Thoroughly Engaged

So today is the 6th anniversary of our engagement. (Note: pix from Mardi Gras party summer after engagement. I can't find the e-version of our engagment photo & the scanners not hooked up right now.)

Yes, my husband proposed to me on April Fools Day. I have a scrapbook page with the whole story written out, but it’s not where it’s supposed to be, so I’ll have to do it from memory. (Really I think maybe DS ought to write it, but then he might start reading my blog & we wouldn’t want that now would we?)

Apparently, DS had purchased the ring some time prior to April 1st. Knowing I love old jewelry, but having very small hands, wrists & fingers, most rings along those lines would look ridiculous on me, DS had looked high & low to find something that would be my taste (old, pretty & not too big—“something tasteful”) . After much frustration he had found the perfect ring at an artist shop in Los Altos, but it had to be made. So he’d been planning for some weeks on asking, but had to wait for the actual ring to arrive.

When the ring did arrive he was trying to find the right moment, and quickly, because having it was making him nervous.

Our group of friends used to organize a TNO (Thursday Night Out) every week. We’d start the weekend with happy hour on Thursday. It would usually ended including dinner and possibly even bar hopping after. What can I say? We were single and fun and could stay up late. Someday I’ll tell you stories about how much fun we were and all the parties I have pictures of (what I remember of them). Anyway, he was thinking maybe he’d propose after dinner on TNO, but then decided that maybe the parking lot of an Italian chain restaurant, probably not so romantic and during dinner, with 10+ other people, not so much either. (Have to agree on both of those.) But in anticipation he’d gone and bought me the unbelievably gorgeous red roses.

He refers to them as “gay guy roses”, meaning that if you want the best flowers be sure that there’s a certifiable gay guy working at the shop you purchase them from as they will always be the best. Expensive? yes, but you get what you pay for and a certifiably gay person who actually works in the flower shop is going to make sure you have beautiful flowers.

So he gave me the flowers at the end of the night “just because”. I was bowled over because they were so beautiful, but also kind of pissed about them. I didn’t let on I was annoyed, but we were leaving the next afternoon to go skiing for the weekend with a bunch of my co-workers and that meant the prettiest (and I was sure most expensive) flowers I’d ever received were going to be wasted on my cats for two days. But, not wanting to discourage any future random flower giving I didn’t let on.

So Friday afternoon we headed up to Tahoe for a weekend with a bunch of my co-workers. He was thinking maybe he would ask me when we got up there; sneak away just the two of us, then be able to celebrate the rest of the evening with all my friends. Not such a bad plan. Unfortunately on the way up one of cars we were convoying with was in an accident in Davis.

Bah.

The accident was just bad enough to shake them up pretty well, but not so bad that they couldn’t continue on. The real bummer was that after that happened they were scared to go like over 50MPH, so it to FOR-EVER to get up to Tahoe. Once we got up there it was late and everyone was tired and grumpy. Not such a great vibe for what he had in mind.

So the next day we’re skiing at Heavenly. We finally take a run just to two of us, the last run before lunch. Can you imagine how he must’ve been feeling by then? So he skis off into some trees & tells me to follow him. I decline as I’ve got nothing to prove and usually the snow in the trees is crunchy, I’m not really in the mood. But he keeps telling me to come over,

“You know you can really see the lake from here, come check it out.”
I can see it just fine from here thanks! (He must’ve been ready to bop me at that point.)

Finally he takes off his skis & reaches into his jacket pocket, so I think, “Ok, he wants to take a freaking picture, why didn’t he just say so?” I ski over thinking it’s a Kodak moment, I guess it was, just not the way I thought.

So visualize this; Lake Tahoe in the background, we’re on the side of a ski trail, so lots pretty snow filled trees making us feel all alone, sun is shining and there’s a light breeze blowing. DS had long hair at the time so the breeze is blowing his hair back all Fabio like (which kinda cracks me up now). He pulls his hand out of his pocket & has a small box in it. All the sudden I realize what is happening. He gets down on one knee (oh, yes he did girlfriend!) and says something about how happy I’ve made him and if I would make him this happy for the rest of our lives by being his wife. (This is the part I’m wanting my scrapbook page for, cause I have what he said exactly written in there!) And while he’s getting this out, I’m in such shock that I squeak out, “Really?” And then of course say “Yes!” Much kissing and hugging ensues as you might imagine. I then remembered it was April Fools Day & asked if I had to give it back. He didn’t believe me at first & then was like “NO”.

It was very sweet and very perfect. I’m so glad he asked and I’m glad he did it in such a way that we have a good story to it as well.

ILOVEYOU DS. Thank you for the last 7 years together, my life is so much better for your being in it.

The Taxman Cometh...or something like that

My procrastination is more or less over. TS & I went to H&R Block this AM & spent 2+ hours going over all the paperwork for our taxes. Of course, I have a list of papers that somehow got missed, but 90% of it was there and of the parts that were missed, I know where most of them are, so no biggie. (I hope.)

Before I met DS I did my own taxes. (Go Turbo Tax.) But after we got married DS had these investments and his mother made this big stink about having a professional do it. (Mostly, because she’d made sure it gotten done for her boys all these years & still wasn’t really ready to give up control of that. And really, she wanted to know how far down the food chain her son was marrying.)

Remember all those stories about the outlaws I promised?
Do you see where this is going?
No, this post isn’t going to go down that road, right now. Well, maybe just a little bit.

She did a really good job of making me doubt my abilities in this arena. I know now that his investments are no more special then the investments I have/had, but I was young and naive. She also thinks her son had TONS of money/investments coming into this marriage. We were pretty equal in that area & trust me, neither of us is being courted by the country club, well maybe the country club in Bum Fuck Arkansas, but not here. So her perspective on it was somewhat skewed by not having all the details. But I wasn’t sharing all my previous finance information with her, cause it’s none of her damn business. Anywho, we got our own tax person; a cousin of mine who’s a CPA. Not exactly what she had in mind. What she really wanted was to have us send her all our financials and then she’d have her tax person do them.

She actually said this.

Out loud.

Ummm, I. Don’t. Think. So.

Ok, so that was like 6 years ago. My cousin was a cousin by marriage & they got divorced and she moved to So. Cal last year, so I didn’t think it made much sense to send our stuff down south. Might as well as send to his folks in Kansas, right? Oh, did I say that out loud?

Now I had to find a new tax person. Bah!

Honestly, I don’t think she (my CPA cousin) was doing so much more for us then we could’ve done for ourselves. DS and I discussed it and we’re going back to doing it ourselves next year. I decided this year it was probably a good idea with all the property/investment changes we had to have someone else at least looking at it, just to be safe. So I ended up calling H&R Block. We’ll see how it goes I guess. I can tell you one thing for sure; not as cheap as doing it yourself, or having a cousin who's a CPA.

On a side note; TS was the most excellent child on the face of this earth during this meeting this morning. She colored for about half an hour and then she played quietly with her baby doll. For TWO HOURS!!! (I know adults who couldn't entertain themselves in public that long! Private yes, but I'm trying not to attract any of that kind of spam.) I’m sure when I walked in to the place, loaded with files, 8 month pregnant & 2YO in tow they must’ve been rolling their eyes. But my child could not have been better behaved.

I am so proud of her!

I splurged & took her to “Micky D’s” for lunch (her choice and a BIG treat for this house). And because she wanted to, we drove to G’ma & Papa’s and ate it there.

She was super happy. And so am I.

Showers --not the weather for a change

I have some of the coolest friends ever. Have I told you that Internet? Cause I do.

My friend, H gave me a baby shower tea on Sunday. Being the one who usual organizes this kind of stuff for other people it was sort of weird to have it be done for me for a change. I’m sure I bothered the shit out of H all week calling her asking if I could do or bring anything.

Anyway it was very girly and we had lots of yummy food. One of the coolest parts (I think) was that H borrowed our kids table & set up a “tea” for TS & her buddy I who was there. She even went to the trouble of getting a plastic tea set for the girls & gave it to TS after.

I got lots of really cool baby gifts; blankets (those super soft ones—they didn’t have those 3 years ago when TS was being born), sleep sacks, cute girly clothes, some baby toys; a whoozit (TS never had one, poor deprived child), a foot piano, the diaper bag I mentioned in an earlier post, etc…you get the idea, general baby shower stuff.

This poor baby won't have anything. Riiiight.

TS got a couple gifts too; a diaper bag for her baby doll, a cool blender (pottery barn kids) and a Disney Princess camera & scrapbook, so she can crop with mommy.

I’m have to admit I'm a little overwhelmed with the generosity of our friends and amazed how lucky we are to have such a great supportive group behind us.

Sibling Rivarly

Ok, so before I head off to bed to not sleep. (Guess what my BOTD is?) Let me fill you in on the weekend (quickly now, before we get to the next weekend.)

Saturday, I took TS to a sibling class.
Sounds cool, huh?
We are such cool parents, preparing all little girl in all the right ways for the impending disruption to her perfect universe.

It was ok.

