Saturday, March 28, 2009

I'm Not Pregnant Anymore!

I am reeeaaallly enjoying my new status as "not pregnant." I don't wake up every hour having to use the bathroom. I can breathe normally (well, except for the gunk-in-my-lungs thing, but that's different.) I don't have a tiny being bouncing on my bladder making it hard to walk. I'm not constantly uncomfortable. (Okay, except for the inscision pain, but that's different too, and it goes away a little more every day.) I'll be glad when I'm not taking pain pills anymore because they make me kind of dizzy and sleepy. Today I am actually wearing my fat pants!!! This is do-able only because I don't have staples in my belly this time. This means I get to forego the highly stylish overalls that I wore for the first three weeks after Anja's birth and instead get to skip straight to regular fat jeans. I'm sooooo happy! And I'm not wearing one of Martin's long-sleeved tshirts today either--I'm wearing a white blousy shirt, so I almost look like a normal person again! Well, okay, I probably don't look good enough to leave the house... I mean, I still do look six months pregnant and am walking with a slight stoop, but STILL. I feel like I might look more normal. It helps that I've been taking a shower every day and putting on the smelly-good lotion that Martino gave me. He gave me that and a Gap giftcard as a "thanks for having my baby" present. He is a sillykins.

I woke up at 6:00 this morning with a sleeping Anja beside me. A sleeping Anja who I thought had been sleeping since Martin put her to bed at 9:00. I thought we had finally reached the celebrated first time of sleeping through the night. Unfortunately, Martin told me she'd woken up once (Still! Once is good!) around 1:30. Evidently I was so asleep that I didn't even notice.

Still, I think she's feeling like life is getting closer to normal for her. It still is too bad that I can't pick her up, but soon enough I'll be able to do that again and then things will seem really good. We think Greta is too little to take out to church this week, so Martin is planning to go tonight with Anja and then he'll drive me to St. Ann's tomorrow and just get some coffee and hang around in the car with the girls until I'm done.

"The girls." I love it!!!!! We tried not to be too obvious that we were both so badly hoping for another girl. I know I voiced my slight fear at the idea of having a little boy, but we were REALLY hopeful for another girl. I feel so lucky that we got her!

Having an infant is so much easier this time. I am not as freaked out by her, for one thing, which really helps to lessen the stress of daily life. I don't feel like every time I touch her I'll break her. Also, nursing a second baby is SO MUCH EASIER than nursing the first. That whole cracked, bleeding, hurting-so-much-you-cry-when-she-latches-on experience is one of the past, and this time nursing is actually enjoyable. Maybe it helps that it's only been a few months since I was nursing Anja, and I know it makes a difference that Greta is just an all-around better nurser, but still, it's a pleasant surprise.

I find I've forgotten some things about newborns. Like the whole spitting up thing! I'd completely forgotten how often you have to change their clothes! And how much they poo! I'd forgotten about that too. I'd forgotten how good their spit up smells. Nowadays when I get thrown up on I just smell like puke. But new baby spitup smells so nice.

Last night we all went to Target; Anja and Martin went in while Greta and I stayed in the car. Martin came out with lost of milk-free treats for me! I'm easing away from milk starting now and will see how things go with Greta. Last night she had a short time of inconsolable crying and it just sort of reminded us of the early Anja days. If going milk-free seems to help her tummy, I'm prepared to do it this time from the start! Although Greta already seems to be a happier baby... she is content to just sit and watch the world go by. Sometimes she'll be in her swing and I won't know that she's woken up. With Anja, there was never a question. She let you know any time she was awake... by screaming her little head off.

