Ah........Pregnancy Insomnia

For the record, the only reason I'm even posting is because it's 4:30 AM and I can't sleep. I went to bed at around 11, woke up at 2 and have been on the internet since then. I'll probably get exhausted and need to crash right before the kids wake up.

We had family/maternity pics done today by my cousin's wife Alicia. Thank goodness she's family too because Frito was a turd. She is most definitely coming into the Terrible Twos and she was NOT having it today. The Nut went the opposite direction and wanted to be in every single picture. She was even acting as set director and throwing out ideas for poses and where people should stand. Alicia took it all in stride though and we got some great shots in spite of Frito's scowls and The Nut's camera hogging.

Now that the pictures are done this little one is free to come anytime. Except for Monday because my mom and sister will be out of town and my sister says she can't come Friday either because she has movie plans. LOL April 7th is sticking out in my mind although I'm not putting much, if any, stock in it because so far I've had 2 births and NONE of my predictions about them came true either time. It's still fun to speculate though.

I've been told that I'm much more mellow this time around and that people aren't scared to call me so that's nice. However, things didn't get really bad until I hit 40 weeks with Frito so things could change. I think her birth though is what's different about my outlook this time. It happened so fast I went from thinking that I had NO signs of labor and it wasn't ever going to happen to holding a baby in less than 3 hours. It's sort of proof that it really CAN happen even if you feel like you'll be pregnant forever and not to stress over it. The past few days I've been having the tiniest signs that things are settling down where they should be and that I will, indeed, be giving birth soon.

We somehow had lost a video camera AND some of our tapes with Frito's birth and other stuff on them. We searched through the trailer, the house, the rent house we'd been in, my FIL's house where we had stayed and we called relatives to ask if we'd somehow left it at their house, etc. Nada. My FIL actually found it today hanging on his coat rack underneath a jacket. Not only does that mean that we had passed it dozens of times but it's kind of scary because this is the same man who cannot keep up with a checkbook. He lost his checkbook 3 times in 6 months. The last time he called me to say he was heading to the bank to close his account before the stolen checks could be cashed. He called back 5 minutes later to say he had found it------in his OTHER pocket. No kidding.

So I stuck Frito's birth video in and TGTBT walked in to see what I was doing and I started crying. He asked what was wrong and I said, "I can't believe I'm about to do this all over again." He sort of got a soft look on his face and rubbed my back and I realized that he was thinking that I was getting sentimental about having a newborn and all that jazz. I set him straight. "That was the single most excrutiating experience of my life and I'm doing it again!" LOL

It is a little scary to think of the pain because watching that video brought it back pretty clearly but the excitement of labor and seeing that baby for the very first time dulls it somewhat. And I've actually gone from swearing I NEVER want a fast labor again because it's so intense and out of control to hoping this one is even shorter. I figure if I have to hurt I may as well hurt for the least amount of time possible even if it would hurt a little less if labor lasted longer.

As you can see, I'm preoccupied with the birth and nothing but the birth so this may be my last post until the baby is here. Unless I keep up with this insomnia.........

Has it Been This Long??!!

Sorry, guys! I'm at the point in pregnancy I always get to where it pisses me off to do anything but go into labor so I haven't been keeping up.

I'm 38 weeks tomorrow and although I've gone over 40 weeks both previous pregnancies I still dream of it happening "any minute." Realistically I know it could easily be another FIVE WEEKS and that doesn't settle well with me so I sort of fixate on the "any minute" thing.

My midwife doesn't have any births scheduled when I'm due so she's going to park an RV in our driveway and live there until the birth. It feels weird to me for her to do that but my labor with Frito was under 3 hours and she lives 2 hours away. She was in the house 26 seconds before Frito was born and it really stressed her out so she'll feel more comfortable this way. And it'll be nice to not have to second-guess if it's time to call her because I won't be worried about bothering her for nothing.