Apparently they break these into groups by age & I’d say we were on the old side for this group. I would guess that most of the kids were barely 2, and not exactly “focused” on what was happening.
The teacher handed out dolls (the size of newborn, anatomically correct—ours was a boy). She discussed how to hold the baby, how the baby’s going to move, about the baby’s head (being soft & not to touch it) and how “we don’t want to poke the baby in the eyes, nose or mouth”.

Thanks for suggesting that one, not sure my kid would’ve come up with it on her own.

She then passed out small book bags each containing a diaper, blanket and bottle.
TS thought she died & gone to heaven.
The kids diapered & “swaddled” their babies. TS actually paid attention to the swaddling instructions and made a decent effort at actually swaddling her baby. Better then some of the parents.
What can I say; my kid’s a bit OCD.
They played a video about getting a new sibling; TS & one other little boy actually watched the video the rest of the kids bounced off the walls.
Then they made cards for the babies that will soon be coming to their house. Stickers & crayons were provided.
TS had a meltdown over leaving card making and moving onto the hospital tour. So much fun. I picked her up and told her I wanted to see the hospital, so she had to go.
We viewed an empty labor & delivery room. I'm sure the toddler-set was thrilled.
TS then had a second meltdown over pushing the elevator button. More fun.
We did get to see a newborn leaving the hospital on our way out. Thank God, cause I’d promised we’d see some babies at the hospital.

All in all it was just ok.
We go back this Saturday for a hospital tour for us (they’ve remodeled since TS was born & we want to make sure we know where the fridge is, important stuff you know). Going a second time will actually be good, cause it’ll be her second visit and hopefully make the place more familiar.

TS diapering her baby. Gawd, she can be cute when she wants to be.

Ok, so I'm tired now. I'm off to bed to NOT sleep again. I'll write about the shower tomorrow when I can do it justice. Pix included, I promise!

Something Creative?

So the anniversary of our engagement is coming up this Saturday, April 1st. Yes, my husband proposed to me on April Fools Day. I’ll tell you the story on Saturday, seems like an appropriate time.
Since it’s likely that BS will be taking up most of our time & energy around our wedding anniversary in May (and since, TS’s birthday is two days before our anniversary), I was thinking we ought to go out to celebrate this anniversary and not worry about it in May. We actually tend to honor this one more then the wedding one. I’ve always felt that the day DS asked me to marry him, I said yes and he put the ring on my finger, was really the day we were married. Our wedding was just our way of sharing it with the rest of the world. But our engagement was about US.

Stop gagging, I really do feel that way.

I would like to go out for a nice dinner, somewhere swanky. If we were going to do this I would prefer that TS stay overnight somewhere, which means G’ma’s or SIL. Both of whom will be working to get ready for a family baby shower they’re giving me the next day. So that idea’s out. I guess we could do it the next weekend or something, but I’d really like to do something Saturday. How often does your anniversary actually fall on a weekend?

Yeah, I could make a nice dinner & we could watch a movie or something, but the thing is after 8:00 (when TS goes to bed) I’m pretty much shot. Pathetic, I know. I don’t think I can make it through a whole movie.

Plus we have to do the dishes if we do that. Which sucks.

I need something creative.

The Circular File

I know, I owe you details about our immensely busy weekend. TS had her sibling class, I had a really cool baby shower and I have pictures to share from both events, but I suck, so you’ll have to wait one more day. Sorry. Here’s why:

I spent this evening filing. Yes, filing. Yuck. I haven’t filed since we moved. In November. I did (more or less) put all our tax related stuff in a “pile” together, but I had to go through several piles of filing to make sure I didn’t miss all the tax papers I needed. So, so much for that idea.

Bah. I hate this crap.

Last year we, sold a house, bought a house, refinanced a rental property (yes, we’re slum lords), sold a bunch of investments to help buy and remodel said house, etc….you get the idea: we have a lot of tax related documents.

I also got really into Flylady (don’t judge, if you can get past her syrupy sweetness, she’s a great resource,) a few years ago. As a result I go to Goodwill (or the library) with donations once a week.

Seriously.

Last year (2004) we donated like $3K to Goodwill.

No, I’m not kidding.

We did have that much CRAP in our house.

I’m not sure if this year will be quite so good on the deduction front. I’d say no, but with move we got rid of a lot more SHITE. So we’ll see.

Oh, and for your reading pleasure, my BOTD: I’m having major lower back pain. Ended up at the physical therapist for it, (Here comes the real bitchy part ;) my old therapist recently moved away so I saw a new one.

She su-cked!

By the time I got off the table I literally couldn’t move my right hip. I almost fell when I tried to walk. Well that was a great idea. I’m feeling better now, but if it’s bad/sore in the AM I’m going to call & request a different therapist.

Ok, off to bed. Night Internet.

Pretty, pretty…shinny

One of the things that happen this weekend was that my friends gave me a baby shower. I want to write more about it and will tonight. I may even post some photos, cause I’m just that kinda girl.

Anyway, my mom bought me the “totally-girly-self-absorbed” diaper bag I wanted. I was super surprised, cause I’m pretty sure I’m getting something else that was rather expensive from her at my family shower next weekend. Honestly, I didn’t expect her to give me anything this weekend, much less something like this. But I’m so glad she did!!!

We have a Land’s End Backpack Diaper Bag from when Toddlerspeak was born. It’s a great diaper bag. We love it & we still use it EVERYDAY. I highly recommend one if you're in the market. It's very practical.

But this go around I was hopping to get something for ME. I'm sure it's not practical, and not nearly as useful as our current one, but I really wanted it! AND it’s PINK!

So here’s something pretty & shinny to distract you from your day.



Think it would be weird if I just started using it as my purse before the baby’s born?

Still Pregnant

Actually, I’m feeling pretty good today & don’t currently have BOTD to post. But it’s early, give me time.
This is just the answer I give to everyone who sees me these days. I am no longer greeted by things like “Hi” or “How are you”. No, these days everyone looks at my stomach & says, “How are you feeling today?” (And some women bitch because men won’t make eye contact with them, they’ll only look at their breasts. How about having everyone look disbelievingly at your gut, honey? Quit your bitching.) I believe these are the precursors to “You haven’t had that thing yet?” And the ever popular, “Wow, you’re huge!”

Had a very busy weekend, with lots to report. But will have to provide this for you later today, as I have actual work to do today. Go figure.

Outlaws leave today & it was the most uneventful visit we’ve ever had with them. Very good for us, not so good for blog posting. Sorry to let you down Internet, after all those promises of great stories I’ve totally left you hanging. Not to worry, there are plenty to choose from, from past visits. Ok, I’ll write more later

A Day in the Life of Toddler Parenting

I was going to write and say that Gerah & Chag are so my life right now. And usually they are. Seriously, that’s part of why I love reading them so much, it’s like they post for me.

(So next time I skip a day, go read thier blogs, it's like reading mine. Only funnier.)

We all have daughters the same age, so I guess they make me feel better about all this toddler stuff. But today Toddlerspeak (TS) must’ve sensed that I was going to write about her. She’s been unusually cooperative. I’m sure she’ll be back to normal after her nap. But as I write she’s even actually napping!!!

We got up at 7. I slept poorly again.

Lots of circulation issues:
headache—bad enough to wake me up at least 2x
arms & legs falling asleep—not the side I’m laying on, shit one time I woke up cause it felt like my lips were falling asleep.

3AM is not really the time you want to take something caffeine laden to help with circulation so I just kept sitting up, shaking it out, not so much with lips though, drinking a lot of water & trying to sleep again.

Needless I wasn’t expecting much out of the day. It wasn’t starting out exactly stellar. But TS got up & got dressed, ate her breakfast, etc… and was super easy about all of it.

Who are you and what did you do with my child?

We had a ton of errands to run today and we were at Target by 9 AM!!! At Target, Babies R US and the Mall she was awesome. I have to admit I try to run these type of errands on the weekends and leave her with Daddyspeak (DS) so I don’t have to deal with her issues over things like riding in a cart, taking things off shelves, etc… but we have a ton of stuff going on this weekend so not really an option. At the mall I even got to try on clothes at the maternity store and splurged on a new top for myself.

I may have to go buy a lottery ticket.

Look picture of me in cute top! 8 months pregnant. Ignore messy room, it was the only room I could get the flash not to screw up the photo.

Written a few nights ago, but saved for a moment like now

I know why I do this: this not going to bed and staying on the computer all freaking night PLAYING STUPID SOLITAIRE!

It’s called avoidance. I know because I first started it years ago with my Fibro stuff. See what happens is I don’t sleep well. If that happens to you (a normal person) for a night or two it sucks. But you get over it, and back into a normal pattern. I, on the other hand, am a freak of nature. I will go for MONTHS without restful sleep*. Yes, months. It’s awful. For everyone involved. You think I’m bitchy now, try me after 8 months of not sleeping. The drugs I’m normally on for my Fribo have been very successful in helping me avoid this scene for quite some time. Everyone is happy.

I have to stop taking my drugs when I’m pregnant.

Don’t fret, I’m getting some REM sleep, my Fibro seems to more or less go into remission when I’m pregnant. BUT….

As is typical at this point in a pregnancy I’m not sleeping so hot cause I’m so damn uncomfortable. So my reaction is to do what I’ve always done in this situation:

avoid it.