I think our Pie is home from her date with her Aunt T!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Into the Swing of Things

Today is our first "normal" day back at home. We all slept together in our bedroom again, we all woke up at a normal time, and we all went to the doctor this morning so Greta could meet Dr. Beardmore for the first time. Unfortunately, Anja's sleep schedule has been completely destroyed by the craziness, and we're having a really hard time getting her to sleep, EVER. Right now Martin is trying to calm her down with a walk, then he'll try to get her down for a nap again. I hate not being able to put her down for her naps, but in a few weeks things will be completely back to normal, I'm sure of it. Or at least, I'm hopeful.
We're slowly getting the house back in order too and constantly laughing at our completely weird families. Stuff was so out of place when we got back, and in the strangest ways... things that we'd left at one end of the counter (specifically a pile of dishes belonging to other people) had been mysteriously moved to the other end of the counter. We still can't figure out the reason for that. I can't think of anything else particularly funny right now, but we just keep noticing things and thinking, "gosh, our families are weird."

Greta is such a different baby than Anja was. First of all, she's a great nurser. This morning I was feeding her and I said, "C'mon Greta, you've got to suck..." but I looked down and she WAS sucking! I just couldn't feel it because she was actually doing it right, as opposed to Anja, who took about six months to figure out the right way to latch on. Also, she is incredibly alert and happy. Anja mostly slept for her first days in the world, and her wakeful times were about 15 minutes, tops. Greta will stay awake for more than an hour, just taking everything in. It's wonderful! I've gotten to know her little face so much faster. She is a funny looking baby... Martin said to her the other night, "I just don't know what to think of you. You don't look like a baby!" She looks like a grumpy old woman. She also looks kind of like a scrawny baby bird. She has a very beakish nose. It will be interesting to see how she grows into herself; she's already changed so much in the last five days!

To say that Anja is "interested" in her sister is an understatement. She loooooooves her. She loves to watch her eat, and get changed, and get dressed, and she shares all of her toys with her. It's very adorable!

More pictures on Facebook!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

One More Picture....

Whoa! Who's that hunky doctor?!? Oh, wait--its just Martin cutting the umbilical cord!!! Woo!

Two Daughters! (The Birth Story)

Wahoo! We got another girl!!!!!!! Our Greta Jane came to us after a SUPER FUN labor (with one exception) and an even more enjoyable c-section. You might think I'm being sarcastic, but I'm not. With the exception of about an hour, maybe, the whole day was really enjoyable. (The only reason I'm posting the story before the pictures is because I'm actually by myself for a little while right now, so I have the time to type out the story. I can put the pictures on while Martin and Anja are here later, if I don't get it done now.)


So around 4:00 on Sunday morning I woke up with painful contractions that I wasn't sure about. Labor? Or just some wicked bad gas? The reason I doubted they were labor is because they were pretty much constant, and the "peaks" were painful, but very quick. I wandered around the house for awhile, then woke Martin up around 6:00 or so to tell him what was going on. He came downstairs and slept on the couch for awhile while I wandered around some more. As the morning progressed, I figured out that it was labor. I loved laboring at home. I took the longest, hottest, most wonderful shower ever. I was able to put into play all the natural birth techniques I've read about in my midwife books. Mid-morning things really picked up, and there was really not much break between contractions. They were maybe 3 minutes apart on average. So we called in-- Dr. Downey was on call-- and he said we should come on it. We didn't rush too much--we had to get Anja ready, get someone to our house to watch her, pack some things to take with us... but we eventually left and I felt pretty good about things. I had already been laboring on my own for six hours, and things were progressing quickly! Wonderful!
When we got there they checked me and I was at 6cm. Then the put me on the monitors and gave me an IV and Martin and I thought, "oh great, here we go again. Another long labor in bed, hooked up to machines, people telling us what to do and treating us like non-people." So when our [wonderful] nurse came back in, Martin said, "Annie would really like to be able to walk around." She looked at me with excitement and said, "Do you want the Birthing Ball?!?!?!?" I've always wanted to try one of those things after hearing people rave about them at prenatal yoga and other places too. I've heard they are really awesome. AND THEY ARE. For the next about 6 hours I mostly stayed on the birthing ball and it was so great. I got up and walked around a little bit, but I only got in bed to be checked. I was progressing, but the baby wasn't coming down into my pelvis. She was still swimming happily, way up high. Finally, Dr. Downey thought it a good idea to break my water, that maybe that would help the baby come down. So he did, and I got back upright and labored some more on my own. But--WOW. This was the only non-fun time of the entire day. A few contractions in, I said, "Martin, I think I might give in and get an epidural." The next one after that, I said, "Martin, I want an epidural." With the one after that I said, "MARTIN, I WANT AN EPIDURAL RIGHT NOW!!!!!!"

