Shooting from the Hip

UG. I know it's been a while, you don't have to tell me! I go through these FUNKS where I just stop blogging. I don't really know why - I am just "over" blogging. Then I'm out of the funk and I want to blog again. I can't say that I am out, but I am on my way at least. I don't really care so much about this stupid blog, but I need to better about the kids' blog. sigh.

ANYWHO. I have recently been hardcore following a blog called hip2save. I have had a few of my friends mention it to me over the months, but I just haven't gotten around to really looking. Well this week I did. ha ha ha. The deals are aMAzing! I was mostly interested in her coupon codes for Victoria Secret and that type stuff. But I started noticing she blogs about all the coupons and rewards you can get at local drugstores. After researching I decided to try it - more for kicks than anything else.....but save a bundle never hurts either right?

So today (by MYSELF with BOTH kids in tow nonetheless) I went to Walgreens and tried my first little coupon dealio. Yes, I also use coups at the drugstore and whatnot, but to really go search out coupons and local deals just frankly takes too much time that I don't have. But H2S has them all in one place so it's easy!! apparently "WAGS" is known for being sorta mean to couponers....so I went ready to have everyone get grouchy with me. Luckily, that did NOT end up being the case at all.

So here is my SUPER DORKY post (with a pic nonetheless!!!) of my booty. I purchased: Tissue Paper, Hair Dye, Huggies, Two tubs of Benefiber, 2 Oil of Olay Body Washes, Johnson and Johnson baby wash,2 Oil of Olay Lotions, a Nivea after shaving balm (for the Hubs), and a Nivea facewash for men that my husband will feel too masculine to use that I will end up using and smelling like a man for two months and then when he comes in to kiss me he'll ask me why I smell like a man and I'll tell him that it's because he won't use the facewash I bought him that I am now using so it doesn't go to waste. BUT I digress......

My original Total was 115.99 before tax. My total after all my coups was roughly $66.00 (before tax) BUT There is also an Oil of Olay rebate going on which I have already filled out and have ready to go - for TWENTY BUCKS...bringing my total down to 46 bucks. I also got 11 dollars in Register Rewards (a coup that you use just like cash on your next visit)! WHOO HOO!

I am SO MORTIFIED that I am this excited about coupons.UG. I have now met every single stereotype of a Stay at home mom. O well. At least with all that lotion I'll be very moist this winter!

Aha! Moment.

I'm not like the biggest Oprah fan in the world, but I do like her phrase "Aha moment." I had one not too long ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That is my harp playing, wavy screen inducing flashback symbol......

I've always said I wanted to write a memoir. I love to write, but don't have the patience to write a "real" book, though I've started many. But I'd have to call my memoir "Spins and Giggles" because the older I get the easier I see my life was as a child. My mom stayed at home raising all of us, I was the SURPRISE baby that the Doctors said she'd never have. My memories of my childhood literally consist of making cookies with my mom, and my dad pushing me on the tire swing in the back yard. We weren't rich, but we didn't go without. Because I am 10 and 12 years younger than my 3 older siblings I was spoiled rotten by all of them as well. I went to a tiny private school, have never ridden a school bus to school in my life, and took piano, ice skating, trumpet (yes trumpet) lessons. Life was easy peasy.

But there was one aspect in which my life was very different than others'. My parents did foster care. From the time I was old enough to remember, I remember a revolving door of siblings - coming and going. Social workers and policemen were just part of my upbringing. One day my parents would sit us down and tell us we were going to have a new brother/sister and within a few days - there they were. Usually a girl, and usually around my age. I loved having a playmate and was mostly ok with change, though I'm sure I vied pretty hard for my parents' attention. But, usually, just as quickly... my sister would go. We'd have maybe a week's notice, and the sister I had for the past 2 weeks/8 months/3 years would be gone.....and that was it.

Anyone who knows me at all knows I am HORRIBLY over-sensitive. Anyone who has known me for a long time knows that I've made significant strides since I was younger. So to me - the emotive, left brained, heart on her sleeve, make best friends in a day, deathly loyal person - would "lose" a sister in a week and it was so heartbreaking. I would see my parents trying to be strong, but I could tell that there were tears shed by them as well. I couldn't understand why on earth, someone would put themselves through that more than once. It was awful. What I did learn early on, despite my white-bread world, was that life was rough. That not everyone had parents who had been married for 25 years, who ate dinner together every single night, or shlepped to their child's volleyball game even though she had no hope of doing anything else besides heating up the bench. I saw children come into our home with a vast array and rainbow of hurt. I learned at six that I was one. lucky. stiff.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I still railed against my parents' rules and couldn't beLIEVE I had to be home at ten o clock and some such... but I always knew that deep down inside - I was living a dream.

When I reached High School age, my parents decided, for a vast array of reasons, to discontinue being foster care parents. I won't lie and say that I wasn't glad to once again have my parents' exclusive attention. (Can you plough the depths of my shallowness?) The older I got, the more hazy my memories became of my "different" childhood, and when I shared it with people I was always surprised at their near-obsessive interest. To me it was just the "norm." The one question I always got, was if I was going to follow in my parents' footsteps. I think my hysterical laughter answered that one straightway. Who would knowingly welcome extra tears, pain, and goodbyes into their life? Not I!

I wasn't expecting to become a parent. I was NOT one of those people who worked in the nursery at church, and babysat all the time... I didn't really like kids. Teenagers - oh I'll take them by the dozen! But little kids gave me the heebs. I was that lady in the restaurant giving your child the evil eye when they wouldn't stop screaming. But - I did become a parent - twice over even!

I remember about a year after Madeline was born, Steve and I were finishing our evening ritual of watching the ten o' clock news before going to sleep. There was a story about a baby almost exactly Madeline's age who had been left in her crib, in her carseat for 3 days. By the time the police were contacted the baby was barely alive. (I am being extremely kind in not going into graphic detail.) I listened in horror as they described how long the baby must have cried, how desperately hungry she was - how loudly she must have screamed to finally get the neighbors' attention.

I was beside myself in tears. I remember turning to my husband and saying, "Don't you just want to go get that baby, and just hold her for hours straight? To give her a nice warm bath and soft clothes - to snuggle her and sing to her and give her all the love that she was denied? Just tell her that for as long as she's in your house she will never want for anything?"

Aha!

I am so bored I don't have enough to do!

So I came up with something to occupy my time!

Perspective

There are two things that strangers always assume wrongly about me:

1. I work out
2. I am a Democrat

Now I don't know which of these is more hilarious to me as I can't really imagine myself doing EITHER one. (OK, I am lying a little because I HAVE been sneaking in some yoga now that I have a zillion pounds of baby weight to lose).

Before Madeline I was pretty thin, so I guess people just assumed that, like most people who were thin, I jogged and elliptical-ed and ate right. Then, they see a day in my life and realize that they couldn't have been more wrong. In fact, prior to my pregnancy my diet consisted mostly of pizza, 1/4 pound fudge from South Bend Chocolate, and Cap'n Crunch. My exercise was occasionally taking the stairs to my second floor job, and the 3 block walk to my downtown office to avoid paying 6 bucks in parking fees - but that was because I was cheap.

Now the Democrat thing....I don't know where people get that. Maybe because I am young?Who was it that said something like "If you're not a Democrat while you're young you don't have a heart, and if you're not a Republican when you're old you don't have a brain." (Thanks to Stephanie my token Donkey friend for sharing that with me BTW) I remember having lunch with a friend of mine from the Center on Philanthropy when I worked for the BBB and we were discussing the upcoming election. When I told him I was a Republican (this of course being before my Libertarian light came on) he about fell out of his chair. It's like he couldn't reconcile it in his brain. Maybe because my job was so heavily involved in community and philanthropy? Well anyway, it was just interesting to me that he (and many others) just assumed I was a Democrat. I can't imagine that I give off that vibe.