Very mature I know.

I’m sure there’s a bunch of shrinks out there who could have a field day with this one. I’ve even been to some once and again, but right now I’m saving up my insurance paid shrink time for when the post partum psychosis sets in, Fibro predisposes me to it—fun! fun! (Daddyspeak likes to describe it this way: "You're the type who would eat her young." He smiles when he says it.)
No, I did not have it or even post partum depression after I had Toddlerspeak. Irronically, I didn't even get what they call "The Blues". But we’re prepared for the worst this time too Internet! Everyone around me knows I could flip out at any moment after the baby’s born.

Hopefully not.

So you’re my shrink for the time being dear Internet.

Lucky you!

*Restful Sleep—There are many types of sleep issues that can arise with Fibro. The sleep issues I have/had is fairly common (among those who have Fibro); I don’t get any REM sleep. So if you were to come into my bedroom in the middle of the night I would appear to be sleeping, however I’m typically only in the first stage of sleep, meaning no dreaming. Meaning NO REST. If you were to start talking to me I would be fully engaged with you in conversation as if I had been sitting up when you walked into the room. And I know when the neighbor's sprinkler went on, what time the cat got up to get water, etc....The other pitfall to this little scenario is that usually around 5 AM I will pass out from exhaustion. There’s almost no waking me when I hit this state. It is very much like being drugged. I can (and have) literally hit the snooze button for 2-3 hours, but never actually wake up. When I do finally wake up from that state I am exhausted.

Not Really What I Promised

Sorry Internet. I promised something light, fluffy, and possibly funny. I just don’t have it in me tonight. I just about fell asleep standing up tonight. Thursdays seem to be like that for me. They are my Fridays so maybe you can relate. Daddyspeak (DS) is my hero tonight, he didn’t bitch about having Mac & Cheese for dinner. He did the dishes, he gave Toddlerspeak a bath AND put her to bed tonight. All Hail DS!!!

I slept on the couch.

Then I got up and came upstairs to go to bed, (didn't want to wear myself out on that couch) instead I started doing what I do best: playing solitaire & hearts.

Poorly.

I am going to bed, but I wanted to check back in on Nora’s site and well you know how that goes….So here I am. Plus I did come up with my

BOTD: I’m tired of being hormonal. Sigh, even that is boring.

I’ve been having sort of hot flashes, nausea, feeling gassy, having headaches….

all. freaking. day.

I know, it’s hormones. Honestly, I do wonder if it isn’t low level contractions cause whenever you hear about a women’s labor story the almost always say they felt cruddy that day, and give you a description of symptoms I just gave you. Once again makes me feel like Babyspeak will be making an early appearance. But even that feeling is probably hormones. Bah.

So there you go. Sorry for being such a boring, whiney drag tonight. I’m off to bed as promised. Go read Miss Doxie, she finally posted again. As usual she is HI-LAR-I-OUS. Maybe she seems so funny cause I grew up with a dachshund as a pet, but every time she tells a dog story I do LOL.
Night Internet!

Slacker, but not emotionally

Didn’t post yesterday because I keep reading this, DO NOT CLICK it if you can’t deal with some really, really heavy shit. It’s sad & depressing. Boy is that the understatement of the year. My SIL has a link to this blog on her site & last week, in an effort to curb some boredom, I clicked over. It’s usually day-to-day stuff and she’s a great scrapbooker, so I like to peruse once in a while. Boy, was I surprised. It was right in the thick of things. The baby had just been taken from them just that day. OMG, I can NOT imagine how their family has been dealing with all it. It’s not good for me to keep reading it, I get way too emotional about it, but I’m trying to get the whole back story. So I go check in on it for a minute, read a post, start crying & then get the heck out of there. (I then head over to something I know will be light & funny; gofugyourself or threadbared are always good for that.) But I keep reading because I’m a mom & I know what it feels like to have a child you love so much it really does hurt.

And I have hope for them.

I’m not a hugely religious person (topic for later I’m sure) but I am a spiritual person, so I been sending them lots of good vibes & saying little prayers for their family. It looks like they are going to get the baby back, but wow I still can’t imagine what they’re going through & how awful just the waiting is.

Somehow my little pregnancy BOTD seemed inappropriate after all that. Thus no post.

I promise to post more later today—something light, hopefully funny, along those lines, but I thought you ought to know my mindset right now & why I neglected you yesterday.

Send lots of good vibes their way ok, Internet? They could really use them right now.

Redecorating

You may have noticed I got off my arce & updated my links. These are the reason the rest of my site isn’t more updated (like a pretty banner, or some photos, & some actual bio to my bio). But if you remember (meaning if you were one of the two people who were reading when I first started writing) part of my deal with myself was that I was going to focus on my content and assuming I stick with it then I’d do things like update the pretty factor later, so I wouldn’t burn out.
(Aren’t you impressed with my deep thoughts? Imagine how it would be if I wasn’t “focusing on my content”? Lucky you Internet.)
Well that’s my excuse for not doing anything else to the place yet. Cut me some slack Internet! I’m decorating a “brick & mortar” house too! And I have a toddler! And I’m 8 months pregnant! Jeez, when did it get to be 8 months already? Crap I have a lot to do. See I’m busy. Anywho, I pretty much read these sites every day.

BITCH OF THE DAY (AKA—BOTD)
It seems like every day I have some minor inconvenience I’m compelled to write about. These days it’s mostly about pregnancy “woes” (the kind of stuff that will understandably really piss off all the infertility blogs). But not really stuff that seems worthy of a whole post, so I decided that I’m going to start adding them to my posts (it’s my blog and I can vent however I want to, right?) Don’t hold me to the everyday thing either (I’m busy remember?) In my usual bi-polar fashion (where do you think Toddlerspeak gets it from?) you’ll most likely get them fairly regularly & then none for a day or two and then several all at once. So here you go:

BOTD – I’m not sure if this is a pregnancy bitch or a weather related bitch. It’s still cold here. We once again have snow on the hills. WTF? When you are this pregnant your shirts now stick out on the bottom so you get a major draft up them. My belly is COLD! I think I’d be fine with my belly (and therefore shirts) sticking out if it wasn’t so damn cold!!!!! I think that bitch was weather related.

WEEKEND UPDATE

OUTLAW UPDATE
So the visit with the outlaws is actually going pretty well. I think my perception of these things may be skewed after the last time.

Last time they came while we were in the middle of moving houses, a remodel, Thanksgiving, and oh I was 5 months pregnant. It was incredibly stressful to say the least. You think? It was made more stressful by the fact that we had said first, “Please don’t come right now (come at Christmas or something), it’s a really bad time for us.” They insisted and basically said they didn’t care. So then we said, “If you insist on coming you need to stay somewhere other then with us because we don’t have a working kitchen (among other things).”

Note: they own a house 30 minutes away from us, have many, many friends nearby, have another son who lives an hour away and could afford a hotel if they wanted to, so this request isn’t totally unrealistic. They told us they’d made arrangements to stay with a couple different friends.

Then, two days before they were to arrive his mother called crying because, “I don’t like her and they don’t really have a place to stay,” etc…. So in lieu of a divorce (ours, because at this point Daddyspeak (DS) had had it with all us, but I was the one he could focus on, therefore I was being the bitch.) they stayed with us, but it was no fun for anyone. Maybe for Toddlerspeak, (TS) but I think she probably picked up on the fact that no one was all that happy, so probably not even for her.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s no party. I’m not signing up for them to move in after this visit or something. But it does seem like people are trying to be more considerate of peoples’ schedules and to communicate their intentions and such, which is a nice change.

We are also having some success in keeping them busy which has been part of our problem in the past. We’ve tried to do this in the past but seem to be having more success this time around. If not, they get bored and get into our stuff. (Literally.) Not a lot of “boundaries” or “privacy” with MIL. (That’s laughable it’s such an understatement.) One of my major frustrations when they come to visit is that DS and I can’t have a conversation without her popping into it going, “What? What? What did you say?” This goes on over Nothing; we can be discussing that “next time you head upstairs can you remember to put more TP in the guest bathroom?” And she’s constantly jumping in (she’s afraid she’s going to miss something). It’s not a big deal initially but after two weeks of it you start to feel like Big Brother is following you around. And forget trying to discuss anything of consequence, like disciplining our child or something. During their last visit we were dealing with moving & remodel details, so we needed to have a lot of conversations about important stuff. It was very frustrating.
Needless, DS & I do a lot of conversing via email when they come to visit.

So, so far Internet the usual drama hasn’t really started up. Not as much blog fodder as I might have hoped, but honestly, I’m glad for it.

BABYSPEAK UPDATE
Internet, I owe you more detail from Thursday’s doctor appointment. (Getting on the computer at home has been sketchy to say the least.) The Ultrasound found that BS is measuring exactly to her due date. She weighs 4# 3oz. and is like 16-something inches long. She’s already in position to be born, (I could’ve told you that, I told everyone when she was turning cause that’s when the Cirque Du Soeil really started in my belly.) She could turn again, but this is exactly what TS did and the timeframe when she did it, so I think my babies may just be well prepared girls. I have a perfect amount of amniotic fluid (my big worry). And I’m back on appointments every 2 weeks. Yeah!No more contractions, which is the other thing to be concerned about. So hopefully, she’s just reminding us that she’s running the show.