The Nut had open house at school tonight and we got to see all of her Texas history work. She had a pecan tree with Honey Smacks glued on as the pecans, a mockingbird with her handprints as wings and this lovely little story she wrote (I'm replacing their real names just as I do in the blog but for those who know us, she used an "i" instead of an "o" for Frito's real name):

Cowgirl Frito

My name is Frito.
I am rideing a cow.
My sisters name is The Nut.
I have black heer. (Actually, Frito has blonde hair)
I have a red hat.
The rope is brown.
I am saying yee hall. (That cracks me up)
I am wering boots.
I am having fun.
We are smiling.

Flows very nicely, doesn't it?

The other day we were all coming home from going out to eat and TGTBT and I were TRYING to have a conversation and she was in the back saying, "What?" "Huh?" "He did what?" every few seconds and I finally said, "That's enough! This conversation does not involve you and it's taking 10 times as long as it should because you keep interrupting us!" She was quiet for a minute and then said, "I need to get me some hearing aids."

I was looking at my belly button yesterday wondering if it was actually going to protrude this pregnancy as it never quite made it out the other 2 times. I remembered being pregnant with Frito and The Nut and I were in the bath together and I was telling her that my belly button was probably going to pop out at some point. Her eyes got huge and she said, "That's ok. I'll catch it. And put it in my mouth to keep it safe."

This is funny.....

although probably only if you know me.

I've been VERY uncomfortable lately and it's getting harder to get around and TGTBT, staying true to his nickname, has just been wonderful. He's been telling me to just rest during the day and he'd take care of laundry and stuff when he gets home from work (and he works 12-hour days). Of course, I ignore him and try to do what I can anyway although it's admittedly not as much as NEEDS to be done. He also is picking up a dishwasher today for the FEMA trailer to make kitchen cleanup easier AND he suggested hiring a cleaning lady.

Calm down, ladies, he's taken. Did I mention he's also extremely romantic, handsome, has dimples and is G.R.E.A.T. in bed? I'll stop there because I don't want to risk being run off the road in an "accident."

So anyway, last night he was washing dishes after supper and I stared at him for a minute and said, "You're such a good husband." He grinned, showing those dimples, and rolled his eyes at me. He said, "Well, you're a good wife."

I popped out laughing and put myself in a world of hurt from the strain. When I caught my breath he said, "I knew that no matter how sincerely I said it that I'd get that reaction."

What a day!

Title makes it looks exciting, doesn't it?

I noticed that my low tire pressure doo-hickey was flashing at me this morning. Nothing new as 3 tires will read 32 PSI and the 4th is flashing at 30 PSI. It's more irritating than anything. I also knew TGTBT had just filled a low tire last week. Except that today the left rear tire is 14. After a round-trip dropping The Nut off at school it's only on 16. So, me being a helpless female when it comes to things like this, I called TGTBT at work to ask what I should do as we had an appointment later that morning that I'd have to drive to.

His first idea was to tell me how to put air in the tire. Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh. Not going to happen. I don't care how idiot-proof it seems or how much he swears there's nothing to it. I will find a way to make the situation even worse. It's a guarantee. I just decide that I'm going to get dressed and take it to the tire place 5 minutes down the road. TGTBT has me convinced that I'll do permanent damage to the car and/or have a horrific wreck on that 5 minute drive. I'm willing to risk it.

Frito and I get dressed and leave and 30 minutes later I've got a patched tire and no more flashing doo-hickey. And it was only $14.95. The day's starting to look up.

I head to Walmart and wander around for 30 minutes picking up odds and ends but not the 1 thing I went there for. I did score a button-up maternity shirt in a very flattering color that I hope will work for my maternity photo shoot in a few weeks. It's really very hard to find a maternity shirt that buttons but I prefer them for the photos since I can expose my belly and nothing else. So that's done and I wait for TGTBT to meet me so we can go to our appointment.

Make the appointment on time and we get good news and I have lunch plans with my mother and sister as soon as I drop TGTBT back off at his truck. I'm really enjoying my day out.