So they gave me that happy little catheter in my spine and labor got fun again! The best part about an epidural is that I was totally wrong about them. I thought they deadened you completely. WRONG. You can still feel everything and you can still move your legs--it just moves the pain from "One Zillion" down to "Zero." It was awesome!!!! Now, a little bit of information did push me in this direction--one of the nurses let me in on the secret that she'd been told by Dr. Downey earlier on--that he didn't think the baby was ever going to come down. I think it was so nice of him not to say that to me. He was only encouraging the entire time. But I could tell myself that the baby wasn't moving down AT ALL, even with all my upright laboring, and I thought I'd probably end up with another cesarean so I figured, what they heck, I might as well get the needle in my back now. So I did it! And I'm really glad I did.


So I labored on and on and on and I got up to 8 and kind of stalled out with still no baby descent. He thought he might put me on pitocin to try to get the baby down, but then he decided he didn't want to do that because the baby's heartrate, though not DANGEROUSLY jumping about, didn't look like it thought pitocin was a good idea, and he was still being encouragang about the vbac. So I just kept going awhile more. The next time he came in to check me, he said if there's been any change, we won't do a cesarean. But he checked me, and there had been no change and the baby was still swimming around above my pelvis. Silly baby. However, don't be disappointed in the outcome of this story!
I'd already had the needle in my back, so I didn't need to worry about that. Martin knew the routine, so he was not nearly as nervous. They took me back and prepped everything, including painting my belly orange, and they didn't even tie my arms down! They didn't raise the screen until the very end. Then Martino came in and the nurses wouldn't let him in without his camera, haha. Everyone seemed so happy and so festive and glad to be there.
Since I already had the epidural in, they just upped the dosage for surgery. When Anja was born, I had a spinal, which made me completely numb. With this epidural, I could feel everything they were doing. It was incredible! It was also not what I'd expected because I didn't know that they pulled babies out of little inscisions bit by bit as if they're being born. I thought they used more of a slice-and-scoop method. But they actually pop her out, and I could feel all of it being done. It was awesome! They told me as each part was being born--"big head, biiig shoulder, other shoulder is stuck... other big shoulder is born, aaaaaand... you have another girl!!!!" It was like a big celebration, a real birthday party. Everyone seemed so HAPPY. When Anja was born, almost no one talked to us. I had to ask them for information. It was still wonderful in it's way, since we got our Anja out of it, but it was definitely not the experience that Greta's birth was. Martin was so much more relaxed, too. When he went back to cut the cord, the nurses stamped the baby's footprints on the back of his hand!! Just for kicks!

I love it that I was able to labor my way for the entire time. I have no bad feelings about the way this went. I knew she wasn't coming down, and since she'd had 9 months of in-the-womb time and 15 hours of labor to move in that direction and never made it, AND since that was the same thing that happened with Anja (though I blamed that on spending labor in bed) I really think I'm just not made to birth babies. But that's okay! I gave it a fair chance this time--and more importantly, was GIVEN a fair chance--and I have no regrets about it. However, it was really nice when my doctor came to see me the next morning and showed genuine disappointment for me not getting the VBAC I'd wanted. He has been in to see me every morning and Dr. Downey has been in to see me too, along with the anesthesiologist, who just stopped in to say hey, and remembered both our daughters names. I'm telling you, the people around here are so cool. The nurses have been so nice too... one just came in to say goodbye because she won't be here tomorrow, and she reminded me about the sibling party! So Martin is going to bring Anja up in a little bit (they're out for a walk now) and we will have a little family party!! I'm excited. Then once Martin gets Anja down for the night his sister is going to go over and sit at our house for awhile so Martin can come up here for awhile by himself.

