making me hungry.

There is one contraption that far out does them all, however, in the area of uniqueness and SAY WHAT NOW?-ish-ness ... And there is a small part of me that MUST HAVE IT.



It's the Swiss Strolli Rider, and it attaches to practically any stroller.

How fun is that?

Here's why it's appealing to me: Ezra will be four years old by the time this coming baby is born, and we haven't used a stroller for him in the last two years or so. He's a roamer. But it would be nice to have SOME place to corral him while I'm pushing the baby around in crowded places or whatever, and there definetly isn't any need for us to get a huge arse double stroller to contain him.

I've also looked at these types of things:



...where you attach a board to your stroller that older kids can ride on, but I have one question about the logistical layout of this idea. HOW DO YOU WALK WITH THIS THING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU? That space she's riding on there? THAT'S WHERE MY FEET GO. Right? I'm confused as to how this can be practical. My legs are long and I need me some serious striding room. I suppose I could waddle around town with this board at my feet, but I think I'll have had my fill of "waddling" by the end of this pregnancy thankyouverymuch. Heck, I'm already waddling around and I've got 20 more weeks to go.

Also, while we're on the subject of hauling multiple children around town, I have a question for all you more experienced parents out there. Last night I woke up out of a deep sleep and suddenly could not stop thinking about one thing:

How do you take a blobby infant AND a toddler grocery shopping?? HOW?! If you pile the children on/in the cart, there's no room for the food! What is the best way to manage this? Baby carriers? Toddler leashes? Grocery delivery services? Finding alternative means of living that don't involve food?

I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing again. Prolly because I DON'T. (And never really did.)

heh.

18 Weeks Pregnant... and things!

Thanks to you all for your FABULOUS hair advice on my last post!! I've decided to just keep on keepin' on for now... so hats and flat irons have become my best friends for now. I will probably get the mane 'cleaned up' sometime soon, but for now I am going to wait. THANKS FOR HELPING ME!!!
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Ezra started school on Tuesday.

The apple was for his teacher and the smile was for pure joy at the prospect of getting to PLAY again and not be holed up with mamma all day everyday.

(I had a similar smile on my face as well. heh.)

He loooves school, and is doing really well in his class so far.
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I am EIGHTEEN weeks pregnant already. Excuse me, say whaaa?

There are only about 11 days, 23 hours, 37 minutes, and 21 seconds until we find out what we're having.

Not that I'm counting or anything.

I heard another fabulous idea about how to make 'finding out the gender' more special/fun. A friend of my neighbor's told me they had the technician write the sex down on a card and seal it up. Then they took that card to a bakery and told the bakers to make a cake covered with white frosting, but to die the inside of the cake pink or blue according to what the card said. On the top of the cake they wrote "It's A ....?" Then, they took the cake home and invited all their friends/family over for dessert & coffee. Everyone gathered around when they cut into the cake, and everyone got to find out together what they were having by the pink or blue insides!

Isn't that so SWEET? (PUN alert.) And ELABORATE? I love the idea but reallllly don't know if I have the patience for any extra hours of waiting. But Chris likes the idea, so it's not entirely off our plates yet. (I'm feeling PUNtastic today.)

I'm still feeling good, although my back is cracking all the time and bothering me at night which makes me feel like a geezer. I was a sprite 21 years of age when I first got pregnant with Ezra, and I guess all these aches and pains (I'm not even halfway yet!!) make me feel old-ish.

I think part of it may have to do with the fact that last time I was pregnant, I had Diastasis Recti, which is where the abdominal muscles separate in pregnancy and you get a nice, pointy, triangular belly instead of a cute little round one.

Apparently, there are exercises you can do after pregnancy to try and fuse these muscles together again, but I was unaware of the need to do anything about it at the time. So, my muscles stayed separated. I know this because whenever I flex my abdominal muscles now, my preggo belly turns into a pointy, triangular ridge again. I've heard this can cause some women back pain with subsequent pregnancies, and I'm thinking that may be part of the reason I am feeling rickety. Did anyone else have a triangular belly while pregnant? I felt like an alien last time around. Like a freaky-freak of nature.
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Lastly, MY HUSBAND IS AMAZING.

photo credit: the amazing Sam Lamb
Whenever he comes home from work and can tell it has been "one of those days" at home, he borrows the neighbor's bike trailer, straps the kids in, and disappears with them for an hour or so... riding them around and taking them to play at the park. He's one of those husbands... one of those dads... and I am a lucky, lucky, LUCKY woman to have him. He's so considerate and observant and understanding. I love you, baby!

Operation: Grow Hair! (Month Twenty.)

Operation: Grow Hair! has been tediously trucking along for almost 20 months now. In this photo taken by Ezra a couple of days ago, you can see the progress so far. Pretty long, no?

I trimmed my bangs WAY too short the other day and am now forced to pin them back until they reach an acceptable length again. Like, oh, say, 3 years from now.

Here's the thing... in this much less flattering shot taken moments later by my three-year-old personal photographer, you can see what I'm really dealing with here.



POOFY, thick, unmanageable hair that is so full of layers it might as well be a pre-teen fall wardrobe.