It’s all Good

Everything is cool w/Babyspeak. She’s measuring to the day and has plenty of amniotic fluid. I’ll write more about it tomorrow.

Stressing Out

So I’m having the ultrasound this afternoon. I’m sure it’s all fine, but I did something really stupid the other day and I’m sort of worked up over it. I tried to see if Dr. Google could tell me anything about “measuring smaller from one week to the next”. It was a mistake because the information I got was all related to “measuring small” (or in some cases measuring large). My doctor didn’t say I was measuring small, she just said, “You measured smaller then last time,” (frown) (I hate the frown, don’t you? Why do they have to frown like that?). All the information I found was related to the bad things that measuring small could mean.

I know from my last pregnancy not to look up things like that. All the information is going to be the bad/negative cause the “general pregnancy symptom” doesn’t really give them too much to talk about. It’s much more exciting to cover all the damn birth defects your kid could have (even if the chances of it being that are like one in gazillion). In most cases “measuring small” would mean that they’d push out my due date and that is not a big deal. But here’s the thing about that: I KNOW when we conceived this child, pretty much down to the freaking hour. So my due date is dead on. So if the doctor wants to move my date I’m intending to be pretty insistent about any other things we might want to consider since my due date is DEAD ON.

BACKGROUND ON GETTING PREGNANT: We “charted” for 9 months prior to deciding to actually try and get pregnant (for some reason I thought we might have trouble getting pregnant this time, age I guess, so) I wanted to have as much information as possible. My charts (and my temperature fluctuations) could be used for a freaking text book. I am one of these rare women whose temperature moves a whole degree when things change. I know it’s unusual to have it be so definitive, but it was really useful when we needed it. The week we conceived we were being visited by the outlaws (stressful under to very best of circumstances,) and were bidding on our house, so I had a HUGE amount of stress going on. I charted as usual, but I also used an ovulation predictor. My chart told me the same thing it always does, I was “good to go”, but the ovulation predictor told me “nope, nothing happening yet”.

Hmm…wonder if my charts aren’t correct.

We went ahead with the plan (yes, we had sex! TMI I know, but MIM gives you details, I just said we had sex, so you probably ought thank me or something,) even though it said nothing would happen. I figured I probably was ovulating late, which had never happened before, but stress can do that do you, and Lord knows, we had stress right then.

Then my temp shifted up. Well it can do that for two reasons 1) your pregnant or 2) you’re ovulating.

Guess which it was.

Needless, I don’t put a lot of stock in those ovulation predictors (the ones you pee on, I did not invest in the spit kind which are supposed to be better).

So yup, all you women who have tired forever to get knocked up, we got knocked up at age 36 on the first try. I know, I know, we’re lucky & you hate my guts. Trust me, keep reading and you’ll realize my fertility is really the only aspect of my health that seems to be in order. Daddyspeak likes to say you put a Spic & Mic together (I’m Hispanic & he’s Irish) and you don’t TRY to get pregnant you just do. (That should offend the hell out of a bunch of you.) But I digress….

Ok, now that I’ve brought that little ray of sunshine to your day I’ll let you go back to work. I’ll post later and let you know what happens. But it might be MUCH later since the outlaws are arriving at our house today and all bets are off on schedules & free time.

Just think, we’re going to get past this little ultrasound/measuring crisis & jump right into continuing "epic of the outlaws" crisis. Wahoo!

Lucky you Internet, you’re in for a fun week!

Art…in the eye of the beholder

On a more upbeat note (from yesterday)….when I went to pick up Toddlerspeak (TS) from my parents’ house yesterday she was just getting up from her “nap”. (It was one of those naps that included no sleep.) Apparently, she had pooped in her pull-up (she’s potty trained, but still wears pull-ups for naps & night time) and decided to undo one side of it and “play” with the contents. (Insert witty poop joke here.) All over clothes, bed, bedding, etc.... Grandma was less then thrilled. It must be a genetic trait or something I did this (I think I was younger then her, and according to legend I “decorated the walls, including window blinds) and her cousin did this too.

We’re such a creative family.

On My Mind….

The Outlaws are Coming….
Spent last evening trying to get the dumping ground guest room ready for their arrival. In order to do this I had to do some picking up in the study & baby’s rooms. Several items from the study got moved into baby’s room & have never been moved. And several baby room items got moved into the guest room to accommodate me for painting (which I finished!!! I have even taken pictures, & I’m hoping to upload them either tonight or tomorrow.) So I spent last evening moving furniture around, throwing things out; general stash & dash stuff. Have a few more things to move out of the guest room tonight, but that’s all I’m committing to before their arrival. The study is in a “state”, but MIL won’t sit still when she’s here, so I end up not sitting still (trying to keep her out of our things. I’m not kidding.). I figure I’ll get the whole thing cleaned up & unpacked because of it. Trying to pace myself on the whole deal.

Belly Dance
No (regular) contractions since Thursday (knock on wood). And Babyspeak (BS) has been super active (I don’t think she stopped moving for 24 hours on Thursday, so that’s good. BUT, (there’s always a but isn’t there,) apparently my doctor’s measurement of me last week is bothering me more then I realized. It wasn’t bugging me this weekend, but I find myself nervously thinking about it now that I’m getting closer to the ultrasound. I have a little bird (my mother) who likes to point out the risks of pregnancy because of my age, so I think that's why I have the jitters. BS is very active still, so I’m sure it’s all fine. But I guess I will feel better after Thursday.

Work Related
I think I’ve stated before that I’m not really going to talk about work on this blog. Don’t really care, talking about it could be career limiting (ask dooce about that), etc…But what I will say right now is

1. I could not be less motivated about something if I tried (I guess it’s a sign of pregnancy) and
2. We’re having a big “shake up” and my job is up in the air. (Nothing to do with me personally, the “organization” is being “reorganized.”)

The individuals who might be able to get some clarification about my position (like if it’s going to continue to exist,) are trying to generally lay low (concern for their own positions) so I’m left hanging. If nothing official happens before I go on maternity leave then they have to hold a position for me. Not necessarily the same position, but something. But I could totally see them laying me off just before. Fun, fun! I’ve been concerned about the fact that I won’t get paid for maternity leave at all (I have to take it under the FMLA which guarantees my job for up to 12 weeks, but we don’t put into SDI, so we don’t get paid for either SDI or FMLA which is typically what maternity leave falls under. It sucks.) I guess the up side to that would be that I’d be able to collect unemployment. (It’s not really an upside, trust me.)

Ironically, (or not I guess,) when DS & I got married I got laid off from my job (actually the company I worked for pulled an “Enron, " it was actually about a year before Enron happened, but when it did it made explaining what my company did a lot easier.) Anyway, my company imploded (it was the beginning of the ‘dot bomb’) and I was suddenly out of work 2 weeks before we were about to be married. (Just bought a house, had 3 weeks of vacation that I never got paid out & that I was taking as my honeymoon, etc...) Then a few years later, the month before Toddlerspeak was born, DS was laid off from work. (While really stressful, it was also good to have him around full time when she was born. That’s in hindsight, of course.) My point is that I'm understandably a little nervous about this birth in that respect. It seems like every time we make a “life change” we lose a job. (Just to keep us on our toes.) In the past, I’ve had more then needed socked away (my version of nesting) but this time since we just moved & remodeled we haven’t really recovered the way I think we should have. I mean we wouldn’t be in trouble exactly, let’s just say it makes me really nervous.

You know this is exactly the kind of stress you (I) need when you’re pregnant.

Cause I don’t have enough stress just from being pregnant.

I wish I had something witty to end with, but I think the stuff w/BS is getting me down. Say a little pray for her (and me) Internet.

March Madness

Oh yes, it’s March. You wouldn’t know if from the freaking weather we’ve been having! (There is snow on our hills! Yes SNOW in Silicon Valley in FREAKING MARCH!! WTF?) I keep looking at all my cute summery maternity clothes and think, “I’m not going to get to be wearing any of those this time.”

Does anyone have Mother Nature’s email address, cause I think she’s confused? We need to rectify this soon!

The way you know it’s March in our house is because “The Tournament” was this weekend.

Sunday was bracket day. (Yes, they really call it that.)

Daddyspeak (DS) went to KU (that’s Kansas University, NOT Kentucky as some “dumbass on ESPN” kept saying this weekend. DS’s quote, not mine, but I got to hear what a dumbass he was for the rest of the weekend. Thanks Dumbass.)

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, college sports not such a big deal here. I mean if you’re in college maybe. Or if you went to Cal or Stanford you might semi pay attention, but otherwise, the majority of the population, not so much.

DS grew up in Kansas. And KU is always a “contender”. (At least, that’s what I’m told.) So March Madness is a BIG DEAL around our house now. Our friends are always shocked (and I don’t think they really believe me) when they hear about how our house pretty much shuts down on the weekends during this time. Honestly, the only reason the phone might get answered is because we own a TiVO.

