Junk Drawer 12/28/2012

Improvising

I do most of my blog posting at work.  I know, shame shame!  But for some reason I’m not able to access my blog from work anymore.  It hasn’t been blocked but the site just won’t pull up.  So I’m improvising.  I’m trying a feature I haven’t tried before where you email your blog post and it publishes it.

I’m a little unsure of how it’s going to look when it’s published because I won’t be able to edit it before posting it so this will be the test run.

Will it do pictures?

This is a picture I’ve tried and tried to post on Instagram and I can’t because of the stupid cropping feature on Instagram and it cuts some of the text off.  So can I email it to my blogspot and have it published?  Let’s see…

Christmas

Christmas was so much fun but that will have to be a separate blog post.  I am sending out the call for Christmas pictures from those that were there.  I don’t have many since I was playing Santa.  So if you have pictures of my kids or pictures of anyone else that you don’t mind being posted please send them to me.

Testing 1,2,3

Okay, let’s see how this works.

Update - 1/2/2013

I was finally able to log on today so I edited this post and re-posted it.

Junk Drawer 12/13/12

Sending Roses

Everyone has heard the phrase “It’s better to give roses while they’re still alive” in some variation or other. I usually trail off after saying something like “It’s better to send roses now…” My Dad called me several weeks ago to tell me how much he loved me and how special I am to him because he wanted to “give” me “roses” now instead of wishing he had when it’s too late. Although he did assure me that he didn’t think it would be “too late” for awhile. Whew! It got me to thinking though about roses and sending them and who to send them too.

It can be a dangerous thing to send roses publicly to someone or several someones because you risk missing someone and hurting feelings. I had considered writing a post listing everyone I love and cherish and sending them literary bouquets of roses (or at the least daisies!) but I feel like that would steal something from the heartfelt sentiment and possibly have a trite feeling to it or feel that it’s being written out of obligation. Receiving roses is a special thing even if you live on a rose farm and sleep on sheets made from rose petals…it’s the thought that makes it special. Knowing that someone singled you out to let you know you’re special to them. I was inspired by my Dad’s lovely bouquet and I want to send some of my own. So look for Sending Roses posts sometime in the near future.

Petty Devastation

For the record I’m using the word “devastation” in a very exaggerated way. I’m by no means really devastated. Except that I am – pettily.

I Corinthians 11:15:

“…if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her…”

My “glory” has taken a pretty strong hit recently. I’ve written that my hair is falling out in clumps due to postpartum hormone fluctuations and so far the new pregnancy hormones haven’t reversed that trend. My ponytail is probably a 1/5th of its previous thickness. Seeing as this is the second time I’ve been in this particular boat I tell myself “this too shall pass” and soldier on. But a discovery was made last weekend regarding my “glory” that I fear can’t be undone not with any permanent solution.

It is with great sadness I announce that due to advanced maternal age – I have tons and tons of gray hair. It’s been disguising itself as “blonde” hair but upon closer inspection it’s most definitely not blonde.

I haven’t come to terms with this unexpected turn of events yet. My crowning glory has turned from gold to silver.

A moment of silence to observe the loss of youth would be in order.

11 Weeks

We've made a decision on where we're going to have this baby. After stressing out about finances and mentally avoiding the problem because I couldn't figure out how to solve it I started thinking about getting prenatal care and delivering at the Chickasaw hospital. It would be 100% covered and I would only be out the inconvenience of having to travel once a month (until the end) for an appointment.

Once we made the decision and I made an appointment the burden that lifted off my shoulders was immense. We still have plenty of other things we have to think about but I find myself thinking about and planning for a baby. That's exciting. Maybe unexpected but exciting nonetheless.

Who will he look like - who's coloring will he have - what's his name - is he a he?

I still have moments of extreme fatigue but that's slowly going away and the nausea is almost completely gone. I still get bloated some but for the most part there is nothing happening that says "YOU'RE PREGNANT!"

