A Baby Update

I’m due with our third child on the 29^th of June, which, if you’re not great at math (I’m not) is 48 days away.  Considering I gave birth to Samuel at 10 days past my due date and Clara at 15 days past my due date, I’m not expecting to see this baby in 48 days, but it’s an approximation that helps me organize my thoughts.

Those thoughts are mostly focusing around nesting.

It happened with Samuel – I turned a storage room in our tiny two bedroom walk-up apartment into a nursery.  It happened with Clara (remember the Baby Clothing post?), and now it’s happening with Baby #3 – an overwhelming desire to organize the pantry, to wash everything, to re-upholster furniture and knit things – combined with a bone numbing exhaustion.

Everything that I do allows me a chance to mentally check something off my list, which may explain how I found myself spray painting bed frames in the backyard two weeks ago, or attaching locks to all of my cupboard doors, or, this morning, scrubbing the grout around the kitchen sink.  Heaven forbid the baby experience dirty grout.

I’ve set aside this Friday as baby clothes organizing day.  What was once a neat tub of clean, stain-free, sized and useful clothing in a closet has grown into four years of wardrobes that would strike terror into the heart of anyone.  There are baby boy clothes shoved into the 24 month size girl pants section and hats with the diaper covers.  There are clothes in piles on top of clothes in buckets beside clothes shoved, unfolded, into a suitcase.  It’s awful.  I have a friend coming to help me tackle it all and I have a plan, so hopefully between the incentive to get it done with help and the organized perfection in my head, there will be order.

Friday

When you are pregnant with your third child everything is very different.  There isn't the same level of nervousness when you get your ultrasound; you can recognize things on the screen; all is fine.  We're having a girl, it was discovered, and I'm very pleased.  As is typical of us, we have no name chosen but lots of ideas.  I don't feel any panic, though.  We'll figure it all out.

Today the telephone person is supposed to come and fix our line, and I have intentions to take Samuel to the library and possibly even playgroup, depending on how optimistic I am.  There will also be something decadent for dessert, although I don't currently know what that will be.  Possibly homemade popcorn balls.

Thursday Stuff

We are so blessed today to have someone to watch both of the children while David and I head into the city for the ultrasound to find out if the baby is a lady or a gentleman and all of the other measurements.  She's a wonderful girl and adores the children, who know this and probably take advantage of it.  They're excited to have company, and I'm trying to figure out what to make for lunch so they can all eat without having to defrost things.

In the meantime I'm on cup of tea #2 in order to face the day.  And when I say cup, I mean vat, since David kindly purchased some huge mugs for me a few years ago, and I use them daily.

I have been fighting with the cats (and losing) on whether I'm allowed to keep even one houseplant in this life.  They eat everything.  And the children aren't helping the situation - but I think I've solved the problem.  Cacti.  No one will want to touch them, no one will want to eat them, and I can forget to water them.  Perfect.

In Between Day

Yesterday's trip to the OB was exactly what I had hoped for - quick, efficient and productive.  I even had all of the blood work that modern medicine seems to require done, and done quickly.  The ultrasound is booked for tomorrow (!!) and so one of today's big to-do list items is going to be finding care for the children whilst David and I make a trip into the city again.  I'm hopeful that we can get some grocery shopping done as well, buy a zipper to repair David's winter coat, some embroidery floss and possibly a storage solution for our bedroom.  The last will only happen if we have neither child with us, because then the back seat, usually filled with coats and boots and carseats and angst, will be empty.

And I came home to a functioning shower!  And a non-leaky sink!  It was a glorious day, let me tell you, and getting to have a shower in my own house for the first time since August was wonderful.

We had honey garlic marinated steak for supper, and I made a double meal and froze half, which is how I'm freezer cooking this week.  Tonight will either be green chili pork tacos or chicken enchiladas.  I think...I think I want the enchiladas.  And since I'm the one making supper - hallelujah I can decide.

And so this morning has become, through no fault of its own, an incredibly busy day.  I get to do all of the work from yesterday's cleaning schedule (Tuesdays are mopping), and today's (Wednesdays are vacuuming upholstery/dusting) and Thursday as well since I won't be home (Thursdays are scrubbing the kitchen table and highchair and windows).  But the very first thing that needed to be done was to give Samuel a haircut - which he wasn't happy about at all.

And David, before he left to lead prayer group, called the phone people to tell them that our line is still not receiving calls, and they've booked an appt. to arrive on Friday.  

Supposed to be Monday

This pregnancy is going by so much faster than either of my others; I'm over halfway (22 weeks and change now) even if you factor in that there's no chance of my giving birth at 40 weeks.  I like to think that, because it involves less pain and frustration on the other side of it all when you're huge and hot and uncomfortable and want someone to put you out of your misery and all you can do is sob to people "but I'm full term...".  No, much better to think about these things now, while I still have some shreds of sanity about me.

And this morning is the joy of my OB appointment, which I have been thinking of in terms much less pleasant than I am prepared to share, but which just now, this very moment, I have decided to be grateful for and happy about.

While I'm gone one of our handy parishioners is going to come over here and fix our shower, which I am unreservedly thrilled over.  We've been living in the parsonage since August and haven't had a working shower, only a bath.  I like baths, but having a bath seems to be Such An Ordeal in a way that showers aren't.  I need to find time for a bath, I need to prepare a beverage, a book, a schedule...is there hot water in the tank?  A shower is easy, and easy is what I like.