And speaking of Martin...
Let me talk for a little bit about my martyr husband. Starting on Sunday morning when I was in labor, he has been taking care of Anja, who not only is a handful because she is a toddler, but also she's not been feeling the best. He's been also taking care of the pets AND dealing with aaaaaaaallllllll of our family. It's great having so much family around, but everyone gets so excited sometimes it can get overwhelming. While I am holed up here in my overheated hospital room having people wait on me hand and foot, he's living on bites of meals and vending machine snacks he gets here, McDonald's coffees and almost no sleep. Anja has only had bad nights and he has been SUCH a trooper! Today he was worried about her ongoing cough and the fact that she was messing with her ears and was really fussy. So he this afternoon he took her to the doctor! He has been a real superhero these past few days. He's awesome!!!

I'm sorry for all the typos in this post, which comes to you courtesy of Sarah and Andrew, who sooooooo generously lent me their laptop!!!!! I'm just not used to the keyboard though and am making a lot of mistakes. But it's totally worth it!! I'm so excited to be blogging!!!! Martin got me a library book too, and though I've barely started it, I'm really happy to have it.
And MATT SPENCER sent a mysterious white box tied with a pink ribbon and topped with very special balloons welcoming our new baby girl! What a guy!
Oh, you might want the regular details of the new one:

Greta Jane Schap
March 22, 2009 7:23pm
7lbs 4oz
20-ish inches... maybe 21 inches... ok, I can't remember how long she is.


She looks nothing like Anja! She has a very funny nose... kind of a grownup looking nose.
Other very cool thing: Laura and Dan had their baby girl on Saturday!!! So on Sunday night they came down to visit us. I'm not usually one for posting pictures of myself looking awful, but I posted this and then can't figure out how to delete it. So... um.... here's me looking disgusting!! And by the way, we're not holding our own babies. I am holding the beautiful Mary Grace and Laura is already looking like a professional mama, holding up Greta. How funny! Can I just say that Laura is going to be such a cool mom? She came in to say goodbye also as they were leaving on Monday, and my mom happened to be here and was very excited to see them and their baby. Laura walked in and just automatically handed the baby to my mom, then was kind of like, "oh, wait, you don't have to hold her if you don't want to..." It was hilarious! I didn't want anyone to come near Anja, I was a nazi, and everyone hated me! Hahaha!
Anyway. Good times. Now I have to finally finish this post and turn up the air conditioning because I am roasting underneath this laptop.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Re-Nesting

I'm so disappointed that I had a clean house three weeks ago, and here I am, past my due date, with a messy, dirty house. Again. And not even a new baby as an excuse. Well, these were my thoughts earlier this morning, but as soon as Anja went down for her nap, Martin and I got to work and things have been getting accomplished ever since. I feel so much better about the house now. We got laundry folded and put away. We got more laundry washed. We got dishes done, the bathroom clean, cobwebs removed from dark corners, surfaces dusted... LOTS got done. And I just feel so much better about the place. The only thing I have left that absolutely needs to be done is mopping the floors. I've been putting this off for weeks. It didn't get done last time I was "nesting" and it didn't get done today either, but I guess there's always tomorrow.

Other non-cleaning things got accomplished too. Martin ordered a charger cord for our video camera, which we've been needing pretty much since we GOT the camera, since our cord got eaten by one of the animals. We've looked for it at electronic stores, but have never been able to find it. Finally, we thought of it today again and he ordered one off the internet. That's a good thing to have gotten accomplished too!

