Thoughts on Pregnancy...

As my second pregnancy comes to a close, I find myself taking notice of issues relating to the "miracle of life" and how nobody really tells you ahead of time what it is all about.

For example -

Did you know that catching a cold during the final weeks of your pregnancy can be like playing an ongoing game of Russian Roulette? Every cough or sneeze is a gamble, depending on when your last trip to the bathroom or how much water you've had to drink recently. (Allergy season can be just as bad!)

Why must mothers sacrifice their bodies in order to have a baby? Everyone knows about how hard it can be to lose "the baby weight," but that is just the beginning! At least baby weight is something relatively controllable with diet and exercise after the baby is born. There are worse fates than baby weight! I was lucky - I survived my first pregnancy unscathed by stretch marks and counted myself lucky. This time, however, purply little spider veins are beginning to protrude on my lower right leg. Gross! Call me vain, but I'd prefer the stretch marks on my belly that nobody will ever see to a road map stretching over my legs that is visible if I wear capris!

I don't care what people say - maternity clothes are not "fashionable" and pregnant women are not "cute." There is nothing like wearing a tent to make somebody bitter when some skinny bitch condescends with some type of comment like, "Oh - you look sooo adorable!" Yeah, well, if I weren't already out of breath from walking up that flight of stairs, I'd show you exactly how adorable pregnant women can be!

But, you know, I have to say that even though this post doesn't sound like it, I love being pregnant. Yes, I miss my lounging on the patio with a margarita. And, yes, I look forward to being able to wear pants with a fly. But, it is cool to feel that little girl wriggling around inside of me and knowing that in a few short weeks, she'll be joining us and we'll get to know this wholly new little person!

Besides - I hear that laser surgery can take care of those spider veins. And I'm doing Kegel's right now for the roulette issue!

Guaranteed to make you smile!!!

And I'm not just saying that because he's my son!

Happy Halloween!

Who am I kidding?

We're up in Mystic, Connecticut right now... My cousin, Amy, is getting married tomorrow. While it rained both days that we were driving up here, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous while we have been in town. I actually should have brought some clothes better suited for warm weather; I thought it would be much cooler while we were here!

My family is loving their first chance to meet Sparky. He's been slightly fussy lately, which is kind of unusual for him. Then, this morning, what should appear but a tiny little tooth poking through his bottom gum! I would be cranky, too! One day after his sixth-month birthday, Sparky sprouted his first little tooth...

I had efficiently procrastinated doing some schoolwork before leaving town for a few reasons. Reason #1 was that I was so freaking busy getting everything ready for our trip that I simply didn't have time. Reason #2 was that I rationalized that I would have some down time on the road and here in the hotel between events to get some stuff done. Haha! Riiiiiiight....

In addition to the test that I have to make up on Thursday and the client notes that I have to finish before my supervision on Thursday morning, I got a nice email from one of my professors reminding us of a paper that is due in class on Wednesday night. Son of a... While the paper won't take that much time to throw together and the notes aren't a huge time burden, I'm really stressing about finding time to study sufficiently for the test, especially considering how far behind on the reading I am in that class.

Anyway, I guess I could be using this time to study or work on the paper or on my notes, but it is 12:15 a.m. Eastern time and I think it will just have to wait until we begin the drive home on Monday...

Now, if I could just get this thing out of reverse...

Not-so-little Sparky is growing faster than I'd ever imagined possible. At 5 1/2 months, he is almost out of his 6-9 month size clothes. Here is a picture of the five bags of baby clothes I packed up to hand-down to his cousin, Ethan, who will be born in a few weeks. While five grocery bags of clothes might not look like a lot of clothing, you have to remember that baby clothes are little. This is probably the equivalent of 5 or 6 huge trash bags stuffed full of adult clothes.


We did choose a few things to keep: The first little onesies that Mike & Paula gave us when we found out we were pregnant, the sleeper he wore in the hospital, the Daddy's team baseball outfit he wore in his three-month photos and one or two others. It breaks my heart to give any of his clothes away... When I asked Dave if there was anything specific he wanted to keep, he said, "All of it." He's just growing up so fast!