One good thing; if the game is early in the day & KU wins DS is in such a good mood I get all kinds of projects done around the house. (Which is what happened this weekend. They BEAT TEXAS!!!! OMG!) If they lose, not so much. So I guess, for many reasons, there is much rejoicing over a KU win in our house.)

TS already knows: Rock-Chalk-Jayhawk

So it’s true; unless KU gets eliminated I’m a basketball widow. Why do you think we’re having a May baby? (I actually want DS to be present for the birth.)

Rock-Chalk-Jayhawk!

Just "taking it easy"

Not much new to report. Doctor said everything is pretty much status quo, “which is good.” After talking some more about how these are so long & regular (to which she said, “Yeah, that is concerning.” Thanks.) She said something like, “Well, that may just be how your body is and your in tune to it. We don’t want to disregard it, but if it continues like it has then the best course of action is to go by how you feel. Even if the contractions & timing all seem the same, but something doesn’t feel right then you call us. You know your body best & if you tell us something doesn’t feel right to you then we want to check it out.”

I have a great doctor.

*grins*

On another note, I got to take Toddlerspeak (TS) to Pump It Up today. If our little excursion to this place didn’t put me into early labor, I can’t really think of much else that could. TS will own the place next time, but the first time anywhere she tends to be shy and wants you to hold her hand through all of it. This was her first time. The worst (or best, depending on your perspective) was this inflated slide, like they have at the fairs & stuff. I made the mistake of carrying her up (at her whiny insistence) the first time. The “climb” is more like a rope ladder; you’re holding onto straps on the sides to keep you balance, and there are “rungs” in the air mattress thing, but you move around cause all the other people on it are bouncing you. And it’s STEEP. No I mean STEEP!!! I realized just going up it by myself was not “taking it easy,” so figured we’d leave that one for another time. But then we ran into some mom’s from our playgroup and one of them kept taking her up there (TS would run over and ask her and she’d go “Sure!” Grab her up and head on up.) I was embarrassed (the kid weighs 32#!) so I did it 2 more times cause I felt bad. She also wanted me in the big “jump house” with her for a while. That was ok. Just bouncy. She got run over by some of the big kids a couple times, but mostly held her own. By the time we were leaving she was imitating all the stuff the “big kids” were doing.

She'll OWN the place next time.

Updates on things non-baby related

Here’s something novel; our life beside the drama du jour. (Although we made it through Thursday without any regular contractions, knock on wood.) Seeing the doctor for a follow up tomorrow at 8:45, so I’ll let you know what comes of that.

The Outlaws are Coming

They arrive on the 15th.

All the excitement the last few days has spared you my bitching and moaning about this impending visit. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll manage to more then make up for it. They’re coming for 10 days.

Wahoo.

When I start to write about their visit (or things related as this will probably get into full swing before they actually show up) you’ll probably initially think I’m a card-carrying bitch. And while that may be true, over time, you’ll realize I’m not out to lunch on this one. I have waaaay too many stories of how I’ve been the doormat time and again to my outlaws. I don’t think they outright dislike me (but they might and honestly, at this point I really don’t care) but many things have been said/done over time about their expectation that my marriage to Daddyspeak (DS) will inevitably end. This pisses me off to no end! It actually has nothing to do with our marriage. These comments/actions were being made well before we ever even got married. I think it’s a case of no one is good enough for our son/family. (Which is soooo ironic, at least the family part) The other reason they drive me absolutely nuts is that they’re extremely inconsiderate (I’m pretty sure I’m using too mild a term here) of our time/privacy/space.

It’ll all come out over the next few weeks, so stay tuned. If you thought we had drama this week well it’s ratings week starting the 15th!

The Dog Crisis is Back On

I guess it’s not a crisis; it’s just a matter of when & how exactly. Mowry has gotten out twice in the last two weeks. (Happened again today.) DS is pretty much done with the whole deal. I’ve contacted some more rescue groups about him without luck. I’m learning their lingo & basically these “rescue” groups only “rescue” from shelters. They sort of cherry pick the best of them (that haven’t managed to get adopted) and then go rescue them. But they generally don’t seem to except surrenders from the public. That would be us--public.

My mom has actually been helpful on this one (cause she thinks the effort, money & time we’ve put into this dog is unbelievable and takes every chance to give me a hard time about it.) She’s got a couple friends who have “ins” at a couple of these groups; she’s making some phone calls to see if they can get him into one of these groups that way. I believe she's helping because:

1) she's jumping at the chance that we're actually getting rid of him (her words, not mine) and

2) if she helps it might actually happen & happen soon. She really wants him to go before Babyspeak shows up. Her issue, (and she has lots,) not mine.

I'll take the help on this on and only bitch to you Internet, (since she doesn't have my blog address,) cause there's a chance it'll help find Mowry a good situation and that's really all that matters.

If he ends up at a shelter (a.k.a.—in a kennel/cage) his behavior deteriorates dramatically & he’ll be deemed unadoptable & will be put down. But if we continue to keep him (and he continues to get out) it’s a matter of time before he’ll get hit by car. Neither is a good option.

I’ll keep you posted on where he ends up. Like I said, it’s just a matter of when & where, from what I’m hearing from DS the when is happening in the next week or so.

Opps, I did it again!

Yes, more drama yesterday. Contractions started at 3:00 and were every 3 minutes (like clockwork), 45 seconds long. (I think part of what is so unnerving about them is that they’re so perfect like that.) So after 5 of them I called the doctor. My doctor is out on Wednesdays so the on call Nurse told me,

“Since the FFN came back negative it’s very unlikely you’re actually in labor.”

“Yeah, I figured that, so am I supposed to keep calling you guys when this happens or what?”

“Well, if you have more then 10 in an hour you should go to the hospital. Unless you don’t feel comfortable with that and want to go to the hospital now.”

(I don’t want to go to the hospital at all, where’s that option? I just want you guys to tell me that I don’t need to call you when this starts, unless it does XXX”)

BAH.

I know these episodes are lasting hours at a time, cause it’s generally been a while (I’m thinking more then 2 hours) when I’m commenting on them. So her "advice" wasn’t helping me much.

I drove to my parent’s house to get Toddlerspeak (TS) and by that time it had been well over an hour and they were still going strong. So what do to: the hospital is on the other side of town by our house, but TS wouldn’t be going with us. Do I leave her at G’ma’s? Do I sit around some more? Bah, again! Now I’m getting mad. I mean I’m pretty sure nothing is going to happen, but no one really knows and the “error on side of caution” thing means the information I’m getting is making me stressed out.

Screw it.

I took TS home & told Daddyspeak (DS), “I’m not going to the hospital unless they start to do something really dramatic, like hurt, but I’m not doing anything else either, except laying on the couch since I’m pretty sure that’s what they’d tell me to do anyway.” Sure enough after 3 ½ hours they finally stopped.

I could be a freaking M.D. (who needs medical school?)

I have a follow up on Friday AM, so I guess I’ll talk to my doctor about MY guidelines regarding this at that time. Unless, of course, they happen again today. (What do you want to bet?)

Who's the Drama Queen?

Like the way I left you high & dry like that?

“Oh I’m having contractions, I might call my doctor. I’ll let you know.”

Well I did call my doctor, but by that time it was lunch time, so by the time I got a call back it had been 2 ½ hours of contractions. At least by that point I was over feeling ridiculous and was onto feeling nervous and tired.

(Think about it, my abdominal muscles were contracting every 3-5 minutes, for 30 seconds minimum, actually most of the contractions were 1 ½ to 3 minutes long. Now that’s a workout! In the end, it lasted about 4 hours.)

When the Nurse Practitioner called me back she immediately said, “Umm yeah, you need to come in right now.”

Are you starting to notice a theme to my conversations with them?

I call & leave message about what a dork I am cause “I know it’s hormones, but the literature says to call if this happens, so I’m calling.”

They call back & basically say, “Um, you’re a dork for thinking that, please get your arce in here NOW!”

So I go in, pee in a cup, doctor does an exam, runs a swab to determine my likelihood for pre-term labor (Fetal Fibronectin, FFN) and then sends me to pee in another cup (check for urinary tract infection, which apparently can cause pre-term labor as well. Who knew?) Such FUN! I am given strict orders to go LAY DOWN for the rest of the day (no cooking dinner, no playing with Toddlerspeak (TS), no housework, no nothing! Ok, I think I can do that.). Also, drink lots of water (“to the point of feeling like you’re going to float away, and then keep drinking.”). Apparently dehydration can be the cause of this as well. (I drink a ton of water normally, so I’d be surprised if that were issue. But doctors orders!)

So I called the G’parents, where TS was yesterday, and before I even got into the whole coordinating Daddyspeak (DS) to pick her up, they suggest she just spend the night. Well, that would make things easier, wouldn’t it? So that’s pretty much the extent of it. Spent my afternoon/evening catching up on TiVO shows & napping. Computer is upstairs, so I wasn’t online because I wasn’t supposed to be going up and down the stairs. But if this continues we may have to purchase a new laptop & wireless router so I can blog on the couch.

Thing is, I know this has been going on for a while now. (That uncomfortable in my own skin feeling I keep mentioning—this is what that is: contractions.) So I asked the doctor if I’m supposed to call the next time it does this (cause I know it will and it’s just a matter of time). “Next time they’ll send me directly to the hospital and hook me up to monitors.” How exciting! Can’t wait for that installment of this drama.