Being a mother has brought with it stereotypes of its own. I hate to admit they were the very ones I believed before I had children of my own. One of the biggest being that Stay at Home Moms choose that particular vocation because 1) it was easier 2) they didn't have any other options. HA HA HA. Oh my ignorance...... 1)Can't think of ANY profession that's harder and 2) Um, yes they do....in fact all of the SAHMs I know are college educated, smart, beautiful women who CHOSE to give up their high paying, important, fulfilling jobs. But I hate it when i get the vibe when I tell someone I'm a SAHM and they think I'm doing so cause my gas-station job didn't pan out for me. But I guess that's karma for me!

When Steve and I found out we were pregnant with our second child we both really wanted to try for a VBAC. I had very very strong feelings about my first birth experience and wanted desperately to avoid it the second time round. I did hours upon hours of research on how to take a proactive role in my pregnancy - hiring a doula and crafting a birth plan. When one of my husband's co-workers heard that I wasn't just opting for another C-Section she was surprised. Upon hearing we were hiring a doula she asked my husband if we were going to have a homebirth.

um me? homebirth? HAHAHAHAHAHA I LOVE hospitals. I love having people bring me delicious food round the clock, I love having a nurse just a beep away if I have any questions. Also, even by ambulance the nearest hospital to me is still quite a while away. Though I have no problem with people opting to have a homebirth - it was just not the choice for me. But I thought that was interesting. She assumed because we were taking a slightly "off the beaten path" approach to having a baby that we would be giving birth to said baby in our very own bathroom. To me those things are about 2308239471987 steps apart.

Oh, and breastfeeding. To me - it's just a normal part of having a baby. No, not everyone chooses to do it, but it's not like the people who did it 30 years ago when hardly anyone did it. But when I shared that I was nursing with an acquaintance of mine she said, "Thats great! I was a third-world mother too!" Which I just assumed meant that breastfeeding was not the norm. Third world? So because I wear my baby in a sling, breastfeed, and occasionally co-sleep - I'm a granola-eating, Birkenstock wearing, recycling, composting, left leaning woman?

I guess I say all this to say .....Does everything have to be one way or the other? Can I not be a Republican who composts and makes her own baby wipes? Don't get me wrong - anyone who knows me well, will tell you I am a black and white, 0 or 100 type person - but I guess I hate being defined by one or two things that I do. I go to church - therefore I must be a crazy hypocritical religious nut, I nursed my children - therefore I must not bathe on a regular basis. (Ok so getting a shower every day is still a lofty goal but you know what I'm trying to say) I'm a Republican therefore I don't care about landfills or the less fortunate. I guess I just hoped that by 2009 we'd all be a little less stereotype- beholden and more..... potpourri.

Toys! Toys! Toys!

I discovered this blog a while ago and fell in love with what they did.

Random people with sewing talent make little felt stuffed animals and leave them in random places for people to find! It includes a little note that says the animal was hand made and free for them to take home. It encourages them to take a picture with the animal and post it back on the blog. Makes me desperate for some sewing talent!

Her and Me at the Breakfast Table

One of my greatest fears about having a second baby was that I would lose all that "one on one" time I had come to love with Madeline. I know that having a son will prove to have wonders not known to me before, but having a little girl.....ahhh.....it's just totally different.

Today I had to go down to the Castleton area for a big CL drop. Hmmmmm what to do in Castleton?? SHOP! I haven't ever really taken Madeline to the mall to just walk around and look at things. So I figure there's no time like the present. After packing up the 23457234987-1823492834 things required to take 2 children somewhere we headed out!

I stopped at Walgreens to exchange some diapers and since Jackson's carseat took up the whole of the cart she "had" to walk beside. She did great. She stayed right by the cart, and asked permission to touch things. She walked up and down the toy aisle - eyes agog with the treasures and didn't ask for a thing! She even carried a pack of diapers to the car for me!

We got to the mall and I just didn't know what to expect. Jackson was being a little testy so I always had one hand on him - sticking his pacifier in - stroking his head and she helped by singing "Twinkle Twinkle." I told her that I wanted her to sit in the back, but that she may ask permission to get down. So when I would stop and look around at clothes or shoes she'd ask politely "May I get down and yook Mama?" (I will truly be heartbroken when she can pronounce Ls better) Most times I'd tell her yes, but a few times I told her no and she totally took it in stride. We went upstairs to the girls section and they had a 2.37 cent sale going on so we picked out some tops and shorts together. She was so excited about all her pretty clothes.

I even let her have one of those sugar coated dry roasted almond things that smell up the whole mall. mmmmmmm. She loved it!

We picked out a pair of new sandals and she was so in love with them (and the foot measuring thing) that she wanted to wear them right away! She kept saying "My pretty shooooooes!"


We ventured into the Disney store if for no other reason than I knew she'd get a big kick out of walking through the big Mickey head at the entrance. (she did) As she's never been in the store before her eyes got all big and she quietly walked through the store taking everything in. Seeing all the Nemo paraphernalia got her quite happy. I transferred still fussy Jackson into the sling and told Madeline she could pick out a special cup to have. There was a whole SLEW of them by the checkout complete with snow globe at the bottom. She picked out one with Bolt in the bottom and took it up to the checkout herself and even said "please" when she asked for a bag. (lol) She was beyond thrilled with her cup and I made a special trip to the bathroom to wash it out so she could use it straightway. I told her that Mommy helped her pick it out, but Daddy paid for it. It's important to me that she learn young that Daddy (and Mommy) work hard to give her what she has. Her little heart breaks every morning when he leaves for work, and I try to remind her that Daddy doesn't leave because he wants to, but because he has to work to pay for our food and our house. I don't know how much of it she understands, but I just want her to grow up appreciating what a hard-working father she has. She gets to see me work hard for her, doing laundry and making dinner - but I think the concept of Daddy working and making money is a little more ethereal......and I want her to try to appreciate it. So I told her it would be nice to thank Daddy when he got home for her special new cup.

We had a fun lunch of Chick-Fil-A during which I managed to nurse Jackson and make sure she wasn't overdoing it on fries. She knows the rule of one fry per piece of chicken and she stuck to it herself! She asked to play on the playset in the middle of the foodcourt but it was getting close to lunch time and that playland has always skeezed me out so I told her no, that we needed to head home. She nicely said "Ok" and hopped back on the stroller. She saw the huge ice cream cone on DQ's sign and asked for ice cream, but I told her we had had enough treats for today. She took that right in stride as well.

The ride home Jackson was still fussy so she helped me sing to him and chattered on and on about her new cup. Once we got home we went straight to potty and to bed! I was beat and Jackson needed to eat again. She put up a tiny fuss about napping, but soon went to bed when she realized the sooner she went to bed the sooner she got to get up and play with her cup! She slept a whopping TWO HOURS (of course Jackson fussed the entire time) and woke up in a delightful mood! She helped me wash dishes and change Jackson and the first thing she said to Daddy when he walked in the door was, "Daddy! Thank you thank you for my cup!" That was when my heart just totally melted. Wow she listened AND remembered.....who knew??

Our days aren't always like this, but today was truly a treasure. She was a gem, even when Jackson demanded all of my attention. My heart just felt like it was going to burst, and it was wonderful to see that she and I can still get some "one on one" time if we try hard enough.