Part of growing up is becoming mobile. The Sparkster is now pushing up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. While this is not the best video of his skills, you get the picture. I asked a few moms that I know about how long their babies took to get from rocking to crawling. They said only a few weeks! It is possible that Sparky will be crawling by Halloween! Yikes! Slow down, baby!

On the topic of growing up too fast, I found the sweetest book today titled Let Me Hold You Longer by Karen Kingsbury. Written in rhyme, it talks about how we sometimes focus on a child's "firsts" and miss the "lasts" - the last bottle we give a baby, the last time he falls asleep in your arms, the last hit in a Little League game. I teared up in the store while I was reading it and am tearing up again now. I love my little boy and want him to grow into an independent, intelligent, loyal young man... but, it is bittersweet, because I don't quite want my baby to grow up.

Happy Pirate Day!

Avast! Check out the cutie scrog! It be his first "Talk Like a Pirate Day!"

A more detailed post....

So, it is 6:30 a.m. I've been up for the past hour and a half. "Why?" you ask. Well, it isn't because the baby has been awake. Sparky has typically been sleeping to about 8 or 8:30 in the mornings, which is a beautiful thing. (As a matter of fact, we've cut out the "dreamfeed" and sometimes we'll hear him wake up, talk to himself a bit, then go back to sleep on his own!)

However, this morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. and my mind has been racing ever since. Since I have to wake up in about an hour, I decided to just give up...

I can't believe how stressful things have been around here lately. The classes that I'm taking are completely and totally kicking my @$$. I guess I underestimated how much work I would really have to do and how much time taking care of the baby would take. I thought that if I wasn't working, taking a full load of classes would be no biggie. Wrong!

One of the biggest stressors is the practicum class that I am taking. I have to actually see several clients and video-record the sessions. Then, I have to watch the sessions back and make my notes about the session. Finally, I have to meet with my supervisor weekly to go over the videos and notes. It is time-intensive, to say the least. What caused me to wake up this morning is the fact that I have to meet with my supervisor at 9 a.m. and last night when I got home from class (at 9 p.m.) and tried to watch the video from my session earlier that afternoon, only the first 4 minutes and 9 seconds were on the flash drive. There have been some technical difficulties at the center, to say the least, but I'm freaking out about having to go to supervision unprepared. I did my best to do the notes accurately without having the video, but... *Sigh*

I have a paper due tonight... but, it is already done! Having Sparky around has increased my time management skills exponentially. I'm so worried that he is going to be fussy or something that I won't have time to get something done at the last minute. The paper was a major stressor this week; I have another paper due next Wednesday that I'll be starting within the next day or so.

I'm hosting a Pirate Playdate at the park on Friday, which I committed to way before I knew what this week was really going to be like. (Friday is "International Talk Like a Pirate Day;" one of my favorite secular holidays of the year!) I have a few more things to get ready today, like folding the pirate hats that the kids are going to decorate and making the frozen chocolate-covered banana pirate ships.

On top of everything else, my sister's baby shower is on Sunday. I'm in charge of games and decorations. I've gotten most everything done for this, too: the prizes for the games, ordered the balloons, created the game pages, etc. I still have to run to Kinko's and get copies of the games made, which I think I'll be able to do tomorrow.

The house is a freakin' mess. I can't keep on top of it. If the laundry is finally done, there are dishes piled up. If I've gotten the clean dishes put away, there is mail and junk all over the kitchen table and counter. If the counter is cleared off, the living room is a disaster.

Dave has been a total trooper, making arrangements with his work schedule to be able to take care of Sparky every time I have to be at school earlier or for something new. I worry that he is going to get frustrated, but so far it has been working out okay.

So, there you have it and there you are. I knew going into it that this semester was going to be killer, but hopefully, it will only last for about another 8 weeks before things settle down. And, for those of you who only really come to this blog to check out the pics of my adorable son (and don't think that I don't know who you are), here you go:

Hey, everyone. I haven't had much time to sit at the computer lately, which means even less time to think of a topic and create a blog post. We are just beginning our fourth week of classes for the semester at UMSL and already I am about two weeks behind in the reading I'm to have completed. As a matter of fact, I should be doing that right now, but, well, here I am.