I need help.

I was fine with hiding the mess by wearing it up day after day after day, and have even begun to resort back to the hippie beanie days to contain the hairsplosion, but it's getting to the point where something needs to be done. And fast.



Even my sweet husband suggested I do something about it this morning. "Maybe a trim? Or they could thin it out a bit on the bottom...?"

When your own husband starts commenting on the unruliness of your hair, I think it's pretty obvious there's a problem.

So... I am lost. I love the length of my hair right now, but only the BOTTOM LAYER is that long. The rest is quite a bit shorter. Do I keep hiding the rat's nest and trudge through? Do I trim the bottom layer to the length of the top layers and grow it all out equally? Do I become a recluse for the next three years and fervently pray to God that He have mercy on my soul?

I need personal experience and opinions here, dear internets.

I need code red intervention.

I need... relief.

Yours Truly,
DROWNING IN HAIR *HACK*HACK*, Oklahoma.

Do Pregnancy and Cruises mix? NO. NO THEY DO NOT.

Thanks to an anonymous commenter yesterday who had the presence of mind to say, "Um... have you checked the boat policy regarding your ginormous growing abdomen?", I have now been informed that I am actually completely NOT ALLOWED on the cruise ship after all. They will not allow you to board if you are more than 24 weeks along in a pregnancy. I will be quite a bit more than that in mid November. This didn't even cross my mind, and it probably never would have if someone had not mentioned it to me. (I'm quite the well-versed traveler, you see.)

So, no cruise for me. Or my husband. The question of whether to bring Ezra or not is now a moot point.

I feel... persecuted against. HAHA not really. I'm totally fine with it overall... I'm just bummed to miss out on a family get together. I mean, is there anyone who deserves a cruise more than pregnant women??

It is now my life's mission to create a cruise line entirely for preggos. (Gestational Groove Cruise!!) There will be virgin daiquiris and massage tables as far as the eye can see. There will be room service and people standing around just waiting to help hoist you up out of your pool side lounger. The kitchen will be overflowing with avocados and pickles, and bedtime will be... uh...urr... EIGHT. ish.

Also? LOTS of bathrooms. For all those squashed bladders on board. And maybe we'll never really leave port, because the rolling of the open sea may induce nausea.

We'll be a wild bunch, we will.

(I'm SO going to be a millionaire.)

Toddlers and Cruises... Do They Mix?

Ezra is sick. After we came home from the warehouse filled with bounce houses this morning, he sprawled out flat on the couch, refused to eat food, and felt a million-degrees hot. I gave him a cool bath and read him some stories. He fell asleep before I could finish singing him a song. Right now he has a 101.1 fever. Poor monkey poo pooooooo.

I applied for a job at the library across the street from me. If I could, I would LIVE at the library. I could just set up a cozy nook in some remote corner of the place and be happy as a clam. Working there would be joy for me.

I've started my reading for becoming a Bradley Instructor. I need to read and outline a couple of books and then I am going to send in my application after that. The thrill of studying and working towards something already has me giddy with excitement. There's nothing better than a binder full of crisp, blank paper and a fresh set of pens. {{{Nerd alert}}}

My family is going on a 4 day Baja cruise in November, and Chris and I are trying to decide whether we should bring Ezra with us or not. I imagine the trip would be much more fun/relaxing without him, and I'm just not sure how well a 3 year old would do on a cruise ship. Anyone have experience with that? Flip side- this trip may be the only time we get to see my family during the Holidays, so I would hate for them to not see him at all. SAD FACE. I won't want to be traveling for Christmas because I'll be a bajillion months pregnant, and two or three days in a car just isn't practical at that point. So we're trying to figure out what that's going to look like this year. Either way: CRUISE! Yeah yeah!

Ezra starts school next week. (Well, technically it's a mother's day out program.) That means I'll have some time to myself again before the baby comes. I think this is a very good thing, because Ezra and I have become practically attached at the hip this Summer. It's been great, and I have loved this extra time with my boy, but I'm ready to have a little breathing room. He'll be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-2. BLISS.

Lastly, I've been craving avocados and cucumbers like a mad woman lately. I like to put them on bread with some mayo and salt and cheese and eat their guts out.

Woot.

17 Weeks Pregnant.

I had my second prenatal appointment a couple of days ago and it went really, really well. We met a new midwife (Leeanna) and she was absolutely everything I believe a midwife should be. Friendly, personable, laid back, and open to any and all questions I could come up with. She also had wispy hair and a wispy skirt to boot. And I love her.

We got to hear the glorious heartbeat of this amazing new human (SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH) and Leeanna beamed just as much as I did as the sound of life filled the room. She said she/he sounded perfect. Everything is going really well at this point in the pregnancy- I am finally feeling good most of the time and I am enjoying the wonderful experience of feeling this baby poke and swim around inside of me like a little goldfish in a bowl. Tink tink! So crazy!



I have an ultrasound scheduled for September 10th. That's only 3.5 weeks until we can find out what we're having! I am so excited I could squee. Or, perhaps more appropriatley, PEE. With this second pregnancy my bladder has proven to be a bit... um... weak. Please tell me I'm not alone in this. Let's just say that sneezing now has new, unexpected tribulations to accompany it. AHEM.