There's something to be said for delayed gratification....

I have always been bad with delayed gratification. If I get a birthday card in the mail before my birthday - I totally open it..... I'd eat my dessert before my dinner if I could.... I just figure - life is short and you never know when you might get hit by a bus (or tractor in my case). My husband is the total opposite. Back when we both worked I used to send him little sweet cards at work. He would send me some as well and as soon as I saw them in my box I'd rip it open and read it over and over. However he would let it sit on his desk and read it perhaps....after lunch. If someone were to give us each 3 pieces of candy I'd eat all mine right away and he's still have one of his a few days later.

Good for him right? I mean, delayed gratification is hard to come by in a "I want it NOW" culture.

I got to thinking about this recently when we got Direct TV installed. I now have the ability to record the shows I like to watch on TV if they aren't on at a time that's conducive for me - then I can watch them later while I nurse/fold laundry/cleanup the kitchen. COOL right?

Madeline's been into Curious George lately so I thought I'd record it for her so that she could watch it even if, perchance, she DIDN'T get up at 6:30 am one day. (We have not been so lucky as yet) However the last few days she's been obsessed with another show so I have been recording them both.

However I can't help but wonder if it's just a smiiiiidge egocentric. I know I know - it's a TV show whatever.....but it used to be that if she asked to watch Curious George after her nap well, she just had to wait. But now - if she wants Curious George, she gets it. I think there's a lot to be said for waiting for something. I mean I"m not going to hold on her or anything...I just think it's one more thing in this "now now now" society. She woulda been hurtin' for certain' if she grew up way back when I did and all I had to play with was a sick....

the livin' is easy

THIS is what summer in the country is all about!

Too bad I didn't have my camera handy to capture my husband on it!!!

Half n Half

"I miss the hospital!"

I have said it about a million times in the past 5 weeks. I cried both times with both babies. You go from having 'round the clock nurses and doctors at your beck and call, and 24 hours room service (Nothing like scrambled eggs and toast with a strawberry shake at 3 in the morning!!) to being back in your house with a pile of laundry and dirty dishes staring at you.

Now, I happen to have THE BEST NEIGHBORS in the world who cleaned my ENTIRE HOUSE while I was in the hospital having Jackson. (We're talking even toilets people.....they even turned down my bed for me!!!) So that was about the best thing in the world to come home to a CLEAN house.....

I will always say that the scariest day of my life was the day we brought Madeline home. I was beyond nervous and still in lots of pain from my C-Section. Plus I was like "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH A NEWBORN!" The first nights with both babies were terrible - they only slept 10-15 minutes at a time.....

In the hospital you have people seeming to trip over themselves to help you. With both children we had a special nurse who went out of their way to really look out for us. I was breastfeeding like crazy so I was ordering food every two hours - movies on demand - people visiting - a nursery to send the baby to so we could get a 3 hours stretch of sleep.....then - HOME! no help, no nursery, and you can have food any time of day but you have to cook it yourself and worse - clean up the dishes.

I decided there should be a "halfway house" for new parents. After you leave the hospital (and really, should they boot you out after 2 days???? come ON - you just GAVE BIRTH!!) you go to this like....apartment complex. There's a nurse or two on staff that you can meet with, there's food made for you and your family - but you have more space and you can come and go - like your own little condo. You could still send your baby to a nursery for a few hour break if you need it, but yet you'd have your "own" space to live in. It wouldn't be as scary as being back home with NO medical professionals around and all of your chores piling up around you... Who WOULDN"T take advantage of that??

The tough part would be selling the idea to insurance..... sigh....

Bye Bye Baby

Well I finally got my act together enough to remove the spinning baby from my blog. I wondered how long he would sit and spin there......

The New Arrival

Steve wanted to share pics and specs of the new arrival!!

600 pounds

54 inches wide

No pain in this birth! HAR HAR

Summertime......and the livin' is easy

Madeline and I had a great day together today. I felt like getting out of the house so we decided to search for some garage sales! There were a few in town, but not with the kind of stuff we were looking for! Too bad! : ( I decided to head down to Hamilton Towne Center to let Madeline roam around on the playground there for a nice change of pace.

We got primo parking right in front of Gymboree where I noticed a 60% off sign in the window and made a mental note to come back after we played. *Why is it SO fun to buy children's clothes and NO fun to by clothes for yourself? UG I dread it.....* So we walked over to the little playground and Madeline played her heart out. It was early and cool and NO other kids there so she had her reign of the toys. Mostly she just wanted to pick up handfuls of rubber mulch and put it on all the benches and slides. We'd been there about 30 minutes and I was seriously enjoying myself. The park in our town is great, but it's quite large so she's always running all over creation wanting to do different things. This one was just small enough that I could sit in ONE place and not have to get up 200 times and still see her all the time. Next thing I know a nice lady is coming out of Cuppa Coffee with a HUGE smoothie for me and a little one for Madeline. She told me she felt sorry for me being all massively pregnant outside in the heat so she brought us a treat and a punch card! YUM - 4 berry smoothie! Madeline gulped hers down and went back to playing. Sitting in the shade with the wind blowing watching my daughter play and drinking a free smoothie! What could be better?

Well a few minutes later another lady came in with her 2 daughters around Madeline's age and she was also pregnant. She had a Gymboree bag with her so I asked her if the deals were any good. She told me YES and gave me an extra coupon she had for 20% off your entire purchase.*woot!* The girls all played together very nicely, and after a visit to the fountain and Madeline's first experiance throwing change into a fountain (that's going to bleed me dry let me tell you!) we hit up Gymboree! They had two racks FULL of merchandise already marked at 40% off and you got to take off an extra 20%. I asked if I could still use my 20% coupon and she said I could! *double woot!* So I made out like a bandit (ok rather madeline and babyboy did). Since I was feeling lucky we hit up Old Navy as well. I've been wanting some more run around/get dirty shoes for Madeline as her croclings that I love and adore have already taken a beating! I found some really cute ones at O.N. on sale for 10 bucks that have a really nice tread on the bottom which makes me feel good with all the running, jumping, and climbing she'll be doing this summer! They were having some type of summer kick off at the store so she also got a super cool bouncy ball, and her picture taken with a big plastic dog at the front of the store. (That soooo totally made her day!)

These are the days where I wouldn't trade being a SAHM for anything else in the world, and I feel sorry that my husband missed out on it. She was an angel the entire morning and it's another nice memory for us together before our family gets bigger.

You can say that again!

I am in love.

After reading only 5 entries.... I am hooked. So nice to know there are L&D nurses like this out there!

Gimme That Ol Time Religion!

...When I don't want to vaccinate my children.

This is a hard one - I don't like "forcing" anyone to have to vaccinate their children etc... but I don't want my child coming down with some horrible disease because someone ELSE didn't vaccinate. I do find it interesting however, that everyone is claiming religion to get out of giving these vaccines.

Thoughts?

A Man Experiancing Childbirth? Priceless!

I'm not one of those women who touts herself as some she-woman who can handle anything. O contraire! For the impending birth of our second child we've hired a doula in the hopes of increasing my chance of having a VBAC. I've researched Natural Childbirth as labouring sans pain medication for as long as possible will increase my chances for the birth Steve and I so desire. However, I am a big weenie. If someone had a proverbial gun to my head and was going to make me guess if I could endure natural childbirth I would say No - I am a weenie. But I'm going to give it the old college try. What's most important to be is being much more educated in what's going on and being done to me and my baby, and having a successful VBAC.