Sparky is going to be 5 months old tomorrow. He is such a sweetie. (Well, except for when he is fussing in his swing, like now.) He has completely mastered the whole rolling over thing and has begun to roll from one side of the room to the other if you aren't looking. He can also push himself up on his arms and get his legs underneath him with his tummy completely off the floor. He's also getting better at passing things from one hand to the other - that is, when he isn't busy sucking on his toes. To show that I am not completely biased, though, I will say that we haven't really moved past making vowel sounds. I'm sure the "dadada" and "mamama" will come soon enough.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and log off now with that boring update. The only topics I have left to discuss are weather and weight loss, and I know nobody is really interested in hearing about either of those. I'll post again when I have more to say. Time to hit the books, for now!

P.S. - 10 days and counting until "International Talk Like a Pirate Day!"

Dave tasted what?!?

We've started Sparky on some rice cereal this week. He's already practically a pro, although sometimes he prefers to play with his bib instead of eating.

Last night, Daddy was feeding the Sparkster while I was at class. He told me this morning that he tasted the rice cereal that he was feeding the baby and that it didn't taste too bad.

I asked: "Did you make the cereal with breastmilk?"

Then, I watched as Dave had a moment of clarity. His eyes got wide as he realized that he had, indeed, ingested breastmilk mixed with the cereal.

Dave tasted breastmilk! Dave tasted breastmilk!

I haven't given him too much trouble about it. But, I'll be sure to hang onto this one, in case I need ammunition in the future.

On another note, watch the video below to watch Sparky hanging out in his Exersaucer. He is just getting so good at exploring everything. It is amazing to see him make visible progress every single day. Plus, he is just damn cute!

Thunder Thighs

Update

For those of you who are interested, I've finally gotten around to updating Sparky's website. You can visit it here.

I'll have a real post within the next day or two. Promise.

A Day at the Zoo...

Time has been flying this summer. I'm only taking one class, but that is plenty to keep me busy in the time that I am not running errands, washing bottles, or changing Sparky's diaper.

Today, however, we found time to take a trip to the zoo with my friends, Carrie and Susan, and their twin babies, Harper and Jackson. It was the first trip to the zoo for all three of the babies.

We saw the chimpanzees:


And the bears:


And, finally, we took a ride on the train. (That is friend Nurse Chris in the picture with us. Yes, the Sparkster is trying to sleep.)

While on a lunch break, we compared baby foot sizes. Harper was born on Valentine's Day of this year, so she is two months older than Sparky. However, he weighs more than either of the twins and as this pic shows, he also has much larger feet.


There's something to be proud of!

Life is good...

Hard to believe that it has been over a month since I last blogged. I can't believe that the entire month of May has gone by and I haven't posted a single thing. Well, life has been busy, to say the least. Sorry for the inconsistency.

That's for those of you who are keeping score. I know you're out there.

How life has changed since that last post. The biggest change since then is that Dave and I have decided that I will not go back to teaching next year. Instead, I will stay home with Sparky during the days and attend classes at UMSL towards my master's in Counseling and Family Therapy during the evenings. When it came down to the few days I had to go back to work this school year, I just knew that I didn't want to go. So, we sat down and looked at our budget:

If you take the cost of daycare
+ Gas for me to drive to & from work
+ The money we'd save by selling my car
+ A few other ways to save here and there
= Breaking even.

It ended up being way more worth it for me to stay home and take care of our son instead of working full time.

However, it ended up being a rather bittersweet decision. As thrilled as I am at the prospect of being able to stay home with Sparky and accelerate my degree program, I was very sad to leave my job. The teaching position that I've held for the last two years has been the most fulfilling job that I've ever had. In addition to truly loving what I teach, I've had more fun with my co-workers than any other teaching position that I've ever held. They are truly dedicated to their jobs and I look up to each and every one of them as people who go the extra mile for their students. Our daily lunch conversations are freakin' hilarious and I will miss them. Luckily, I will have the opportunity to substitute teach and I know that I will make the effort to stay in touch with all of them. I sincerely hope that we don't lose touch.

It is weird to be on "summer vacation" while knowing that I don't have to go back to work this fall. Last summer was the first summer that I haven't worked full time at the pools as a lifeguard or manager since I was 16. This summer I'm not even helping to fill in.

If you would've told me two years ago that I would be taking time off working to stay home with a baby, I would've looked at you like you were crazy. And while I have loved every minute of my life up until this point, I wouldn't change a single thing.