I'm looking forward to my first appointment - three more weeks - where we'll hopefully get to hear his heartbeat and maybe get to see the little bean.

Joey is Six Months!

Well, he’s been six months for almost 2 weeks now but I’m just now getting around to posting about his six month appointment.

The Dr congratulated me on our happy surprise 2.5 weeks ago when I took Joey in for a sick visit (HFMD). She assured me that it was highly unlikely that I would get it and transfer it to the baby and then said she was happy and excited for us because we make “pretty babies”. So there you have it…a DOCTOR said that we make pretty babies. It’s official.

At that visit they weighed Joey in his diaper and socks and he weighed 21lbs. The next week when we went back for his six month check up he was weighed properly in his birthday suit. Then he was measured, but not in his birthday suit which is also proper. Here are the results:

21 lbs 4 oz
27 inches

Just to put it in perspective I believe Jimmy is somewhere around 25 lbs and 34 inches.

1st Wrestling Match

Of MANY, I'm sure!

It may LOOK like Jimmy has the upper hand in this match but what you don’t see at the end is Jimmy laying prostrate in tears because Joey has a handful of his luxurious locks and won’t let go. 

I won't lie...I died laughing.

Pregnancy #3 - Catching Up

End of Week 6 - 11/14/2012

What a shock.

Pretty lingerie: $25 - $150
Contraceptives: $0 - covered by insurance
Not using either: Life Changing!

Walked around in a fog for a day. The fog cleared though and the future is sunny and bright...though we really need to win the lottery.

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Week 7 - 11/16/2012

The Baby Center guide says I'm at Week 7 already so we'll go with that.

The fatigue is really setting in and so is the nausea. I'm usually famished at breakfast and lunch and feel really shaky until I get something to eat and then by the evening I'm just nauseous and although it helps to eat my appetite just disappears.

I threw up the first time last night and then just felt miserable. I'm crossing my fingers this only lasts a few more weeks.

I'm already more scatterbrained than normal too. The other day I finished rinsing my pump parts, dried them off and threw them in the trash! I didn't even realize it until when I was packing everything up I noticed I only had half the parts!

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Setting the Stage

Let me set it up for you.

Monday morning - 3:00 am
I’m exhausted for no other apparent reason other than I have a 5 ½ month old that still wakes up 3 times a night to eat. Not only am I exhausted from waking up but Joey seems to be very dissatisfied with breastfeeding. I’d noticed a dip in supply recently which usually accompanies Aunt Flo’s monthly visit so I assumed his increasing fussiness at the breast was because he wasn’t getting as much as he is normally used too.

I’ve been stressing over this supply dip among 10 million other things that have landed on our plates to stress about recently. Since stress is a well known culprit in delaying Aunt Flo’s visit I lay there thinking about how to relieve my stress so that she can show up and my supply can resume it’s normal overabundance and Joey can be happy again. Not only will he get enough but he won’t fuss as much and I actually sleep while he’s nursing. I’d pretty much do anything to get more sleep at this point.

3:15 am
Maybe I can take a pregnancy test and trick my body into doing what it’s supposed to do. That’s always helped before. It never fails - Aunt Flo is late (breastfeeding messing with my cycles), I freak out that I’m pregnant, I test, Aunt Flo shows up the next day - because I stopped stressing that I’m pregnant.

Nah, I’ll wait until it’s time to get up.

Now that I’m thinking about testing I can’t stop thinking about testing.

Now I’m really freaking myself out.

Oh God! What if I really am pregnant??

Aunt Flo will show up. I’m never testing again. If I’m pregnant I don’t want to know.

Oh crap.

3:30 am
I can’t help myself. Joey is finally asleep but I’m obviously not going to get anymore sleep until I know one way or another.

Thankfully I have to pee.

I do the pee-pee dance while searching for my pregnancy tests under the sink.

The instructions say wait 5 minutes for the results.

Peeing on the stick.

BAM! Less than 5 seconds – 2 lines!

And God laughed.

Happy Surprise!

Baby #3 Arriving July, 2013