So - as I was cruising YouTube for some videos about natural childbirth I came across this. This is, by FAR worth the long loading time. Instead of some ridiculous comparison about who is stronger or who is more capable - this guy tries to do a scientific experiment on the amount of pain a woman experiences during childbirth. What I LOVE is that - even women who do get an epidural have still laboured. I got mine with Madeline when I was 5cm and, let me tell you - when it's all back labour it's certainly no walk in the park either! At one point the OB says that THIS was the point at which most women go to the hospital which means that most women have had no pain medicine at that point, and the guy is obviously in a LOT of pain....

It just makes me feel a little vindicated on behalf of all women. Childbirth - "natural" or not, is an exhausting, emotionally draining, charged up experience. I'm happy to get a nod from the other side.

Fear and Loathing in Indianpolis

It all started because I forgot my camera.





My dear sweet friend Jill agreed to meet Madeline and me at the Indianapolis Zoo yesterday. Steve and I have been seeking out some fun, new activities to do with Madeline before the baby comes. They currently have their butterfly garden open, and Madeline is just mad for butterflies. So after getting ourselves and the three kids ready, we headed to the butterfly garden. The kids all loved it and Jill was sweet enough to snap a few pictures of Madeline since I had committed the cardinal sin of motherhood and forgotten mine.





We visited the fish and the bears, the seals and the penguins. The kids did great despite the waves of heat and the tremendous amount of kids on field trips. Madeline got a little scared on the playground with all of the (way too old) kids playing on the equipment and required a rescue, but other than that - the day couldn't have gone better. Madeline got to be around a newborn, and I got to observe a Mom of Two in real life. She was SO zen and SO calm that it gave me hope that I might, just might, be able to handle it.



Jill and her kiddies left and I decided to stay a while since I didn't think we'd be back at the Zoo anytime soon and Madeline was having such a fun time. We talked about all of the animals at the zoo and she decided she wanted to see the Giraffes. So - off on the mile long trek to see the Giraffes! We got over there and got to see them eating their lunch and Madeline just got the biggest kick out of it. I wanted to snap a picture but *i didn't have my camera!* so I got out my phone and decided it was better than nothing. As I put my thumb on the button to get her picture a ten year old boy decided to run by me, limbs flailing.



It was like slow motion. POW! He knocked into my arm and my cell phone went flying. It literally flipped through the air *cut to me saying Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!* and thudded onto the ground into the Giraffe exhibit. The boy decided this did NOT, in fact, warrant an apology.



Madeline obviously had no idea what had just happened. The sun was at its peak and there were no clouds to cut us some slack. I made her sit in the stroller (I learned the hard way earlier in the day that trying to let her walk and push the stroller was too much for me and one of us was going to end up on the ground) as I wheeled around to try to find a zoo worker. Not having any luck, I exited "Plains" and went to a train ticket booth. "Some kid bumped into me and I dropped my cell phone into the giraffe exhibit." The 16 year old blinked at me like "Uh yeah ...and?"



"Could you please call someone to see if they can get it out?"



So there we stood positively baking in the sun - while she radioed for some help. Madelinedecided, thank heaven, to be an angel during this experience - she just sat on the back of the stroller and gabbed away. Finally she told me that someone was going to come talk to me. I thanked her and showed her where we would be sitting. So we sat



and sat



and sat



It was so hot - I was making Madeline guzzle water and stealing a few sips myself. I spied a Dippin' Dots kiosk only a few feet away so that I could be seen by the alleged zoo worker coming to my technological aid. Madeline and I walked over and I decided that we could afford to put a second mortgage on the house so we could have some ice cream. (seriously! 4 dollars for a teeny bowl of ice cream????) We scarfed it down and then we got some cloud cover so it was a bit less miserable.



and sat



and sat



Folks - I am 9 months pregnant. I don't like it when my husband is in the loo and I need it and I have plenty of other bathrooms in my house. Right now, waiting is not my forte! But I didn't want to be a jerk. Finally, after 45 minute I went back to the ticket booth.



"I'm not trying to be a pain, but do you know how much longer this is going to take? If it was anything else I'd leave it behind - but I'm supposed to give BIRTH in 3 weeks and would like to have my phone on me at all times."



She was surprised no one had come and called back to the desk. She assured me someone was on their way!



and sat



and sat



Twenty minutes later I approached again. I asked if there was anything else I could do to expedite the process. She said no.



I decided I need to talk to someone who A) wasn't 15 and 2) wasn't more concerned with filing her nails than a lady about to give birth at the zoo. So -



I walked ALL the way back out to the main gate. (Seriously, does anyone know how long that trek is? It's gotta be at least half a mile?) I talked to the lady taking tickets at the gate and explained my plight. She told me that anything that's dropped into an exhibit isn't retrieved until the evening after the animals go "in" for the night. I was about to sit down on the pavement and cry when she said I could talk to member services to see if there was anything I could do.

So Madeline and I walked around the corner and stood for 15 minutes in line while the TWO people in front of us took their sweet time deciding on memberships. When we finally got to the booth I was about to open my mouth and my daughter squeaks out "I have to go potty!!!!" So I rush through the story while telling her that I just needed a minute and we'd find her a potty. Luckily a manager overheard my tale and said that there had been zookeepers waiting for me at the giraffe exhibit for the last hour. I told her that no one told me to go back to the giraffes - that I was to stay at the train ticket stand. She told me that she'd take me back to the exhibit so I could show her where my phone was. I told her that would be great, after I found my child a bathroom.

So BACK into the zoo we went. We waited in line yet again to use the loo which Madeline had managed to hold it until I found. The BACK out to the main gate to meet Ms. Green. She was there with a security officer who was also going to walk back with us to the exhibit. I told her that I was 9 months pregnant, and that if I had to walk back there one more time I was positively going to have this baby in the middle of the zoo. I was contracting, sweating, and my legs felt like I had just run a Marathon. She said she totally understood and disappeared back into the office. When she came out a few minutes later she took our stroller and a Security mini-van showed up to escort us via the super secret back roads to the Giraffe area. I told Madeline that we were getting to ride in a "special car." She heartily accepted that and we sloooooooowly made our way around the back of the Zoo, past the hospital and the modular offices, to come up to the "Plains." I waddled out of the car and carried Madeline most of the way as her patience was understandably wearing thin. So - carrying both babies was somewhere around 75 extra pounds on my body. My feet were spilling out of my flip flops and I sounded like an emphysema patient. We found the zookeepers and I was able to show them where my phone pieces were. That process took exactly 4.82 seconds.

Sigh

So back into the Special Security Van (with lights flashing I might add) we went, and were driven back to the front of the Zoo. Ms. Green retrieved our stroller and accompanied us back into the Butterfly Exhibit. Our adventure was over...but not really.

Once again finagling with the stroller and my walking toddler, she fell down the two concrete stairs and skinned her knees up royally. The already scratched and bruised up legs took yet another beating. I swooped her up to try to assuage her crying and we went to the back of the building where she and another young man cleaned and patched up Madeline's knees- complete with Hello Kitty Band Aids. As we left the gardens area, Madeline spied the stuffed butterflies she had been eyeing that morning. "Butterfly!" she cried out "Butterfly so pretty!" Ms. Green kneeled down and asked her if she'd like to have a butterfly. She said "BUTTERFLY!" and got a smile on her face. So she walked over, plucked a butterfly out of the bin and handed it to Madeline. I am not generally one to buy my child something every where we go, but had Ms. Green not given her one I probably would have bought it for her anyway. She SO deserved it after pretty much being an angel through a long, ridiculous process. She held it all the way home as she slept.