As the title of this post says... Life is good. :o)

Edit: I just noticed that I ended my last post with the same three words. I guess it must be true.

Life as we know it...

Things certainly have changed around here in the past two and a half weeks. Although it seems like Sparky has been here much longer than only eighteen days. I guess when your day is split into three hour (or less) segments, each day seems much longer!

I've never been somebody who felt that I needed to be a mother in order to have my life fulfilled. When Dave and I began seeing each other, we were both of the mindset that we did not want to have children. But, when I hold my little baby and rock him and he curls up and falls asleep on my chest, I think that I can't imagine having gone through life without experiencing this.


Life is good.

Happy Birthday to... Us

Tomorrow is my birthday, and although I normally wouldn't post a birthday greeting to myself, it will also be Sparky's real birth day!

Since I am post-due, the doctor went ahead and scheduled us for an induction tomorrow morning. Dave and I will arrive at the hospital at 6 a.m. and they will start me on Pitosin to get labor going. If all goes well, Sparky should be here sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening.

My birthday is 04.10.80.

Sparky's will be 4.10.08.

Wish us luck!

Barefoot, Still Pregnant, and In the Kitchen...

....wearing nothing but an apron.

Okay, well, that part may not be true. But, you know, it isn't a bad idea! It is about a million freakin' degrees in here! (Then again, I feel like it is a million degrees most anywhere in any level of clothing these days...)

Sparky's due date has come and gone and we still do not have our little guy with us. He's totally content just hanging around in utero with no rush to come out here into this big, bright, scary world.

I am no longer working. I was sure that I would have a baby by now, so I arranged to have last Friday to be my last day of work. Since I have no work and no baby, I had to find something to keep myself busy. Call it nesting. I went to the store this morning and have spent all afternoon preparing some dishes that I can freeze and we can cook up once the baby gets here. I finished four of the six dishes. I had to take a break for a while and will finish the last couple either tonight or tomorrow morning.

What's on the menu?

1. Chicken Caesar Tetrazzini
2. Tuna Noodle Casserole
3. Zucchini and Chicken Pasta Bake
4. Meatloaf
5. Baked Cavatelli
6. Chicken Normandy Style

Paula and I went to the local "Let's Dish" place a couple weeks ago, so I am merely supplementing what we've already got stocked up in the freezer. Let's Dish, in case you haven't heard of it, is one of those places that you go and prepare a bunch of meals that you can freeze and then easily defrost and cook at home. It was a great experience! For me and Dave, the cost was reasonable and the best part was that everything is there ready for you to assemble and there is no clean-up! Can't beat that!

Dave mentioned that I must really mistrust his cooking to go to these lengths...

No comment.

T minus 1 Day

So, Sparky's official due date is tomorrow. So much for everybody who thought he'd arrive early, huh? (I was among them! How foolish of me!)

Last night, I was having major back pain and some pretty severe Braxton Hicks contractions; they were the strongest that I've experienced so far. I was sure that since the doctor "stripped my membranes" at our Thursday appointment that things were finally really moving and labor was imminent. (Sorry for the extraneous details there; you know that you wanted to know!)

But, Sparky just stayed put.

Dave and I woke up this morning and went to the park to take a walk to kind of jostle things around a little bit. Then we walked around Kohl's. Then we walked around Linens 'n' Things. Then we walked around Schnucks. All this walking indeed helped to get my back good and sore. But, I don't seem to be any closer to giving birth than I did this morning.

It is a beautiful day. Dave and I have been able to get outside and enjoy it. Hopefully, we'll be outside even more during this afternoon and evening. No matter what, this will be our last weekend without Sparky. We have another doctor appointment set up for Wednesday in case we haven't had Sparky at that time; in that case, they will set us up to induce on either Thursday or Friday. Hopefully, he'll join us sooner than that.

We'll keep you posted with any new developments.

Peace, love, and babies!

Catchin' Up...

Wow... It has actually been a full month since I've blogged. I'm such a slacker. BUT, to my own credit, at least I recognize the fact that I am a blogging slacker and I have accepted it.

Let's see... What's been happening around here? Why don't I give you short photo tour.

At the end of February, we had a "Leap Year" party.

Dr. Mike brought "Leaf Beer."