Here's a fun tip for those of you who are preggo or who will become preggo in the future and are planning to find out the sex of the baby: (My friend told me about this idea, and we did it with Ezra, and it was AWESOME! So, DO IT!) (Ummm... If you want to.)

I made a cute little blank card and stuck it in an envelope and we brought it with us to the appointment. Before the technician started the ultrasound, we told her that we wanted to know the sex of the baby, but that we didn't want her to tell us out loud. I handed her the blank card and asked her to write it down for me and then put the card back in the envelope.

She did the ultrasound, never saying one way or another what we were having, and afterwards, we grabbed the envelope with the big news inside and we slipped off to a romantic lunch spot overlooking the ocean. Chris and I were GIDDY and completely nervous as we stared at the envelope resting on the table in front of us. Should we open it now? Before lunch? After lunch? Over dessert??

In the end, we couldn't even wait long enough to get our drink orders.

We tore the envelope open and started crying right there in the resaurant. It was a boy. It was Ezra. And it was one of the sweetest memories I have with my husband.

That card is now in Ezra's scrapbook. (The scrapbook that never really got finished. Or, even, STARTED for that matter. Oy vey.)

So, try it sometime! We're planning on doing the same thing with this pregnancy. The only thing missing this time around will be the ocean.

So... other than that, not much is new. I am going to apply at a Starbucks near my house that is looking for temporary help. (They are one of the stores that will be closing in the next few months.) They desperately need some help in the meantime. It could be perfect!

We have some friends living with us for a few weeks and it has been awesome. They have a little girl who is almost two, and Ezra just adores her.




Life is lovely.

Arrrrgg, Matey.

Sorry for my absence this week. I'm off to my second prenatal appointment, but I thought I'd leave you with this picture that my friend took of our family at her son's 4th birthday party:



BEST FAMILY PICTURE EVER!!!!!!!

My Mid-Morning Meltdown.

Had a mini melt-down this morning re: the state of my very dirty house and feeling the pressure of eventually making room for IMPENDING BABY.

We just set up a new twin sized bed in Ezra's room, but because of the way his room is layed out, there was only one place to put the bed and it's just not working for me. Feels too cluttered.

Now, we're thinking we will make the current office into Ezra's room, and eventually turn Ezra's old room into the nursery for the new baby.

The rooms in this house are all so tiny.

After much thought, we've squeezed our desk from the office into the kitchen. Because it was either that or get rid of it entirely- and we still need a desk area for papers/bill paying. And it works fine in here, it really does, but I guess I am just feeling the pinch of 'too much stuff and nowhere to put it all'.




Deep down I know that this is totally ridiculous. ONLY IN AMERICA would you find a woman crying over the fact that she only has THREE BEDROOMS! Waahh! Is that the world's tiniest violin I hear?

It is completely an American mentality that we need so much space and room to function and raise a family. And I got caught up in that this morning (much to my husband's dismay) as he hugged me and reasoned me back to sanity and eagerly helped me by moving furniture from one corner of a room to another. And then back again.

On the heels of this meltdown came the similar 'I need to go find a real job and help pay bills' meltdown. I have an impressive resume for such a task. It goes like this: Stay at home mom who worked at a restaurant once. Now... Someone hire me and pay me enough money to cover the cost of two small children in full time care!

What?? No takers??

I know this is silly too. I don't want someone else to raise my kids for me so that I can afford more house to fill with my stuff. Yet somehow, my priorities were all out of whack as I rolled out of bed this morning and I forgot all about that. AND IT WASN'T PRETTY.

I'm feeling better now, though. My house is still dirty and the rooms still feel like an impossible 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in my head, but I'm slowly remembering that there are more important things than "elbow room" in this world.

Like health and hospitality and a grateful heart for this amazing house and family.

So.... I'm working on that. And ignoring the dust for another day. *cough sneeze*

15 Weeks Pregnant

15 weeks pregnant.

I had a moment the other day... just a random blip as I caught myself casually resting my hand on my belly... I saw a flash of a newborn baby in front of my eyes, cooing and kicking, and I was kissing its belly. And suddenly this little human growing inside of me seemed so intensely REAL. Up until a few days ago, this pregnancy had seemed so far away- like it was happening to a clone. Me but somehow not me. It was like I was watching it from the outside. And I have to admit, this feeling of detachment felt strange and lonely.

But in an instant, we connected, this baby and I. No longer a vague sense of life, but a son or daughter. My little superhero or my bity ballerina. A baby I can not WAIT to hold and meet. This unexpected connection hit me like a ton of bricks. I smiled and laughed and jiggled my ever-growing belly as if it were an introductory handshake.

"Hello, baby blip! Nice to meet you!"

Chris & Ezra are feeling like it's a girl, while I have been getting "boy vibes" the last couple of weeks. (And feeling surprisingly fine with those vibes, I might add.)

Whatever this baby is, it is already ridiculously loved and eagerly awaited.

Like Christmas morning times infinity billion.