When I asked her that night to tell Daddy all about the zoo she said, "I ride in a special car!"

She didn't even mention the giraffes.

Yummy and Easy!

Here are two things I have made this week that have been hits!

1. Homemade granola. I expected it to be a hard really hard but it SO wasn't. In fact Madeline did a majority of it. (the pics are still on my camera) The hardest part was waiting the hour for it to cook up in the oven!!! I don't like granola OR raisins, but this was truly delicious. (I left out the cashews though - ewwwww)

2. Steak Bites. I made these just last night for my husband. I don't eat red meat, which means he doesn't get it all that often which is perfectly fine with him. But on occasion I like to try something new for him that isn't CHICKEN! This was SO easy to make (I used beef stir fry strips so all I had to do was chop them into bite size pieces!) and it was CHEAP too! I paid 1.50 for all of the steak and the only other ingredient is butter! Steve really liked it and I can see using it for a fajita as well. This will become a staple in our house. Anything that takes me less than 5 minutes to cook is priceless! I'm going to load up on the beef strips for after the baby as this is one he could make himself!

An Open Letter to the Creepy Man in my Driveway Yesterday

1. You are very VERY lucky it was my husband who has just pulled in right before you did and it wasn't me with my young child. I'll give you ONE guess which part of "fight or flight" you would have seen.

2. You are very VERY lucky my husband doesn't have a licence to carry a concealed weapon. Mr. Creepy Man meet Mr. Smith and Wesson.

3. A policeman told me once that if someone broke into my house I had the right to shoot him. (Although you put one toenail in my house while my child is here and being shot would be the BEST scenario you'd come away with)

4. You are alleging to be with the census for next year. You said you just needed to stand on our porch. What do you need to do on our front patio that you can't do from the street?

5. You are very, I mean VERY lucky that my husband had a great day yesterday. One of the reasons we moved to the middle of nowhere is that my husband is an intensely private person. First the JWs show up and now creepy men supposedly working for the Census? Even if you were, you should have explained why you needed to stand on my patio.

We have an alarm system, alert neighbors, and most importantly - I'm a mother. Let me just tell you that you would die a slow painful death and I wouldn't feel badly about it.

The end.

Bye Bye Baby

I am thinking of getting rid of my creepy floating baby on the side of my blog. First it flipped over, now its eyes are open! AH!

And, the countdown thing is starting to freak me out!

Greeeeeeeeat

Cause I need one more thing to worry about as I waddle toward childbirth.

make em laugh

For some reason I've been very easy to crack up latley. My husband constantly has me in stitches. Not that he's not funny... he is, but it's like everything he says makes me go into hysterics.


And then there's commercials. I hate them as much as the next guy, but LOVE the ones that actually seem well thought out and well written. For some reason THIS one makes me laugh so hard every time I see it that I cry. Just that line "Your son rip is on line toot." It's not really that funny.....

That's new!

Sooooo I must be getting close to having this babyboy....my creepy baby to the left just flipped over!

How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

Sometimes life is so comical that you just have to embrace it with both hands and laugh at it - cause if you don't - you'll sit and cry nonstop for a week.

Thursday is grocery day in this house. Always has been. Madeline and I meet up with my MIL, go to the grocery store, I drop her (my MIL not Madeline) off at her hair appointment, and we come home. It works for us so we've just kept it this way. So last Thursday, like every other Thursday before it - we did our business at the grocery, came home, and I fed Madeline lunch while I put away all the groceries. I made orange shrimp for Steve and some Cheese Fondue for me (mmmmmmmm could eat that every day) . But when Steve went to get some ice for his root beer, he noticed a HUGE mess in the bottom of the freezer. It looked like a few Popsicles had somehow gotten squashed and melted. He asked me if I had made sure to close the freezer after I put away the groceries. I told him that of course I thought I did - but maybe I didn't. I cleaned up the mess the best I could with my very large stomach being in the way and we went about our business.

Friday morning we were all up before Steve left for work. Madeline got up early to potty and I brought her back into our room for some snuggle time. I was about to put her on our bed when my husband popped out of it - thinking that would be an HILARIOUS thing to do to a pregnant woman and a 2 year old. (uh....?) Ok so Madeline got a kick out of it but I didn't. So after I freaked out about him scaring me and gave him a nice long lecture about NOT doing that while I have a baby inside me he decided to share some news.....

"The refrigerator isn't working. Everything in it is barely cold."

"So I DIDN'T leave the freezer open after all! I didn't think I did...."

"...."

So I proceeded to dig through the world's biggest bag of manuals and found the one for our fridge. It had a 5 year warranty IF we could find our receipt. Oh my......

Steve took over the job of tracking down our purchase information and trying to get it repaired that day - while I took over the job of throwing pretty much everything away THAT I HAD JUST BOUGHT THE DAY BEFORE. Goodbye 12 dollars worth of milk....bye bye chicken breasts and beef tips I bought to try a new recipe Goodbye ice cream and the frozen soup I made from scratch a month ago... (anyone else feel like I'm quoting Our Town? ha ha)

Just something about throwing everything in your fridge away except for the soy sauce and honey mustard that just makes ya mad. Luckily we were meeting our family for dinner that night so I didn't have to come up with some type of Soy Sauce Sandwich marinated in honey mustard and a packet of apple butter sprinkled with old baking soda.

My mom had planned to come up anyway that day and come with Madeline and I to church for the Easter Egg Hunt, but since it was raining cats and dogs the hunt was postponed : (. She brought us some milk and fruit and cottage cheese in a cooler so I was able to at least feed my child lunch.

I started looking at refrigerators online to see what new one we would be purchasing. Now, don't get me wrong - I LOVE to shop and I LOVE to buy big stainless steel appliances - but the thing is - I LOVE my fridge.... I love that the freezer is on the bottom - I love that it's quiet....I don't WANT a new fridge.... now if it was our washing machine that went out I would have done a happy dance because then I could get super cool space age washing /drying machines

I had forgotten how utterly expensive SS appliances were. Ick. Pretty much the LAST thing I wanted to do with all of our other house issues at present.

Luckily Steve called before I had a full on heart attack and told me a repair man would be there that afternoon. HALLELUJAH! Although it was annoying to pay the repairman a chunk of money for something he fixed in under 10 minutes......it was a great deal less than buying a new one!

Long story short (too late) our fridge is once again in working order and another huge crisis avoided. It sure is one of those thing you take for granted - ice cold organic milk whenever you want it, cold yogurt and yummy Cool Whip at your disposal!

Once again - I would SO have died if I was a pioneer......

I guess I'm a cock-eyed optimist

WOW.

I (wish) I didn't know I was pregnant

I've mentioned before that I don't follow that many shows on tv. I guess I feel like if I didn't hop on the bandwagon at the very beginning than I missed out on too much and can't catch up. Seriously - the only sitcoms I watch are Friends and Seinfeld reruns. However, I am a sucker for crazy docu-drama type reality shows. Such as "I didn't know I was pregnant!" that I made my husband watch with me last night.

One lady was 34, and told she would never have children. She "didn't experience any symptoms of pregnancy" except an erratic period which was normal for her anyway. 9 months later she's in horrific pain, so she goes to her chiropractor. That doesn't help. She sees her family doctor who thinks she has a bowel blockage. So he gives her some medication for that. She gets up expecting to have a large BM and SURPRISE has a baby instead.