We like to joke that TS is a Drama Queen, as I was scheduled to be induced with her and my water broke 4 hours before hand. (No one was going to tell her when she was going to be born, she was doing it on her terms at her time, damit!) But I’m starting to think (not for the first time) that Babyspeak is going to give TS a run for her money.

Umm… Duh!

So apparently, I have no clue when it comes to this whole pregnancy/labor thing. I got on my doctor’s website this AM to look up information about BH contractions & in the “When to Call the Doctor” section it says this:

When to call the office:
Pre-term labor: Pre-term labor occurs at less than 36 weeks. Many patients have occasional irregular contractions, also known as Braxton-Hicks that may be painful. If you have more than 5 contractions in an hour, stop all activities, drink extra fluids and stay in bed. If you continue to have more than 5 contractions in an hour, call your obstetrician.

Umm, ok.
I feel a bit stupid now.
Obviously everything is fine. But I know it’s been doing this & I'm just now reading about it. So much for the second time mom, huh?

I’m having them again right now. Guess I’ll call if they last an hour, it’s been happening for over half an hour minutes so far. I feel like such a dork.

Braxton Meet Hicks

Remember when I mentioned I felt uncomfortable in my own skin? Well the way I’d describe it is this sense of pressure—like the baby is trying to push her way out through the front of my stomach. Very pleasant, let me assure you.

It occurred to me today that this reminded me a lot of an uncomfortable crampy feeling, like when you’re having contractions.. DUH! I started to really pay attention today (mostly cause it seems to be bothering me a lot) and noted that when I really felt like this, my stomach was getting all HARD! Often, the baby would start moving around, but not usually on the side where my stomach was all hard. Weird. So tonight I dug out a watch & started to see if there was a rhythm, and there was. How come I’m so freaking retarded sometimes???? You know, I've done this once before. Turns out I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart (I wasn’t being a stickler about the timing, I was busy watching The Cobert Report at the time, priorities after all--I LOVE TiVO) and they we’re lasting between 35-60 seconds!!!! This went on for a good 2 hours (at least). Jeez Louise!

So what’s this mean? Nothing really, it’s too early for the baby to come. (I’m only 31 weeks.) My body’s just getting ready & apparently I'm in tune to it (sort of). I did something similar with Toddlerspeak (TS), but just once (this has been going on for a while now). I had an afternoon during my 7th month of pregnancy where I had contractions that were 30 seconds long, 3 minutes apart. They didn’t hurt, and we’d read that if they last an hour to go for a walk; Braxton-Hicks will stop with exercise, if not, call you doc. Mine stopped at 45 minutes that time.

But it’s just a HUGE wake up call—helllloooo, you’re going to have a baby pretty soon, do you think you could put the crib up & maybe finish paint the damn room before she shows up? Oh, and nailing down a name might be a good call too. Details, details…

The Wiggles are coming!!!

We watch A LOT of The Wiggles around out place. (I know all the songs & dance moves. But hey, I'm groovy like that.)

As a baby, Toddlerspeak (TS) was like the only munchkin who wouldn't be appeased by hanging out in front of Baby Einstein (AKA – Crack for Babies, that should get some interesting hits off the internet, don’t you think?) so when she got old enough & discovered The Wiggles I was actually thrilled.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a huge proponent of sticking you toddler (or kid for that matter) in front of the TV as a babysitter, (I’m more of a proponent of “everything in moderation”.) But if something gives me 10 minutes to do breakfast dishes I’m not sure it’s totally a bad thing.

We really discovered the magic that is The Wiggles when we were getting ready to move last October. They gave us the ability to get some boxes packed and I can’t thank them enough. I don’t feel too bad about her watching them because (like Sesame Street) they teach the kids a lot of important things and the way TS watches them is more like a dance party. She knows all the moves to all their dances. Considering the coordination skills she’s getting from her gene pool, The Wiggles have already given her a leg up in life.

I bought tickets for the concert this AM and told her we’re going to go see them in a couple months. She talked about them for like an hour and a half (like a true groupie). Then she informed me she wants HI-5 (Yes, we have the CD & know all the dance moves to this one too. Zoot would be so proud,) to come visit too.

Can you see the steam pouring out of my ears?

This one makes me so mad! I swear there’s steam pouring out of my ears. Yesterday I came home to Daddyspeak (DS) on the phone; something about Mowry. Couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it would be, I even thought maybe some of my footwork from last time had paid off. (Yeah, right.) Turns out Mowry got out of the yard. We aren’t positive how, but we think he might have squeezed through a small opening where DS has fixed part of the fence, but not all yet. Anyway, one of the neighbors found him & called. She had the nerve to tell DS that the dog looked “awfully thin,” so she fed him cheese & crackers. She also was “appalled” at the bark collar & choke chain on him so she and “a trainer friend” agreed it was too tight and CUT IT OFF! (I believe she should be buying us a new collar for the bark collar.)

First of all: Mowry & Merit are on doggie insurance that we pay for every month. Both dogs went for their bi-annual check up in January. Both dogs weigh 50 lbs.; perfect for Mowry, Merit could use a diet (we keep getting told). He is NOT underweight. (DS actually informed her of this. Part of me feel like I would’ve too, but part of me wants to say why waste the energy explaining it to her cause it’s really none of her business. And for the record “people food” is generally really bad for your dog. So if you know so much about what our dog should weigh shouldn’t also know not to be giving him people food?)

Secondly, WHERE THE HELL does she get off? She doesn’t know us. We have a dog with SEVERE separation anxiety & alpha issues. The behavior things you do to treat one side of these will exaggerate the other. We’ve been through training with him, met w/behaviorists, etc…we’re working on it. It’s better then it’s been, but it’s never going to get great. The dog has issues! We were cited by the city for his barking (separation anxiety) at our other house and after going the gamut of devices have found this is the only thing that seems to work for him. Our next options were either debarking or putting him down. (I can guess what she thinks of those.) We have also found during this process that the electric bark collar actually keeps his overall anxiety level down, so it’s actually a GOOD thing for him. But Miss Judge-y over there wouldn’t know anything about it cause she’s busy on her tower being high-and-mighty. She had the nerve to tell DS that “she would’ve kept him herself, but her yard is too small.” She also suggested taking him to the pound and DS informed her how their “no kill policy*” really works.

OHMYFUCKINGGOD!!!! HOW DARE SHE! We are over her putting our literal blood, sweat, stress & tears into this animal and she has the NERVE to make a trite comment like that. PUT UP OR SHUT UP BE-YOCH!

All I know is that it’s good he went to get the dog and not me, cause I might have literally gone to blows with her. As it is, I just found out she still has our choke chain. I’m going to call her when I calm down a bit (so I don’t start out screaming at her bitch-ass in the very beginning. Better to wait till I get the actual collar in hand & then let her have it.)

“Listen bitch, like it or not, we are his owners. We love him, we feed him, and we actually take REALLY good care of him (which is fucking hard to do a lot of the time,). I am SEVEN AND A HALF MONTHS PREGNANT and I need my both my dogs to be on a choke chains when I have them on lead OR THEY COULD KNOCK MY PREGNANT ASS OVER!!! So kiss my large happy ass bitch, or pony up and adopt the dog. But don’t you DARE tell me how to take care of him. I have yet to find ANYONE who would put up his shit the way we have. And I’m looking.


*Silicon Valley Humane Society’s no kill policy means that they won’t kill any “adoptable” animal. If they deem a pet to be “unadoptable” then they won’t put it up to the public and will have the animal euthanized. The evaluation for this is done at their discretion in a kennel with a bunch of other barking dogs. (And I think the number of dogs they have at that time is taken into consideration.) Mowry was deemed unadoptable by them when my brother’s family took him there. He’s a special needs dog, but he could make someone a good pet. He is not an animal who deserves to be put down for these reasons.

IT'S ALIVE

Have I mentioned that I have an ALIEN growing inside of me?

We have now hit the point at which it’s not just kicking (and punching don't forget the punching!), but more (seemingly) deliberate movements involving things that go across my entire midsection. Quite the show. And it’s been going on since last night—the child does not sleep.

An Alien.

Finished!!! (sort of)

Daddyspeak (DS) and I went out for his b-day on Saturday night. (Yes, it was a couple weeks ago. We like to drag these things out.) Actually, my gift to him was tickets to see Dave Attell (that should give you some insight into our version of humor), so we turned it into a “date” and went to dinner too. Very exciting stuff for us.
Toddlerspeak (TS) spent the night w/G’ma & Papa. It turned out to be a banner night because her cousin came over to play. (I don’t think she missed us too much.)

I got up in the AM, (sort of the AM, OMG! we got to sleep till 10!!!!!) and finished painting her closet doors. I was all ambitious at first, thinking I’m going to paint both girls rooms (yeah, right). Honestly, I was probably lucky to just get the flowers painted on her closet. I haven’t taken pix of the finished room, yet. But I will this week (I promise) and I’ll post them too!

It looks really cool!

I thought it might be an appropriate time to post the pix of TS from last weekend when I had to paint 5 coats of yellow on the damn doors. But she looks damn cute.