Until.

I've touched briefly on TGTBT's bathroom habits and how it's his one downfall. He decided to be considerate and pass gas outside of the car right before he got in. Unfortunately for me, it apparently was on a delayed time-switch because as I started the car it hit me. I rolled down the windows and began to gag (odors are 1 thing that I cannot handle---especially if I know what they are). At 36 weeks pregnant you really shouldn't gag if you're not already on a toilet. So I sat there in the driver's seat and peed all over myself.

I not only had to drive all the way back sitting in pee clothes but there was no way I had time to go all the way back home before my lunch date. I DID have a gigantic pair of maternity pants that were in the car because I was supposed to be returning them to Walmart anyway so I had to climb in the back of the minivan and take off my pee pants and put the gigantic ones on. As I'm changing Frito is saying, "Pew pew. Hiney." Thanks, honey.

I then get to go back into Walmart to buy some new panties and a better-fitting pair of maternity pants, go into the bathroom to clean up and hope I don't get hassled for shoplifting because the sign right there says "NO MERCHANDISE IN THE RESTROOMS."

To his credit, TGTBT only laughed a little, felt bad about it and only told 1 person he works with. And I made my lunch date on time.

At lunch my sister said something that reminded me of something The Nut did a few weeks ago. I had bought a package of vanilla sandwich cookies and gave her 2 of them for dessert. She ate them in her room. But she brought one back out and gave it to TGTBT saying she didn't want it because she was full. So he popped it into his mouth and was almost finished chewing when he got a strange look on his face and asked, "Did you LICK the cream out of the middle?" The Nut said, "Yeah. I just didn't want the cookie."

He was able to swallow it down but was not a happy camper and she couldn't understand why he wasn't happy that she gave him her cookie. There was an email sent around some time back where a little girl made her daddy a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and halfway through he remembered that they were out of peanut butter and he asked the girl where the peanut butter came from and she said, "Well, we had peanuts so I just chewed them up and put them on the sandwich."

I say TGTBT got off easy.

Hiatus

I can't figure out how to embed pics anywhere but at the beginning so the post will be somewhat disjointed. I know, what else is new? Shut up.

Here is the new back of our house partially completed. I love the new roof-line and can't wait to see the finished product!

Here is the before pic with justthe new slab poured:

Well, I admitted in the beginning that I was worried about the pressures of keeping up with this thing! It's amazing how quickly a week can go by while you put things off for "just one more day."

Let's see........I guess the biggest news is that we attended the Heart Walk for my nephew last weekend. It was a 3K walk and since I barely made it to the park from the parking lot I sat it out. I figured it would be my luck to send myself into preterm labor. I felt so useless sitting there like a big lump while everyone else did their thang. But it was a lovely day and we had a good time and the best news is that my sister met and surpassed her fundraising goal! Yay!

This morning on the way to The Nut's school, Frito let loose with a 45-second long speech that was nothing but babbling and "her" special language. When she was done I said, "Oh, really?" The Nut said, "Do you know what she said?" When I told her that I didn't she said, "She said you're hideous."

It's a good thing I was at a red light because I could not stop laughing. I called my mom immediately and she was appalled and I said, "Oh, she doesn't know what it means. The Nut, do you know what "hideous" means?" She said, "It means disgusting."

Oops! I guess she DOES know! I don't think she was mad at me so I can only guess that somewhere in Frito's speech was something that sounded like "hideous."

She's been having issues with counting money at school. She sometimes mixes up which coins are which and such. She was saying something about a hundred dollar bill and she turned her head to the left and said, "You know, the one with the girl who looks this way."

I was able to go grocery shopping all by my lonesome today because my mom came and sat with Frito. It's just getting VERY hard to even exert that much energy without dealing with hauling a 22-month old around so it was a big help. I thought I'd speed right through since there wouldn't be any distractions but just the opposite happened. I took 2.5 hours because I was ABLE to take my time. Such an odd experience.