OK I guess I get that I can buy that she was told she'd NEVER have children and having a weird period to begin with....and the lady because of being overweight didn't "notice" any movement and no one noticed her belly getting rounder as they just thought she was gaining more weight. What about the other 20 million side effects? Those silly ones you forget like varicose veins and a CONSTANTLY RUNNY NOSE THAT NEVER EVER STOPS! Irritability? Moodiness? So tired you feel like you got hit by a bus? Horrible gas? Acne, Eating like there's no tomorrow? Back pain?

I can't imagine not knowing I was knocked up. This baby in my belly has decided his sole mission in life is to beat up my insides so badly they will never be the same again. The last 24 hours was , in fact, so bad that between a million Braxton-Hicks contractions and his literal non-stop movement I thought for sure he was going to bust out! Steve put his hands on my stomach last night and couldn't believe how strongly he was moving. We could tell what was a hand or what was a kick. He kicks my right side so hard that I'm starting to not be able to keep from letting out a little yelp here and there - even when out in public. In fact I was in Firestone getting my oil changed the other day and he kicked me so hard that I let out a little "oh!" and a little groan. I'm sure the other people there waiting thought I was totally skitzophrenic. "stop that!" "Ouch!" "You're hurting me!" Ha Ha.

I wouldn't want to go to the hospital thinking I had appendicitis and come home with a baby - but I can't help but envy jut a smigde these women who were apparently so oblivious that they didn't have ONE INKLING that they might be pregnant. My body has never felt worse... but I know my heart has never felt happier.

All Things Excessive

I just ordered one of these for Madeline. It's not too much is it???

Be a Lady

I'm starting to wonder if it's a coincidence that almost all of my husband and my "songs" all have to do with being Lucky?

Except this one about breakfast food.

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers

Happy Ides of March Everyone!

A Crab Came Down the Walk

I feel like I need to apologize to one Ms. Emily Dickinson. I am always hacking up her poetry to fit my own devices. Somewhere, she is in her ubiquitous white gown glaring at me. Sorry Em - never really dug your stuff anyway!

So my husband came home from work the other day and was all "Get the camera! Put your shoes on!" We bundled Madeline up and walked out to the driveway where, hidden behind a planter, we saw this guy. I flipped out because I don't like any type of bug or crustacean or what have you . . . I was like "ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" but Madeline was all "Crab! Crab! Touch the crab!! Pinch pinch!" I snapped a few pictures and went inside to finish cooking dinner and try to forget how creepy the thing was.

My husband was enthralled for some reason. All through dinner he talked about it - what was it - where did it come from - was it going to be ok in the cold - you would think it was a cute puppy or something! I was like "Who cares? It's scary! Let it die!" (I know, I'm heartless) He was trying to convince me to let him put it in a bucket in the garage for the night, but I nixed that RIGHT away. We wouldn't want Templeton, the single resident of our garage, to get upset now would we?

He wouldn't shut up about it so I finally told him to go throw it in the creek at the end of our street. So he and Madeline set out to "free" him into the creek. I couldn't believe how interested she was in it. They stopped at the neighbors house and showed them their find. They were informed that it was, in fact, a crawdad. (ick!) I hope they sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic or something while they released him.

I guess it's one more thing we have to get used to with country life!

Anti-Disease

An excellent interview with Dr. Offit - one of the inventors of the vaccine for Rotavirus. It's a long interview, but a lot of good information. He makes an excellent point that people go to the University of Google and then totally ignore the repeated findings of scientists and researchers.

On the Town

Steve and I were able to go out to a Ball State outing at Jillian's last weekend. I was able to squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze myself into a non-maternity dress since it was empire waisted. Believe me - nothing makes a pregnant momma feel good like NOT wearing maternity clothes! I even wore heels!

Steve and I had a great time out - they are going to get even more scarce when baby2 gets here! ~sigh~

So Many Books

One thing I have always been is a voracious reader. I "rediscovered" my passion when Madeline was a newborn and nursing all day and all night and I found I could hold a book in my hand while she nursed.

Now, every night after Steve drifts off into lalaland. I sneak on my light (aka "garage light) and read. I've added a link on the side to what I'm presently reading. I am always looking for good book recommendations... and I'll probably do another list for books I want to read. Of course that may take up the entire side of my blog...

But I have promises to keep

Madeline was supposed to go to her first Valentines Day Party on Friday but the host's sons were sick so we had to postpone. :( My friend Emily and I decided that we both needed a little break from being housebound and decided to meet up for an hour at the mall. The mall! I don't remember the last time I went to the mall! Madeline and I left the house around 9:00 and were well on our way to meet our friends! She had gotten potty right before leaving the house so I was pretty sure she could make it to the mall. Now of course, I had to make 3 trips back into the house to get various items she couldn't live without...So we're chugging down I-69 and all the sudden my daughter says "Potty mama! Potty!" I asked her if she had to go potty and she said yes. AHHHHH! Luckily we were just about to pass an exit. I swerved across traffic and got off as quickly as I could yelling at the procession of Grandmas who had apparently decided to ALL go to the same place I was going. I finally get out from behind them and see Paradise Bakery. YAY! a clean place!!!! I would have settled for just about anything but a clean, well lit eatery made me especially happy. I ZOOMED into a "parking spot" (that I made up), ran around the car, grabbed her and the potty topper, and ran in - reminding her to try to "hold it." Of course being the day it was - the place was FILLED with balloons. There are few things Madeline loves more than Balloons. So she's wanting to stop and admire and talk and touch and beg and I was like " WE HAVE TO GO TO THE POTTY!!!!!" as we zoom to the back of the restaurant. So as I put her on the potty, amazed she was able to stay dry (I assumed she didn't tell me she had to go until he was just about ready to go) and she talked about balloons the entire time. I finally told her that after we finished going potty, when we got to the mall, we'd get her a balloon. So, we finished up and made our way back out to the car. She talked about getting a balloon the entire way to the mall.We met up with Emily and Gabby in VonMaur. The kiddos chatted as we did..... it was really fun and Emily and I were feeling pretty at ease with them, since they had both just gone to the potty. After a circle around the mall the kids were saying they were hungry. I had packed some sugar snap peas for Madeline which she wasn't thrilled about, but Gabby was kind enough to share her bag of trail mix with us! That made them both pretty happy- long enough for us to slip into a children's clothing store that was having a huge sale. OH my WORD were we in heaven! I now have to shop on BOTH sides of the store.....so Emily was awesomely entertaining both girls while I shopped the BLUE section..... we did minimal damage to our credit cards and realized the girls probably needed a potty stop. At that moment they voiced their need so we asked the clerk where the nearest restroom was. She said she thought it was Borders. So - we hightailed it out of there and started booking it to Borders. We found an employee who told us the restrooms were in the BACK of the store on the SECOND floor. (Of course they were! Where else would they be?) So at this point we're almost running. Which, Emily looks very cute doing at this point in her life, whereas I am more Jolly Green Giant-esque. kaBOOM kaBOOM kaBOOM. We're weaving through racks, and leaving smoke in our wake. We get onto the elevator and, 2 hours later, (or so it felt) we were up the one floor to the bathroom. We clamour into the bathroom with our two strollers and potty accouterments and BOTH girls went potty like pros! They were looking at us like "What was the rush about? We're cool...." So we get their hands washed and all situated back in their strollers.Emily and Gabby had to go so they could check on one poor sick Daddy. Madeline and I cruised up to Bath and Bodyworks since I had a giftcard, but about 10 steps in I couldn't go on - the smell was so overwhelming I needed a HAZMAT suit.... we grab some lunch at Chic Fil A. Now of course, I get behind the one woman who, after starting her order, must reconsider every single item on the menu. Meanwhile there are millions of people being served around me and I realized that my blood sugar is presently at my knees and falling fast. We wait and wait and wait. One thing pregnancy does to me is make me even less patient then I tend to be. So I am wanting to scream "OH MY WORD HOW HARD IS IT LADY!!!! I AM GOING TO DIE!!!!" I can literally feel my blood sugar fall so fast that I am starting to see stars. She finally gets her food and her 4.7 million packages so that I can order. I get a 12 piece meal and as soon as she puts it in front of me I'm digging through it and shoving chicken into my mouth. Madeline is begging to go play on the playground in the food court but I'm really skeezed out by the germ factor (and I don't skeeze out over germs!) so I tell her we are going to continue our quest for balloons. I hand her a piece of chicken and continue to literally cram the nuggets down my throat. I'm slurping my soda so loudly that I'm shocked someone in the next state doesn't ask me to quiet down.We visited every possible store in the mall that could have balloons - the card stores, the gifty stores, and finally a candy store. No luck. One woman suggested another candy store (at the ENTIRE other end of the mall) so we start off that way. I'm throwing Madeline the occasional nugget and stuffing my face with fries. We're almost to the end of the mall and I realize I am out of food and almost freak out. I am still STARVING! I don't remember the last time I was so hungry. I am miles away from the food court at this point, but there's a pretzel place nearby so I opt for a greasy mall pretzel. I pull in behind two high-school age girls who are so busy flirting with the pretzel maker they haven't even ordered yet. I feel my blood pressure SHOOT up again. "ORDER YOUR STUPID PRETZEL NOW OR GET OUT OF LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I want to scream. Instead I think mean thoughts in my head. They finally finish their urgent - non pretzel related business and move on. I get my million dollar pretzel and continue to push toward my last hope for Madeline's balloon. I'm huffing and puffing at this point because 1) I am now trying to eat the entire pretzel in one bite and 2) I have walked the equivalent of a marathon. I am also fighting with my maternity pants and my joints are starting to ache. I finally find the candy store. I know a balloon here will probably cost me a small fortune but I don't care."Do you have any balloons?" I ask the little girl working there. BTW - why aren't these kids in school? Am I just getting so old that everyone looks super young, or am I just old and crotchety?"No! I am so sorry! But we have lots of candy!""IMAGINE THAT! CANDY IN A CANDY STORE WOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!" is what I want to say. "Oh yeah!" I say instead.I crouch down in front of Madeline and try to explain to her that in the entire expanse of the mall there is not ONE balloon for the taking. I try to explain to her that she may have a sucker instead. I don't know if she understood what I was saying, but she happily took the dumdum I offered her. I paid the six cents and started back toward the car. We make one more (successful) potty stop on the way out and are finally on our way home! We're both beat and I get her down for her nap pretty quickly. I'm so exhausted that I consider crawling into my own bed with my clothes and shoes on to relieve my aching, bloated body. But there's just so much to do . . .And Miles to go before I sleep...