I'm glad spring is here. Out the windows of the Big Back Room here, I can see the Cook children building forts between their clothes lines, and beyond that Dawn is working in her yard. Yay! I hadn't been outside until I just took out some trash, and I had no idea how warm it was! I think it's definitely a day for a family walk! And eventually we will go to the grocery store.

Happy Sunny Day!

Friday, March 20, 2009

A Day of Fun Messages

I got a lot of fun messages on my phone today! The first was from Laura wishing me a happy due date. We made tentative plans to hang out on Monday, assuming neither of us will have given birth before then.



The second was a voicemail from my mother-in-law, and it was a little song that went something like this: "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday little baby, you're now overdue!" That made me smile. Then she tried to bribe the baby out with presents, and that made me smile as well. Though I held the phone to my belly, I don't think the dinosaur took the hint.



The third was a text from my brother-in-law that said, "You're going the wrong way! The hospital is the other direction!" The funny part about that is that he was driving behind us at the time, and I kept trying to wave to him, but I could tell he was texting, so he never saw me. I just assumed he didn't know it was us, and I stopped trying to get his attention, then we turned. I didn't hear my phone when the text came through though, so I didn't get his message until two hours later! I always forget that he has his own cell phone, or else I would've texted him. Anyway, I did call my sister and tell her to pass along that I got the message, and that I was trying to flag him down and that's why I missed the message at the time!

I just told Martin that I'd make our corned beef for dinner tomorrow, and he said, "Whatever. We're having dinner at the hospital tomorrow." Haha! I love how optimistic he still is. Here, I've come to terms with the fact that this baby is staying put forever, and he's holding out hope that it's actually going to be born.

Now it's time for tea and then bed, because we're all exhausted!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Ongoing Medical Adventures of the Schap Family

Wow, I'm telling you, the medical drama around this place just never ends. It's just one lousy adventure after another! Yesterday evening Anja started going downhill fast with this yucky cold that we gave her. (Meanwhile, Martin is almost back to his old self, and I expect to be a hundred times better by tomorrow... all that's left for both of us is a lingering cough that sounds a lot worse than it actually is.) Martin put her down at 7:00 but she started coughing right away and woke herself up. So we went for a little family walk in the cool evening and she was at least kept happy. When we got home it was her normal bedtime, and she went down easily, and slept for a good stretch. At midnight she started getting restless, and a little before two she started coughing and then got really upset. Looking back, I should've at least TRIED the croup methods, but I didn't think it was croup. I've always heard of the croup cough sounding like seal, and her cough just sounded nasty, but when she cried, it seemed like she wasn't able to catch her breath. I guess that's where the seal-ish noise came in, but it still didn't seem very sealish to me... it just sounded like she couldn't breathe. And NOTHING was calming her down. And she was very feverish. We took her downstairs and she threw up from crying so hard. We took her temperature, and decided it was time for a trip to the ER. I feel SO STUPID now, for taking her in. I know what to do for Croup... I guess I just didn't know how to recognize it when it struck. Anyway, that's what was wrong with her. We spent two hours at the ER where they also discovered she has yet another ear infection. She got a little medicine there, and some breathing treatment, and they did a flu and RSV test, which all came back negative, and they took x-rays of her chest, which came back clear as well. I feel like a total freak-out-for-no-reason mom. Ugh.

Today she is not herself. She cried all morning, then we had to go to the drugstore to get her prescriptions filled. Turns out my mom was going too, so we all went together, and to the grocery store. She was almost asleep in her carseat when we got home.

Martin's work threw him a baby shower!!! How incredibly sweet is that?!? His old job got mad at him because when Anja was born evidently when he called in to tell them that the baby came and he wouldn't be in for a few days, he "did it wrong" and so he got in trouble with his boss. And now at this new job, they give him a baby shower. An amazing difference!

I have a killer backache today. Tomorrow is my due date, but I hope the baby waits a few more days until we're all feeling better before it makes its grand arrival. I have an appointment on Monday, and I hope they don't try to pressure me into an induction just because I'm a few days overdue.

