Doctor's Update- Week 34

Dialated 1 cm.
Baby in head-down, lock-and-load position.

I honestly cannot keep it in my head how close I am... For taking so long, it sure is coming up quickly...

Tonight...

I was asked a total of 7 times "When are you due?!?", as in, "WHEN ARE YOU DUE BECAUSE YOU ARE SO BIG YOU LOOK LIKE YOU SHOULD POP NOW?!"

Most of them followed up with, 'Just think of how big you'll be by June!" or "You've just gotten so big since last week!" (Which, actually, I am losing weight now. Yay for no more eyebrow raises from skinny-nurse!)

Thanks ladies.

So... Should I be getting ready or something?

Less than seven weeks to go. And as I sit here, literally throwing chunks of sloppy joe at my daughter for lunch, it's beginning to dawn on me that that's not really a lot of time. I've been patting myself on the back for the past several weeks because I have definitely hit the 'nesting' stage of this pregnancy and, because of this, I've been motivated enough to start cleaning house. And, because it's only on the rare occassion that I realize that this thing, this thing that I've been carrying around for the past several months? The one that is going to come shooting out from me in the next few weeks? That's going to be a baby. And then I'll be responsible to take that baby home. Why is it so hard for me to grasp that pregnancies usually end with another mouth to feed and another bottom to clean? Well, I don't know the answer to that question, and because of that, my nesting has consisted of me putting all the baby stuff away. And I've been sitting here congratulating myself that I finally cleaned up all of the things that Alex has outgrown... and then I realize that I will be taking my fat butt back into our storage places to gather all of these not-even-dusty-yet items back out and setting them back up. Go me. At least I will get some extra excercise in the next few weeks. Because that is EXACTLY what I need.

On a related note (yep, I promise, it's related), have you ever gotten a charlie horse in your groin? I can assure you, it sucks. I got one yesterday as I was walking thruogh my backyard, which had me walking like I had been riding a horse continually for, I don't know, the past 10 years of my life, and wincing with every step I took. I am only reminded of this now because, as I sit here typing, I can feel one threatening to happen again, which has me paralyzed with fear to the point where I don't want to end this post because that means that I will be have to get up and gather all of the sloppy joes that is now resting peacefully on the floor up. Which will induce said charlie horse to take over my lady parts and hurt me very very badly. Is that thing called labor and delivery and what-the-hell-happened-to-my-vagina not enough?? Must I endure these as well? Ack. Perhaps it has something to do with all of the contractions I have been getting for, I don't know, the past few weeks. I am getting about 5 or 6 a day now, and they are starting to twinge just a bit. Enough to usually make me stop walking and think nasty thoughts about my husband and his fertile nature.

Alright, Alex has taken to eating her shirt and yelling what I am sure are not nice things at me, perhaps trying to motivate me to get her something else to eat, because the sloppy joe is obviously not cutting it. At least Violet is enjoying it. Wish me luck with my groin. (I wish I could end every post with that sentence.)

I cannot possibly...

be expected to carry this child for 7 more weeks.

One Andthensum.

Finally. And it's only been a month since her actual birthday! I say that's pretty good!

(Note- The party was actually yesterday, but this post has taken me a full day to get together... and I am too lazy to go back and change all the times... so... Saturday... the party was Saturday.)

Today was a busy day. We had 17 people over to the house, which included 10 adults, 7 kids between the ages of 1 and 12. It was crazy. We had planned on doing some grilling, but the weather was threatening to downpour on us, so we switched to pizzas. Six homemade pizzas, a homemade antipasto salad (because there are no good pizza places in St. Louis apparently), and way too many homemade cupcakes. All of which could not have been accomplished without my lovely mother-in-law and husband. We were quite the tag-team.

Anyway, we had glimpses of nice weather, which allowed the bulk of the crowd to eat outside, which was perfect. Then it down-poured and I realized much too late that all of our patio cushions were still outside, getting a nice bath. Uh-well. I'll get them tomorrow (yep- still out there. Go me.)

Well, the lady of the hour did fabulous. She is very much a people-person, and was just thrilled to have so many new faces here. And more kids to play with! And steal toys from! Yay! She was only mildly interested in opening presents, and began to meltdown pretty quickly at the end of that show. So what did we do? Stripped her down, threw her in her highchair, and gave her her own cake to down, of course! Here's some sugar kid! Enjoy! She was actually pretty shy when it came to the cake. It may have been the room full of people staring quietly at her. I wouldn't have wanted to eat either. She eventually dug in... all of which we got on film, of course.

What's that Laura? On FILM?? YES! but not on a new camera. I had one in the house that I have been trying to sell. I don't really like it, which is why I am trying to sell it, but for the sake of the event, I broke it out and let it get some use. So, for your enjoyment. A Picture Show.

The cake I made her. Apparently, I did not learn much from all of those Ace of Cakes episodes I have been watching. But hey... it's from the heart.

Alex really thrives when she is around alot of people. I am jealous of her skills, actually. She just played and played and played.