Oh to be a man!

Steve and I enrolled Madeline in a swimming class at Ball State. (Figure she better get used to taking classes early! ha ha) We thought it would be wise since we have neighbors with a pool and now having a lakehouse, we want her to be totally comfortable with water and learn to swim as soon as possible. This is the very beginner class just to get the kids used to water and kicking their feet, going under for a second, etc...

It was Steve's idea to take the class and he said he'd take her on Saturday mornings. That way they got some good Daddy-Maddy time and I got some ALONE TIME! (angelic ahhhhs)

Except the last 2 weeks I've had to take her because he's had to work. Getting into a maternity bathing suit this late in the game is really no fun. And, my friend Emily lent me the CUTEST suit - but there's only so much you can do for a pregnant woman trust me.

This past Saturday Steve was home so he was going to be in the pool for the lesson, but I decided to go so I could get some pictures.

We were sitting on the bench waiting for the class to start. There were people milling about as there's about 4 classes going on within the one large pool. He was in his suit and I was in my normal maternity garb - SO glad not to be in a bathing suit. Then we had the following conversation:

"Are you self conscious at all in your suit?"
"What do you mean?"
(Now I need to note that my husband is not only gorgeous, but also in very good shape so he would have no reason to be self-conscious at all)
"I mean do you look around the room at every other man in a pair of trunks and compare yourself to them? Make mental notes on all the ways they possibly look better than you do? Then hate them a little for looking better?"
"Uh....No."
"Wow, that must be so nice!"

Tragedy

I always wanted a red balloon
it only cost a dime
But Ma said it was risky
They broke so quickly
And besides she didn't have time
and even if she did
She didn't think they were worth a dime
We lived on a farm and only went
to one circus and fair
And all the balloons I ever saw
were there
There were yellow ones and blue ones
But the ones I liked best
were red
And I don't see why she couldn't have stopped and said
That maybe I could have one
But she didn't
I supposed that now
You can by them anywheres
And that they still sell red ones
At circuses and fairs
I have a little money now
I have a lot of time
I have noone to tell me how and where
and when to spend my dime
Plenty of balloons
But somehow -
there's something died inside of me
And I don't want one
now.


Jill Sparger

Trust Me

I think everyone should have a mantra. This is mine.

Oh, Britannia

My beloved limeys are breaking my heart.

Jack be nimble...

I know I've written before about how music etc..... brings back memories. What's funny is - this song made Steve and I think of the same thing.

I had some music playing the other night on my computer and it came on.... Madda was seriously busting a move and all the sudden my husband says, "I'd like to go roller skating sometime."

I said, "OH MY WORD I would LOVE to go roller skating again I haven't been since forever!!!!"

It's exactly where my mind went when I heard the song....

But Steve said we couldn't go until the baby was born. boo. : ( Plus, I don't know of any skating places anymore......

Baby Got VBAC

I had lunch with my amazing friend Carrie

yesterday and she gave me this great book... all of my mom friends know how desperate I am to have a VBAC this time around with baby2. So much so that I have been reading up lots on Natural childbirth so that I have the ability to move around while I labour instead of being confined to the bed. I would say I have an "average" pain tolerance - certainly not superwoman. A few of my friends have done it naturally and my mom did it 28 years ago with me. I know it can be done - pioneers did it right?

For some women it's a badge - as well it should be! Personally - I don't care if anyone else knows if I do it naturally or not - I just want to add every small iota of a chance to have a VBAC. Even if I can put it off for an extra 3 or 4 hours I'll be happy. I had horrible horrible back labour with Madeline and I simply can't imagine going through it again but... I also thought I'd never be pregnant again and - here I am!

So anywho - my friend Carrie (who is having triplets ergo is a superhero) gave me this book and I got straight to reading it last night. I KNEW I was going to like it when I opened it up to the first chapter. "The Cesarean Epidemic: Obstetrics on the cutting edge." Her first paragraphs:

In 1970, the U.S. C-section (CS) rate was a stable 5 percent. By 1980, it had more than tripled. By 1983, one in 5 women was giving birth by major surgery and the rate has yet to drop below that number. CS is the most common major surgery performed in the U.S.

No objective person could possibly believe that one in 5 women requires major surgery in order to be a healthy mother giving birth to a healthy baby. Experts estimate that the national rate could be safely halved, which means that at a minimum, nearly half a million women have unnecessary CS every year.