With the birth just about a month away I'm getting anxious. I'm very curious to see how this one will go. The Nut's birth was almost 18 hours and a marathon. Frito's was less than 3 and a freight train. I don't know if I want something in the middle for this one or if I should wish for another short one to get it over with. I figure if I survived being steamrolled for Frito's birth I can do it again, right? Right?

I need to find a kiddie pool that will work as a birth pool because our bathtub here barely fits the kids and I'm not spending hundreds of dollars on a real birth pool. And TGTBT has been in there with me for the other 2 births so it has to be big enough for him to fit comfortably too. That's funny that I'm thinking of his comfort, lol. During The Nut's birth I was leaning back on him while pushing and at one point his leg got twisted underneath him and all of his weight AND my weight was on one of his ankles. I had no clue until I watched the video. His face contorted and he opened his mouth in a silent scream and you could see the midwives laughing and my mom actually had to step out of the room. When I watched the video and noticed that I told him, "You're a very smart man. If you had so much as whispered 'ouch' I'd have ripped something off of you."

I'm hungry. Again. I'll try not to let so much time pass by between posts anymore.

Yeah.........I Feel Bad

So, being 33 weeks pregnant is no walk in the park itself but having sinus issues when you're 33 weeks pregnant is like being dragged around the park behind one of those horse-drawn carriages and hitting every steaming pile of horse poo on the way. Here's where I need to give credit where credit is due and say that TGTBT fixed me an amaretto sour and gave me a back rub to help me sleep Saturday night while not saying a word that our tentative plans for lovin' were definitely NOT going to happen.

Speaking of, earlier that day before I felt so bad, he asked if we were going to have a special night that night. I told him that if I got a backrub I might give him "a little sumpin' sumpin'." The Nut pipes up and says, "If I give you a backrub can I have a little sumpin' sumpin'?" TGTBT fell over laughing. I asked her what she wanted and she said a dollar. So she rubbed my shoulders and the rest of the weekend kept asking if she could get a little sumpin' sumpin' for doing chores and stuff. We're choosing to ignore it and hoping that particular phrase leaves her vocabulary shortly.

She also came home Friday with a backpack full of candy and Valentines and kept going on and on about the Fun Dip she got from Justin. The whole afternoon it was Justin this and Fun Dip that. At supper she told TGTBT, "Daddy, don't tell him, because you don't know what he looks like, but I love Justin." So that explains it. She seems to have moved on from the boy she kissed behind the tires on the playground at the beginning of the school year. I met that kid and I can say I'm glad.

I don't know if we've established the differences in my and TGTBT's parenting skills yet. If not, let's just say that he's a much better mother than I am and would probably breastfeed if he had the proper equipment. Our roles are sort of reversed. I'm the one who throws the pillows on the floor and lets them jump on the couch while he pitches a fit about potential broken bones and how they'll surely go to someone else's house and think it's ok to jump on their furniture. For the record, no broken bones yet and while I have seen them jump on someone else's furniture it's because they were following the lead of that person's kid(s).

So, Frito has been climbing onto the chair and then onto the kitchen table. I get her off the table but don't mind her in the chair. Sometime she just stands on the chair to reach a pencil or something off the table and gets back down. Saturday she was in the chair reaching for something and TGTBT yelled, "Frito! Get down!" She turned to look at him and came tumbling down and hit the floor HARD. He runs and gets her and is rocking and kissing her and I'm berating him the whole time. "That was YOUR fault, you know. You distracted her. She would have been fine if you wouldn't have made her turn and look at you. She gets up there all the time and hasn't fallen yet but you get involved and look what happens." And so on and so forth. It was all in good fun and I still got my backrub that night so it's all good.

The local newspaper ran the story of my nephew and my sister's fundraising today. The article turned out much better than we anticipated as the reporter was very rushed and didn't really do an actual interview. So hopefully it will raise awareness of CHDs and possibly some money so the goal for his team is met.