Proof of my festiveness. There were streamers. And balloons.


This is one of the few pictures where I can actually see that, yes!, there is some of my family in this child!

But then she goes back to this, all Paul. Not that I mind... cause she is cute.

The Happy Birthday chorus. She really didn't know what to make of it. (Another reason I put this one on here? It's the only documentation of my belly we got the whole day... so it's serving a dual purpose...)

She wasn't really sure of that cake. Or of all of the creepy people staring at her...

And finally, the finished product. Not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Stealing Moments.

I am typing this as I wait for water to boil. I am making a sweet potato casserole, for which I have to boil the potatoes for 10 minutes and bake them for 30 minutes.... and the rest of the dinner will be done in .... 10 minutes. So much for timing dinner correctly. At least it isn't a big holiday or anything.

Aw, crap.

It's Easter. Well, Happy Easter everyone! Hope your dinner is more... coordinated than ours will be. (Update- potatoes in water.) (Update-daughter up from nap.)

In other news, I am realizing (well, ok, I've known this for a while, but the list continues to grow) that I am rather spoiled when it comes to Alex.
1)She LOVES when I brush her teeth. I hear that this is not normal. She actually cries when I finish.

2)She LOVES having her shoes and socks and jackets put on. It's a game. If she finds her shoes around the house, she will bring them to me and cry until I put them on. Even if she has only one. Then she walks in a circle for fifteen minutes because she is lopsided. But, again, I hear this is not normal.

3)Aside from it being in prime naptime, I cannot use her as an excuse as to why we do not make it to church every Sunday. When we go, she just laughs and dances and talks to everyone around us. She is so good. Today she was a bit loud, but it was my own fault. I mistakenly brought her monkey stuffed animal along with the other 'quiet' toys I usually drag into church with us, and upon seeing said monkey, she continued to make monkey noises for the next 15 minutes of the service, all of which were in the middle of the sermon. Sorry Pastor Jim. My bad. (The monkey is the only animal noise she makes. She laughs when I snort and moo, but the only one she actually mimics is the monkey. It's pretty humorous, if I do say so myself.)

4)She LOVES taking medicine. Which could perhaps be a bad thing in the future, but for these molar-growing days, it's perfect.

5)She LOVES everyone. Well, not everyone, but pretty much. I can only think of two people who she is shy with, but I contend that it's the huge mustaches that appear to be getting ready to attack her as they lean in for a kiss. But really, I've never had a problem with dropping her off to be babysat. Even if she hasn't seem them in 6 months... which is, lest I remind you, HALF OF HER LIFE. It's impressive. And the little twinge of 'fine-don't-miss-me-I'm-just-your-MOTHER' only lasts for about 5 minutes on my side, which I think is also quite impressive.


She has her quirks, but I am pretty sure that I will be paying for this simplicity with the next child. Although I do like to think that I pay for it while being pregnant for 10 months. (Only 9 more weeks to go!)

Must go tend to food.

Happy Easter!

Thievery.

Just know, I didn't steal this first.

This has been trailing through the blogs recently, and I found it refreshing and true enough to repost even though alot of people that read this blog have probably already seen it... but for those who haven't, thank my friend Anna for bringing it to my attention.

Everything is amazing, but nobody is happy. Ya, things aren't as easy as they used to be, but really, compared to what they could be... I suppose it's all in the perspective.

Enjoy.

A few things....

So... I'm pregnant. I don't know if I've mentioned that on here or not. And being pregnant makes things hard(er than normal). (And really, I want to apologize for complaining all of the time on here... but... it is my outlet... so you'll just have to bear with me for a few more months) The other day, I went to the bank. As it was in the middle of the day, I was totting along Alex in her stroller as well. I finished my business, then headed out to my car. At this particular bank, there are two sets of big heavy double doors that you must go through in order to get in or out. This is hard to do while you are pregnant and trying to maneuver a stroller as well (and it's not one of those handy steer-with-one-hand types either). As I reached the first door, going out remember, I noticed that there was a younger man following behind me. He must have been in his twenties, and, as far as I could tell, perfectly capable of opening a door. But he was on his phone. And, gasp!, holding a piece of paper! So, maybe that's why he let me go ahead and struggle with door number one. I thought to myself, well, that's ok. Because by no means would I want to draw his attention away from his conversation, or, even worse, cause his to shift the single piece of paper from one hand to the other. That would be rude of me. When we hit door number two, I kind of expected him to get it this time. Like we were a tag-team. But, there's me being selfish again. Still holding the paper, Laura! Still on the phone! And of course, you know how big and chunky and heavy cell phones are these days. So, I begin the struggle again... swing door open, catch with foot, back self out first, follow with stroller, apologize to daughter for hitting her head on other door, remove stroller from path of door, pick self up off of ground after tripping on stroller. You know, the whole deal. And to be honest, I was so thrilled at having actually gotten out of the bank, I let the door go as soon as my large rear end passed the threshold, without so much of a thought for my young friend. Not that I meant not to hold the door for him, but, me, pregnant, no blood in my brain, all in my uterus. It just took me that short amount of time to forget that I was being followed. I am sure in most cases I would have gone on my merry way, oblivious to the rudeness of my action, but this guy, being the gentleman that he was, actually took the time to catch up to me in the parking lot, walk right up to me and say (in the most sincere of voices, I assure you), "Thanks for holding the door for me," laugh to whomever he was on the phone with, and walk away. ... Honestly, for a moment I wished I was not pregnant, only because then I would have had a tampon in my purse that I would have gladly and unapologeticly shoved into his ear.