So happy, “paining her woom” That’s a hair clip on top of her head, she insisted on wearing one so she could be “samies” with mommy.

So pretend it’s like February 15 or something

I wanted to write this one on V-day or right after but wanted to post the pix with it and was too (lazy) busy to get the pix off the camera. However, Daddyspeak (DS) finally stepped up and now I can give you the story w/the pix.

On February 13 when I dropped Todderspeak (TS) from daycare they had lists of all the kids’ names so we could bring valentines in the next day for the party. (Grrrr….they could’ve given us a little more time, we are working parents after all.) So I was bitching about it to my SIL during work and she says, “You know the teachers want you to write friend instead of the kid’s names so passing them out will go faster.” Um, ok, no I didn’t know that. (I get why the teacher would want that, but man is that lame!!! The kids are getting good & sugared up from the party anyway, so it’s not like you’re going to get anything done anyway. But I digress...) so when I picked TS up that day I asked one the teachers about it. Teacher says, “No big deal, we can write the names if you want, or you can write them, or you can write friend, it’s all good.” My point being that I had a conversation with one of the teachers about the whole deal and you’ve now heard the extent of what I was told.

So I get TS some v-day cards, standard stuff from when we were kids. They had some Mickey Mouse ones on sale at Walgreen’s. Cool, age appropriate even. I forgot about filling them out until I was on my way to bed & making sure my purse, keys, etc…were on the table by the front door. Crap. So I stayed up for an extra half an hour & filled the damn things out. Gave them to the teacher in the AM when I dropped TS off, along w/the strawberries we got for the party. (I figure if I’m bitching about the food the other parents are sending with their kids for breakfast/lunch, I should at least be contributing something healthy to the party, right? The rest of the sign ups for the party were things like: candy, cupcakes, cookies, oh and fruit, right…guess how many parents signed up to contribute fruit?)

So when I pick up TS as the end of the day, she got this cute little “hat” and “basket” they made for the party. (The segue-way art projects from last week.) Her basket is filled with her “loot”. I didn’t think much of it, just figured it was the leftovers from the party more or less. So we get home & I start pulling the stuff out of her basket; all of the other parents did “goodie bags” for their kid’s valentines. There’s a card in there too, but they all brought candy & toys bagged up w/the card! Grrr…..NO ONE TOLD ME!!! I mean my kid is only two, so I didn’t expect the kids to really even pass out valentines yet, much less something like this!!! It looks like maybe one other little girl did what we did—just a plain lame card. But who knows maybe her card just fell out of the goodie bag it came in. So I was that parent this holiday. I HATE THAT!!! I am NOT that parent. (Oh, but apparently Internet, I am right now.) The thing is, I get it, I just didn’t think I needed to be getting it yet! I guess I just Thank God that TS isn’t old enough to know (or care) that her mom is indeed that lame. AND that this won’t affect her social standing in school yet.

TS in her hat with some of her loot.

Feed the Addiction

So I have this horrible headache this morning. Gee….you think in might have to do with the fact that I only got like 4 hours of sleep? I hit the snooze way too many times, of course. (Really what’s the point? If it’s going off every 5 minutes it’s not like you’re getting any extra sleep? Why then do I continue to do it?) Babyspeak (BS) was kicking my butt yesterday, (well really all week) and it was really getting me down.

But today is a new day.

I’m actually in a pretty good mood, (headache and all). Why you ask?

Well for starters, Toddlerspeak (TS) got up on her own this AM (benefit of hitting snooze too many times). When she does this she’s pretty proud of herself, “I get up by myself mama!” And the result is that she’s (usually) pretty cooperative; the case this AM. No fighting over getting dressed or breakfast or hairdos—so nice. Lots of hugs and “I wuv you mama”—even nicer.

Another reason I’m in a good mood; it’s my Friday. The benefit of working part-time: I have Fridays off! I’ve started planning my day of (relative) freedom (I’ve got TS w/me after all, but that’s the point) on Wednesday. Not sure yet if we’re going to the park or the mall yet, but we’re going. Maybe both—I’m good like that.

Lastly, the real reason I’m a good mood; as we were driving to daycare I noticed, OUR STARBUCKS IS OPEN!!! OMG, need I say more? I can walk to Starbucks from my house! Let us all pause now and give thanks over this small slice of perfection that life has directed to my neighborhood.

Make mine a Vente, single, non-fat, no-whip mocha, Please!!!

Maybe we should name the baby Fibro

I’m having trouble sleeping these days. I know nothing really new. I’m just admitting to it (for a change). I attribute it to BabySpeak (BS), and I know my uncomfortableness is because she’s really good at getting onto my:
A) Bladder (makes me have to pee ALL. THE. TIME. )
B) Main artery (cuts off my circulation so that either my extremities are falling asleep and/or I’m having major headaches and dizzy spells. Yes, even while laying down.)
C) Either my stomach or my intestines or something like that (makes me nauseated.)

I have lots of experience with this whole deal. (The lack of sleep.) It’s one of the major symptoms of my Fibro. And while BS is probably the major cause of my lack of rest, I think my Fibro issues might be contributing just a little bit too.

So what do I do? I avoid going to bed of course. Do I do something useful with this time? Like cleaning the house? Maybe the filing I need to do (so we can do our taxes), some ironing would be good. Or I know, I could update my blog. Noooo, dear internet I do not do any of things. Someone who is really good at avoidance has a pattern and just like anyone in denial I’m right there. No I spend this valuable time (that I should be SLEEPING) playing solitaire & hearts. Poorly.

I am Yellow’s Bitch

I painted the closet doors in my daughter’s rooms this weekend. My intention is to have them match the walls, which are yellow. The top of the walls have a pattern of scallops: in Toddlerspeak’s (TS) room these are pink; in Babyspeak’s (BS) (should I be calling her Fetusspeak (FS) until she’s actually born?) they’re in purple. I want to paint flowers on the closet doors, also in the corresponding pink and purple, but I needed the background color first. (Yes, I know Internet I owe you pictures of this, maybe tonight. I'm a tease like that.)

The point of this whole post: TS’s closet doors took FIVE COATS OF PAINT!!!! Daddyspeak realized what a pain these things were (mostly cause he was having to entertain TS all day while I worked on this) and added texture to BS’s doors (and painted them too--wahoo!!) and they only took the normal two coats. THANK GOD, or I’d still be painting them I think.

Turns out yellow is a really hard color to paint with because it’s so light (at least this yellow is). I don’t ever recommend using yellow in your house. EVER.

Pucker Up

I think I’ve mentioned before that Toddlerspeak (TS) goes to speech therapy? Yeah, she’s only 2.5, but there’s history of it in the family so when she seemed to obviously understand and communicate without her vocabulary continuing to expand verbally, and since she wasn’t mimicking at all, we had her tested.
Turns out she doesn’t use the muscles around her lips to make her sounds. (Uses her tongue & teeth.) She also doesn’t use them to suck (like through a straw). Testing also found that she has “poor” muscle control of her tongue (which I think is weird considering that the way she makes the sounds she has is by using her tongue & teeth.) Anyway, she’s been going for many months now and is making great progress. You wouldn’t know she has any issues on this front at all. We’ve even progressed to working on specific sounds as her muscle control/development is getting on track. It’s a big step, and in case you’re curious, we’re currently working on “P”.

To help develop these muscles we have “exercises” we do; using a tongue depressor we put it on the sides/top/bottom/front of her mouth & get her to touch it (push on it) with her tongue. We wrap the end of it w/dried fruit (a.k.a. –fruit roll ups) for motivation. She gets to eat the roll up off the depressor when we’ve gone through our drill. We also blow bubbles. Because of her lack of motor skill in this area she doesn’t make an “O” with her mouth when she blows. If you don’t pucker when you try to blow bubbles you pretty much don’t get any bubbles (not so effective). Sometimes we use a straw to help her blow (and get the general shape) and sometimes I’ll put my hand around her chin and “help” her pucker, kinda give her “fish lips”. She’s not real keen on you doing the helping, but as she’s getting that it works better that way, so lately she’s more inclined to let you.

Last night for Daddyspeak’s (DS) b-day I made him a pie. We put a candle in it for him to blow out. Being 2, TS was all over this and wanted to “help”. She sat in DS’s lap and he let her blow it out. Her first two tries, not much and we looked at each other trying to decide how long we should let her go at it. (Usually there’s a crowd for this sort of thing and everyone kind of blows it out at the same time.) Then she grabs her own face to make the “fish lips” and starts blowing. We both just about fell over trying not to laugh out loud. But it worked, and we cheered like crazy. I just wish I had a picture of it to share with you. Hopefully, my version gives you a good visual.
So in that spirit, pucker up Internet & Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Birthday to the Old Man!

Today is Daddyspeak’s b-day! We spent the weekend celebrating. In my family, you celebrate your b-day on a surrounding weekend, but you MUST at least have cake with others (if you’re not doing something to celebrate w/your friends then family members will show up) on the actual date of your birth. This means that a birthday usual manages to manifest itself into like 3 celebrations of sorts. No exception here: family dinner & celebration on Friday, friends over for dinner & cake on Saturday and tonight I’m making some of DS’s favorites tonight.