The contractor is coming tomorrow to start the work (YAY) and I think he'll be moving the staircase first which is so terribly exciting to me. I need to get in there this evening and take pictures to document all the changes. Hopefully they get their work done before this weekend so that we can make the Heart Walk on Saturday. Surely I'll feel better by then and the fresh air will do me good.

Kill Me Now

Does anyone know why they're teaching kids in Kindergarten and first grade to count money? Weren't we all on 2+2=4 back then? Do you know how frustrating it is to get the concept of monetary value across to a child who has spent the last 2 years learning to count individual items? The Nut has been able to count by 5s and 10s in her head forever but CANNOT apply that to money. You throw some coins down and tell her to add them and she's lost. I'm trying not to be angry with her because I really think these kids are too young for this but she's SO smart and it's very hard to watch her struggle and not get something that you feel she should grasp easily.

What's worse is that they seem to be flying through it in school whether or not the kids have a good grasp of it or not. I'm worried that she'll get to second grade and they'll build on it thinking the kids got a good foundation in 1st grade and she'll get left behind. I know from experience because I was out for about 2 weeks in 3rd grade when they covered fractions and I STILL have problems with measurements and stuff. Once you get behind it's nearly impossible to catch up because they have to shove so many subjects into the school year so the kids can pass the tests so the school looks good. Never mind that it's the reason we have college students who can barely spell their own name.

Frito is now firmly into the terrible twos. Never mind that she's not actually two yet. But she WILL be...........right before the baby is born. So that'll be good times. And I think she's really ready to potty train because she seems to hate her diapers but I don't know that it's a good idea to get into it now with the baby coming so soon. Because if she doesn't have it down pat within a few weeks it'll have to get put on hold until the baby is at least a few months old and I think interruptions are worse for them than getting a later start.

The Nut was a DREAM to potty train. As soon as she turned 30 months I took a Thursday and Friday off work, put her in panties, gave her a potty chair and made a chart where she could stick colored foil stars every time she went on the potty. She had NO accidents the first day. She went all over the place Friday and I was so confused as I cleaned up after her all day. That Saturday she had no accidents and that was that. The next weekend I remember taking her to the mall with my sister and niece and then to the park afterwards. We'd been at the park for a while when I realized it had been over 5 hours and we hadn't even thought of the bathroom. She hadn't asked and had no accidents either. It was amazing. She night trained just as quickly too.

So either Frito will be just as easy or it'll be a battle of epic proportions. I don't think the odds are good that I'll get 2 kids in a row that easy. Although I said the same thing when The Nut turned out to be such a great sleeper and although the first 6 months were pretty rocky with Frito she turned into a world class sleeper like her sister.

I managed to make a lot of enemies today on Babycenter. Some idiot came up with the idea of having "secret admirers" in honor of Valentine's Day and if you sign up you get to change your screenname to hide who you are and you're assigned someone else who signed up and you follow them around the various boards leaving "love" notes and sappy messages for them. Ugh. Someone started a thread asking opinions and I should have left it alone but I couldn't help it. My first post stated that I would probably kill myself if I had to go back to middle school and it was beyond me how grown women with kids would find the secret admirer thing appealing past middle school and voluntarily involve themselves in it. I was informed that I must be a miserable person who didn't know how to have fun. I then said that the only sort of person I could imagine who would find that game fun probably had a glittery pink Princess keychain and hit the bars every Friday night so I was fine not being grouped in with them. That went over well.

The local news is going to my sister's house tomorrow to do the story on my nephew and it should run in Saturday's paper so if you're local, be sure and check that out. She's about halfway to raising her goal so yay! We have plans to join the walkathon on the 21st but they're really up in the air with me being so close to term and with the work starting on our house any day now. But it would be nice to combine that with a last hurrah trip before the baby comes so I hope everything works out.

I need some ice cream to put out this heartburn from supper. :oP Yes, I know it'll make it worse but that's a risk I'm willing to take.