Moving on.

Today I had a fight with my camera. It was trying to withhold the pictures that were still on it, but I perservered, and I won. So here they are... the last that this Canon A80 will ever take. This was when it was puttering out on me, and stuck on full zoom. So... not the best quality of shots. But I tried to doctor them up a little so they were worth something. Enjoy. These may be the last pictures for a while....

Happy Week/birth/technicallyyouaren'tbornyetbutIcelebrateanyway/day to you, Little Fetus!

My little mudslinger is 30 weeks old today! Yahoo! Not only does that mean that he (according to the handy emails I get) is about the size of a head of cabbage (not sure why they compare him to food every week... sometimes I have no idea what the food is and then I am all thrown off because HOW BIG IS MY CHILD THIS WEEK?!?! DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY CHINESE CABBAGE I CAN REFERENCE?! OR WHAT ABOUT AN ENGLISH HOTHEAD CUCUMBER? IS THAT THE SAME THING AS A NORMAL CUCUMBER?? AND IF IT IS, WHY DIDN'T I KNOW THAT?? I'VE WASTED MY LIFE REFERRING TO CUCUMBERS AS 'CUCUMBERS', WHEN OBVIOUSLY ENGLISH HOTHEAD CUCUMBER IS SO MUCH MORE AWESOME!)... anyway, not only that, but that means that I only have 10 (maybe less) weeks left. Praise the Lord. Bring on the pain, bring on the recovery, bring on the sleeplessness that is newborn infant. But please, empty my uterus so more blood can go to my brain again. I am tired of being pregnant stupid. And pregnant clumsy. And pregnant FAT. Yesterday I peed all over myself for no good reason, and I am blaming it on 1) pregnant stupid and 2) my bruised and battered bladder. No joke. I have a tendency to pee blood on and off, and being that there is no infection, and I am pretty sure I am done with the kidney stones, I think it is because this child will not stop punching me. He beats me up. Alex did not do this. Sure, she kicked and moved and whatever. But he kicks and punches. Yesterday, I was in a meeting and he kicked me in my bottom rib so hard that it brought tears to my eyes. This poor girl that I was with is so excited to have kids, but I think I have scared her with my pregnancy. I keep assuring her that the 2 days that it took to deliver Alex were the best two in my life, despite the pain (and the vomit, and the diarrhea, and the blood... and oh my word did I mention that big, scary crochet needle?!). It's worth it. You just have to get through it. And not all women are cursed when it comes to anything dealing with ovaries. So, no worries. You'll be fiiiiiiiiine.

In fully-developed baby news, Alex is talking. Only 'hi', but she knows what she is saying and it's always accompanied by the most excited wave ever. It's so.... I guess the word is odd, hearing her talk. She's so tiny still... I'll get used to it. I felt the same way when she started walking. To see such a small child doing it is just really... odd. But I suppose we are advancing towards the toddler stage at a nice pace. She will be 13 months on the 4th. I can't believe it. I am hoping to get a camera before the 18th, because that is when her 'One-andthensum' party is. Which I am looking forward to. I am really excited to bake her a little Alex cake and let her go at it. She's had cake by now, but it's been spoonfed up until this point. I wanted to save the cake-mess for when Paul and I were both with her and it was the cake I made for her. Call me selfish. (Do it and I'll pray that you get pregnant. And if you are a boy, that's going to be a really awkward conversation with your significant other.)

In grown-up news, I am officially a Mary Kay consultant. I picked up this gig after attending a church funtion where they were selling some stuff. I talked with a few of the women, and then signed up the next day. I think this is humorous for several reasons, the most important being that I don't really wear makeup. But it seems like a good product and I am excited to have a sort of business going on in this house. It's nice to feel like I can add financially to our lives, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to buy Paul a birthday present with not-his-money. I have until May to make $150 in spare cash to afford it. I think it's a reasonable goal. I can't say what it is on here for obvious reasons... but it's going to be awesome. For him.

So anyway, if you want to check it out....

www.marykay.com/lrinas

Feel free to browse and uhm, purchase anything you want. Did I mention that the Satin Hands kit is amazing? And there are plenty of things that make great birthday/mother's day gifts!! And look! Free shipping!

Yep, shameless advertising. But do you blame me? (If yes.... pregnant. And I assure you that it will be my type of pregnancy. No perky pregnant princesses allowed here.)