Mikey brought a "Leek." (He brought some "Peeps," too, but I didn't get a photo of those. Also, is Megan's face not priceless in this pic??)

And who said that men don't listen?

We've gotten the nursery all finished. It looks awesome. If you want to see more photos, you can go to the baby's website.

For our St. Patty's Day feast on Sunday, I made an Irish Creme Bundt Cake. It actually had Bailey's Irish Creme both in the cake itself and in the glaze on top.

It was pretty tasty. Dave even enjoyed the batter!

Ella was visiting the other day and Paula had the bright idea to put her in a box. It was pretty freakin' funny. At least I thought so at the time. As you can tell by my narrative from behind the camera. (Hey, in my defense, I've got a baby pushing down on my bladder, so most things make me feel like I'm going to pee my pants!)

My spring break is almost over and I am not looking forward to going back to work on Tuesday. My mindset is completely focused on the arrival of Sparky (17 days and counting!) and after this week off, I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to easily get back in the swing of things. However, I've been feeling pretty good and have no real excuse for "bed rest," so I guess I'll have to suck it up and work until the little munchkin decides that it is time to arrive. Probably better than sitting around, I guess.

I mean, what would I do with all my time if I didn't go back to work? Blog???

Everyone Needs a Mini-Me...

Throughout the baby-item-registering ordeal, Dave and I found the perfect little outfit that we knew Sparky would just have to have. Dave's typical spring/summer uniform is some type of variation of the following:

I think Dave is thrilled at the prospect of having a little clone. Like father, like son. Soon, we are going to have a little miniature Dave running around here. Only, hopefully, he will drink less scotch.

**********

We've also had the joy of attending childbirth classes over the last couple of weeks. Between watching videos of births from the late-80's and early-90's (who knew giving birth could be such a hairy and squishy ordeal?) and practicing breathing throughout imaginary contractions (hee-hee-hoo), Dave tried on The Empathy Belly.


Doesn't he look maternal?

**********

On another note, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this is the second time that I've posted within two weeks - an infrequent feat for me these days. (No applause needed... No seriously... Oh, you're too much!)

I happened to look back through some of my old blog posts today and found myself laughing. I really enjoy blogging and hope to try to set aside some more time in the near future to do it. I miss reading everyone's humorous or thought-provoking or petulant postings.

While I can't promise that a lot of them won't revolve around the upcoming birth of our son, I do intend to at least post more often. If nothing else, it is nice to be able to look back and remember what I was thinking/feeling/doing at a previous time in my life.

"Life Was Happening Here"*

How time flies...

With Sparky getting bigger and bigger each day, Dave and I are reminded that in only a few short months, our lives are going to change dramatically. We watch him kick and jab from the inside of my tummy and think about what the future holds.

Mentally, I am excited and ready for him to arrive. Physically, we still have so much to do. We spent last weekend "registering" at our local Baby Store... I about had a meltdown within the first fifteen minutes. There are just so many decisions to make. I have no idea what type of bottle to buy or what "travel system" I want. Five hours later, we called it a day. We spent several more hours on Sunday looking at furniture and have also spent considerable time the past two days revising and changing the registry online.

Work has been spent getting ready for my extended absence once Sparky arrives. Preparing copies and lesson plans for an eight week block is somewhat time consuming and has drastically affected my ability to waste a few minutes here or there surfing the net.

I'm glad that the holidays are over; they were more stressful this year than anything else. We were able to visit family on the East Coast, many of whom I haven't seen in several years. It was nice to visit with everyone, but also nice to get home and relax before going back to work on the 7th.

I think that Dave and I have made the decision that next year, I will stay home with Sparky and continue working on my master's in Counseling and Family Therapy, instead of working full time. I am not taking any classes this semester (what, do you think I'm completely crazy?) but will enroll again for the summer semester. It is very strange for me to think about not working... Although with being enrolled in classes full time and taking care of the Sparkmeister, I know it isn't like I'll be bored. I'll probably also try to pick up some students to tutor to make a little extra cash here and there.

Anyway, I know that is a pretty boring blog update, but c'est la vie. You're invited to check out Sparky's website, if you'd like. The most recent pictures of his ultrasound are really pretty freakin' cool.

*A quote from the play "Up The Down Staircase," adapted from the novel by Bel Kaufman.