Compared with vaginal birth, CS carries substantially increased risks of death and permanent injury. To give you an idea of the capricious natures of the cesarean decision, researchers asked 5 experts to review nearly 50 cases of CS for "fetal distress." In nearly 1/3rd of the cases, 4 of the 5 reviewers agreed the CS wasn't necessary. However, 3 months later, give the SAME 50 cases, the same experts changed their minds in 25 percent of the cases.

CS babies incur extra risks as well. The baby may be cut, and are more likley to be in poor condition at birth. Apgar scores are consistently lower on CS babies. (In her stats she sites that these were on ELECTIVE C-sections - so there was no "fetal distress" to begin with - the mother simply wanted a CS) Babies born by CS were over 3 times as likley to be admitted to intermediate or intensive care and 5 times more likley to need assistance breathing. It is also documented that more newborns born this way have breathing problems and jaundice.

All of this - AND the World Health Organization has also admitted that there are simply too many CS being performed. The U.S. government set the goal of achieving a 15 percent national CS rate by 2000. Ironically, in 1979, the National Institutes of Health viewed a 15% rate with such alarm that it convened a panel of experts to develop recommendations on how to lower it.

I guess after reading all of this I shouldn't feel so terrible about wanting a VBAC so badly. I guess it just makes me mad that all of this research shows us that there are simply too many being done and for some very very shady reasons. I am trying to look at the bright side that all of the CS moms in my moms group were able to have VBACS the second time round. HOORAY for inspiration!

This is just to say

I have been missing reading/teaching a meaty literary sylabus. My husband is in the process of writing his Master's Thesis which is focusing on digital storytelling. Ergo, he has to compare it to "typical" narratives. As such, it's allowed to me help a little by suggesting fun short stories and narratives to which he might draw a comparison.

As I was flipping through some of my old curriculum, I came across one of my favourite poems. It's called "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams:

I have eaten
the plums
which were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet and so cold.

It's a fun poem that I used to have my students write parodies of. It floated out of my mind until today when I was buying another pair of deep discount pajamas. Per my last post many of you read how much I loved my new PJs. Well, my husband doesn't so much. Since they are dark red with white dots - he calls me "St Nick" when I wear them.

I couldn't help but think about the PJs I used to wear and the ones I wear now. So, as I bought my clearance jammies I composed this little ditty to my dear and loving husband.

I am wearing
the pajamas
once worn only
by old ladies
and men in old movies

Made of flannel
and fleece
and no lace

Forgive me
they are so warm
and so forgiving.

Ode to Pajamas

I have long been jealous of Madeline's footy pajamas. Especially since Indiana has turned Arctic. Steve and I bought a pair for our friend Tony as a joke for Christmas and he LOVES them. One night after we bought them, it was so cold that I threatened to get them out and wear them. (Would my husband ever forgive me for wearing footy pajamas?)



The coldest room in our house is our bedroom. I don't really want to talk about it because it puts me in a bad mood, but our room is always always freezing. It doesn't help that I am always cold anyway. SEGUE - everyone always tells me how much they hated having a summer pregnancy because they got so hot. Madeline was a summer pregnancy and I LOVED IT! I don't dig this winter thing as much I don't think. Anywho, my gorgeous nightwear usually consists of a pair of sweats and a long-sleeved shirt. (And my heated mattress pad cranked to 11) But lately it's been so cold even that isn't cutting the mustard, so I've added a sweatshirt to the mix. (I know I know, try to hold yourself back from that gorgeous imagine.)



I told Steve that when I have this baby I'd like to get a pair of cute pajamas to wear in the hospital. I lived in hospital gowns last time and it was a nightmare. I wanted a pair of cute flannel pants and a button top. I had a few extra moments yesterday so I stopped in to Kohls to look for a pair.



What luck! They had clearanced their "Simply Vera" collection to 70% off! I found a really cute pair of red pajamas with white dots. They were such thick fleece, that I was tempted to put them on in the middle of the store!



Last night I decided to give the pjs a test drive. "I'll just try them on" I told myself, "To make sure they will fit in the hospital and everything..." So I put them on - and was transported directly to couture heaven. I don't know what the VW people made these pajamas out of but I have never, in my life, felt anything softer or more comfortable. It was like it added 20 degrees to the temperature around me. I padded around for a while and then informed my husband that I would have to buy another "special" pair of "birthin' pjs" because these weren't coming off any time soon.



As I got up this morning, I remarked at how well I had slept. At the expense of sounding like an infomercial - I feel owe it all to the pajamas. It was like sleeping in silk with the warmth of sherpa! I have no intention of getting out of them any time soon. They had a few different colours and patterns so I could easily get one for every day of the week.



And to think Madda was keeping all this warm pajama goodness to herself!

I see a red door...

the finished project!

The "before" pic

After the base coat

I don't know why BLogger won't load my pics right - it is jumbling them around and won't let me put them later in the post. GRRRRRRRRRRR

I have wanted to paint my kitchen for as long as I can remember. The builder put flat paint in the kitchen (seriously? come ON!) and if you know anything about flat paint you know that if you breathe on it it marks up. Well, that's not cool for a toddler! Ours quickly got stained with handprints, nose prints (the dogs), strained carrots etc..... to the point where I was embarassed to have people in my kitchen.

I have been talking about faux finishing it forEVER. I LOVE the look of it and thought it would do well to cover up all the little marks we manage to get around here :) Well, last week my husband had had enough. While we were picking up paint for baby2's nursery I saw a complete faux finish look that I loved. I went on and on to Steve about how it was exactly what I wanted. He told me to buy all the paint, to stop talking about doing it and actually do it. I hemmed and hawed but finally decided to get all the paint. So we left Home Depot weighed down with gallon upon gallon of paint.

I told my father about my plans, and he offered to come up and help me get started. So Friday he came up bright and early and started taping up all the doors and windows. WHAT a job that was! Glad I didn't have to do it! My old friend Kyle (and his adorable daughter Lilly) also came up to help. He'd done a bunch of faux finish painting before so he was a huge help in teaching me technique.

I had NO IDEA how much work painting was! When we did Madda's nursery it wasn't too bad because we just painted on top of the basecoat already there. Plus we were painting flowers and trees, not the entire wall. By the time my husband came home, I was exhausted! I was just thankful little Madeline wasn't there to stick her hands in everything!

However, I love the end result. It's very very different, but I love it. It's motivated me to get some other rooms painted in this house of Beige and White. We'll see...

Follow Up

I was checking out my favourite parenting website early this morning and they had a great article on "Push Presents." Since I brought it up here a few days ago (and now my blog exports to Facebook and I got a lot of interesting replies there, most of which said that husbands deserved the present after a long grouchy pregnancy ha ha) I thought I'd post it.

Pro-Choice

I've always been pro-choice, even when it wasn't popular with those around me. Even as a teacher molding young minds... I'm pro-choice.

And apparently, so is Mr. Obama. Maybe we have more in common than I thought!


(Disclaimer: This is MY blog which means they are MY thoughts. You don't have to agree with me, you can think I'm way off base - that's totally fine. I'd love to engage in *educated* discussion and welcome comments as such. If, however, you either: 1) Don't know what you're talking about on this issue - much like I am about things like: hedge funds, the string theory, and dadaism, please don't parrot others views and instead just read others' input. AND I'd encourage you to do some research and come to your own conclusion! Even if it's different than mine! 2) Are going to get all bent out of shape if someone makes a valid point on either side of the issue and run away crying like a 4 year old.)

BTW - the ONLY president to put his children in public school was Jimmy Carter. Hm. All I have to say is that the Obamas are lucky they live in a place that supports school vouchers. If his administration gets rid of them, his kids will lose some classmates!