Happy Birthday Honey! I love you old man!

Meet Fred & Wilma

For the first 4 years of our marriage, Daddyspeak (DS) and I had an extra-long “Full” sized bed. We share this bed with two cats and at that time one dog (the other dog never got in bed with us). Not a lot of room to move around. If you wanted to roll over you would “spin” in place. (Hmmm, wonder why I have sleep issues….) One of the things we agreed, when we moved into this house is that we would pony up and purchase a “real-sized” bed. We now have a California King. Honestly, at first I wasn’t that crazy about the size. I kinda wished we had gotten the Queen. I know, I’m insane (you’re just realizing this?) But I was used to having DS right next to me and at first it was like I’d get into bed and be like, “Where are you? Oh, all the way over there.” Also, this bed sits so high (and the dogs now have such nice dog beds) that we’re only sharing with the cats. So it was like we almost had too much room.
Don’t worry I got over it. I like it now. (What I don’t like are making it and buying linens for it. Can you say expensive?)
Of course, I’ve managed to find a way to make it not seem so large. I’ve hit the point in my pregnancy where I need some “support” at night to sleep. So I pulled out the infamous body pillow. I stick it between my knees (helps support my hips,) and under my stomach (obvious support issue). This go around I’ve also found that my back doesn’t seem to bother me so much if I put a large (king-sized) pillow on my backside so I don’t end up on my back. For those of you who don’t know, when you’re pregnant you’re supposed to sleep on your left side. Depending on the size & placement of your baby, laying on your back or right side can potentially restrict blood flow in your major artery. (Note: sleeping in one position is really hard to do from the perspective of actually getting your body to stay that way & it’s hard on the parts that are supporting all your weight.) During my first pregnancy I named the body pillow “Fred”. It’s so big, it seemed like it ought to have its own zip code, much less a name! Since we’ve added to the family this go around I figured I’d name the other one (somewhat smaller in stature,) Wilma seemed appropriate.

Fred and Wilma have made their appearance this week. They’ll be joining us for the next 3 months. I’m sleeping much better for it, but I think DS is feeling a little pushed out.

Meet Fred, my late night buddy.

You a good mama. I wuv you

Sometimes I feel bad, cause I feel like I’m constantly bitching about Toddlerspeak’s (TS) rotten behavior. The reality is that she’s a really good kid—better then most (and I’m not just saying that cause she’s my kid.) She really is a “rule follower” so we’ve been lucky in the fact that if you tell her, “That’s the way it is”, she tends to go along. I think that’s part of why the “boundary pushing” of late has been so hard on us. Up until now we haven’t really had to deal with it. Most kids work their way up to this level, but she seems to have gone from 0-3 year old in no time flat. (Almost like she skipped those 2s!)
On that note, I wanted to relay how sweet she can be too. This morning while I was getting ready for work she was rambling on and on. I can’t really tell you what she was talking about, I may have asked her what she was going to do today, “pay with papa! Cowor!” (a.k.a.—Play w/Papa, Color!) But she had a lot to tell me, so I was nodding and grunting at all the appropriate times. All the sudden she goes, “I wuv you mama.” And hugs my legs. “You a good mama. I wuv you.” Jeez, TS I love you too.

Taken in March 05, by a professional

One of those days

I’ve been feeling sluggish (for lack of a better word) all weekend. The baby is sitting low and putting a lot of pressure (a.k.a.—it’s painful) on my lower ligaments, which in turn are putting additional pressure on my lower back (including my sciatica). Plus Toddlerspeak (TS) has been big on pushing limits, just to keep us jumping. So when I left work yesterday I was really looking forward to my yoga class. (I always feel so much better after.) I’m sitting on this frontage road by work, on my way to the freeway, and the light changes to green. I’m like 4th in line. The cars in front of me start to roll, and the train goes by next to us and blows it’s horn, so of course, everyone stops. Everyone, but the guy behind me, who RAMS INTO ME! Luckily, we’d been at a full stop, so no visible damage to my car. But damit, it spilled my mocha all over, and it kinda shook me. I called Daddyspeak (DS) to see what he thought about me still going to yoga. I felt kinda irresponsible going, but at the same time I really wanted to & if I was going to be sore it wasn’t going to happen for at least 24 hours, right? He thought that I should just mention it to the teacher & see what she thought, but since it wasn’t bad enough to damage the car or anything it was probably fine. Good, at least I’m irresponsible with someone else agreeing with me, right?

So last night TS ends up have nightmares ALL NIGHT LONG. Every hour and half to two hours she’d wake up crying & be completely inconsolable. She yells out in her sleep all the time & we leave her alone. But last night she’d wake up really upset, full tears, the whole deal, and want to be held to fall back asleep. By 6:30 this AM I was wiped out. I ended up deciding to see if I could get her to sleep a couple extra hours & took some sick time. So I showered, dried my hair strait, etc…(she slept the whole time BTW!) So, by the time I got to work I was feeling pretty good. Radio was playing good music, it’s going to be in the low 70s today (I love CA), no traffic at that time of day…. I turn by the Starbucks in front of work & there’s a space: Right. In. Front. What great karma? Figure I’ll get my coffee & drive into the garage at work with it, won’t have to take the elevator twice. So I get my mocha & it’s perrrrr-fect! Yum! (The barista told me I looked great, like I’d lost weight. Hee, hee—told you I look better with strait hair. I’m 7 months pregnant next week; I don’t think I’ve lost any weight. I hope not or my dr. will really yell at me today!) So I get in my car & as go through the driveway to the parking garage my drink bounces out of the holder onto the floor in the back. All 20 oz! Mocha chocolate from Starbuck stains—really bad! The rug in our car is gold. Nice. DS is going to KILL me. Now I really need a mocha! (Yes, I went & got another one. Duh. But they asked what happend & compped me. :)

So after my dr. appointment today I will be hitting the car wash to have my carpet shampooed. Then I will be hitting it with the Costco bottle of Oxyclean we have at home in hopes of getting the stain out. I’m trying to be positive about it. It could’ve been worse; if it had bounced the opposite direction it would’ve landed INSIDE my purse.

I’m still in a good mood. My hair is strait & it’s going to be 70+ degrees today—how bad of a mood could I be in?

OMG! We were THAT family this weekend!

Kinda had a rough weekend. I mean overall it was fine, Toddlerspeak (TS) has just really hit her stride (God, I hope this is her stride and we’re on the downswing) in the “pushing limits” department. On Sunday, we were set to go to a Superbowl Party, something we’ve done for years now. I have to admit I was leery of it. It’s an adult party, TS was going to be, at best, one of 2-3 kids, but most likely the only kid. In the last couple years we’ve taken her and she’s been an angel. People realize she’s there and are amazed. She plays quietly with her toys and eats all the obnoxious party food with us and it’s all-good. We bask in her amazingness. But she’s 2 now, all bets are off, you know. And the superbowl was right in the middle of when she usually naps, so I was pretty sure I was going to spend the better part of the party 1) being embarrassed by her and 2) chasing her around, yelling to get down in front, etc… As if to prove my point:
We ran some errands a few hours before the game (V-day shopping). Home Depot was next door, so Daddyspeak (DS) ran in to pick up a couple things and TS and I hit Boutique Target (Tar-jay). Everything was more or less fine (minor altercation about getting out of the car, but nothing big) until DS showed up at Target. All hell broke loose! She became that kid who wants everything on the shelves and then meltdowns into a full tantrum when you tell her no. She has NEVER done that before. I know, what am I complaining about, she’s 2 and she’s never done the full public meltdown before??? (Yes, we’ve been lucky). It was just so random (for us). It only latest a few minutes, but felt like an hour. At one point DS (trying to distract,) says to her, “TS look at the cute baby over there,” to which she replied by shrieking louder. (Now everyone in the near vicinity is looking at us!) So he then says, (kinda under his breath) “Everyone don’t look at the not so cute toddler over here.” Exactly.
Needless, TS and I stayed home from the party. She napped, I got the first coat of lavender scallops painted in Babyspeaks room. (Shh, don’t tell TS, she’ll be pissed I painted without her again.)

Who could say no to this face?

Snow Bound

Ok, so finally got some pix from this weekend.











This is ToddlerSpeak (TS) just before & after her adventure down the hill BY. HER. SELF. (Again, it must’ve been the hormones that I let myself be convinced to let my TWO YEAR OLD do this!)

However, it’s deceiving, she’s having so much fun! And she looks at least FOUR damit! I know, I’m a moron. And now I’ve set a precedent. Moving on…

Ok, my two fav pix of DS & TS from the weekend WILL NOT UPLOAD for some reason!!!! So you'll have to wait on those.

Apparently I did hand off the camera to DS as some point during the weekend. Yes, that’s me underneath all those layers (can you tell I’m the fat chick?) This is me putting skis on my baby (2nd year in a row, cause damit this kid will ski and ski well!)

And here’s the family portrait! Such a waste, I was having a great hair weekend. (Of course, no one saw me all weekend and the couple pix I did take you can't even tell who the heck I am. Go figure.)

Ok, that’s your fix of TS for the day! More later.