I am also going to actively be Very Optimistic about this shower thing because I have a feeling that it isn't a quick fix but is going to require removing part of the wall and fixing the plumbing.  And I shall write a note for the gentleman to also take a look at the leaking sink.

Yesterday, when I intended to post this, was not a great day.  I had high hopes of getting all sorts of freezerish food prepared and such, but went over my grocery budget (not surprising, I hadn't researched it well and was shopping with everyone) and that frustrated me.  The children, who had been promised rides on the mechanical pony if they behaved in the store, did not get their rides, and cried loudly.  The embroidery floss I needed to continue this cross stitch was gone from the store.  I was exhausted and barely managed chicken and rice for supper, which neither child wanted or ate anyway.  And our attempted family tv show ended in everyone going to bed.

Today is going to be wonderful!

The long days

It's, um, February.

Hello.

I know how trite and over played this phrase is, but boy life is just crazy.  At least it was crazy, up until quite recently.  And now it's still somewhat crazy but in a totally different way, and all of this is to say that the written journal I've been keeping in the 30 seconds of alone time I get just isn't quite cutting it - and here I am.

A few weeks ago I sat myself down and had a little chat about all of the many, many decisions piling up around me that needed to be handled in some way.  That's the problem with choices - eventually they have to be made.  I spent an entire 12 hour day just...deciding stuff.  The trick was, I realized, to just chose something, because ultimately you could very well make the wrong choice regardless of how much research and care you put into it.  And so I looked at my list and started in - and I got a fair amount done.  But already I can feel the decisions piling up around me again and I'm not certain I have the emotional capacity to do another day.

One of the things we decided on was our car seat arrangement.  I've mentioned before how much I find car seats to be right up there with baby poo charts and circling things in flyers on the list of Most Boring Mom Topics Ever, but it had to be done.  Our choices were somewhat limited.  We could:

1)  Sell our car (a mid sized 5 seat thing) and purchase a mini van.  Besides the fact that the thought of driving a mini van makes me want to cry a bit, we also couldn't afford it.  Even if we sold our car.

2)  Only put two car seats in the back of the car and never go anywhere as a family.

3)  Buy three new car seats that were specially made to fit in the back of a car.

We chose option 3.  There was no choice, really.  And those seats are very, very expensive.  But that's what had to be done, and so I did it.

I also just dealt with the fact that we were NOT going to get a doctor in town, and instead had the family 'enrolled' (Is that it?  That's not the word I'm looking for) at the nurse practitioner's office.  And I went to my first appointment in this pregnancy, at *cough cough* 19 weeks.  Yes, yes, I can see you rolling those eyes and you can keep those opinions to yourself.  The boy and I heard the new baby's heartbeat and it was all quite something.  And now I've got myself an OB, who I will see next week, and I'm sure that the next 20 weeks will be filled with, oh, all sorts of frivolity and excitement.  Hurrah.

You can get the gist of the list by those sorts of things - all important, all necessary, all dull and stressful.

I can feel another 12 hour day coming on.

The Reality of the Season.

Don't mind me, just popping into my OWN blog for the first time in a month and a half.  I'm trying, people, I'm trying.

First off, I deserve some kind of medal of amazingness for having finished my Christmas shopping.  I'll have to take pictures of what everyone is getting or something; I'll just do it in my free time.  HHAAHAHAHAHAHAhhhaahahaha.  Snort.  Seriously, though, I think everyone will be happy.  And by everyone I mean, of course, my immediate family, since the thought of doing anything beyond the house fills me with dread and despair.  We didn't take a Christmas photo, we didn't buy or send cards, we didn't get anything in the mail in time for the grandparents, we haven't purchased a turkey yet, unlike in previous years I have not researched and decided on a lavish menu for Christmas day or made homemade gifts for people...

What I have done is this:  I have talked a lot about Christmas to the children.  I've read them Santa's Favorite Story and bought a $2 Spiderman advent calendar and went out and cut down a white pine and put lights on it.  I've unearthed stockings for the children to use and I have redecorated the tree approximately a billion times after the toddlers have touched it.  I have set up a nativity scene and I have found wrapping paper in the closet and I have purchased presents that, I think, will be a success with a 3 year old and a 1 year old.

The remainder of the days before Christmas will be spent wrapping and trying to find things to eat on Christmas morning.  If I have the energy I'm hoping to decorate a 'Santa's Cookie Plate' and bake cookies with Samuel.  That's the extent of my interesting craft goals.

If this all sounds kind of lame, well, that's because it is.  This third pregnancy has hit me like a tonne of bricks; I'm exhausted, and I'm still battling nausea.  I am 12 weeks and 5 days along, and people keep telling me variations on the theme of 'Soon you'll be feeling wonderful again!' which is a LIE and also a BIG FAT LIE because after vomiting convulsively with Clara until the bitter end I know all to well that this could last for another six months.  Although God help us all if that's the case.

Almost as soon as that little positive appeared on the test I've been planning one thing and one thing only - simplifying my life so that the essentials get done.  When I was so ill that the only thing I was serving for meals was fruit and crackers, this was pretty much a pipe dream, but now that I'm a little better I'm trying harder to make changes around the house that theoretically are going to, I don't know, make things easier.  I need easy.