So now I'm going to take the dog out, do some dishes, and then catch the end of Anja's nap with her. I think my mom said she was going to bring us some spaghetti sauce over for dinner, which would be awesome, because I reeeaaaallly don't feel like cooking tonight. (Again. Poor Martino.)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Life Scams vs. Price Scams

This is such a scam. I used to pride myself on my killer immune system. I mean, I DON'T GET SICK. Maybe a cold once in awhile, maybe a 5-hour stomach bug once every few years, but this is getting ridiculous!! I've been sick with one thing after another for the past three weeks! And maybe if I were in college and got to skip class and cuddle up on the couch drinking tea and watching chick flicks that would be one thing... but as my life is now, that is just not an option, not on any level. Ugh.

Yesterday I woke up feeling coughy. Anja and I spent the whooooooole day outside (except for naptime, of course) taking stroller walks, and then later in the afternoon walking up and down the sidewalk in front of the library together, picking up sticks and pointing out piles of dog poo. We came in just for enough time to have a little snack before my sister came over to drop of some SUPER CUTE shoes for Anja, and we all sat outside and after they left, we stayed sitting on the steps playing with sticks and dirt until Martin came home. By that time I was feeling pretty lousy. I wasn't hungry and I was coughing and my chest hurt. (My chest still hurts today, but I really think it's just hearburn.) It didn't end up mattering that I wasn't hungry though, because while I'd planned to make corned beef & cabbage for dinner, when I called my mom around 4:00 to ask her how to make it, she told me that corned beef has to cook all day. So there went dinner. It didn't matter at all, in the end. Mrs. Schap called Martin on his way home from work, offering him a couple of steaks she'd already fried up, so he picked those up and then we walked over to the Levee and had Frozen Custard for dinner. We're all three coughing and I thought it would feel nice on our throats. AND, since it was St. Patrick's Day, we got mint chocolate chip, which is green. Then we walked home and I wanted to kill myself, and I sat down on the couch and never wanted to get up again. Martin took Anja on an errand and they came back home with soup for me and a Real Simple magazine. Martin so loves to pamper! Then he put Anja to bed (in about two seconds flat) and I stayed on the couch until the first time she woke up, then I joined the rest upstairs in the bedroom.

I woke up this morning feeling sooooooo muuuuuch better, but I'm still coughing (and Anja is too, and it's REALLY SAD, because this is a very chesty cough, one that takes your breath away) and I'm really tired, although I'm sure that has less to do with being sick and more to do with the fact that Anja has yet to kick her incredible habit of waking up at 4:00 and staying up until 6:00.

But I can't complain too much--Anja and I had a delightfully lazy morning, and despite her feeling under the weather, she is in the best of moods. She went down easily for a nap, and I'm hoping for a long one today. I don't know what we'll do about dinner.

The other thing on my mind lately is the price differences between Target and Kroger. These are the two places we do our shopping. Martin used to insist that Target was cheaper, while I insisted Kroger was cheaper. For the next two weekly grocery trips, I'm going to write down the price of everything we buy (we usually get about the same list every week) and compare, because there are price differences at both places, and in some cases they are so different that it would be worthing keeping two separate lists. For example: I bought Cheerios at Target the other day. I never would've imagined that Cheerios would be cheaper at Target than at Kroger, but there they were: HALF the price! Other cheaper things include canned goods, orange juice, and butter. However, buying meat at Target every week would send us to the poorhouse. They are such major differences! So I really think I'm going to start going to both places. And it isn't even like one is more conveniently located... they're both about the same distance away from our home.

The day I bought the Cheerios at Target I also decided to treat myself to some fancy shampoo and body wash for after the baby comes, when I'm feeling especially flabby and stinky and covered in spit-up and baby poo. (And that's just the time before half my hair falls out!) Usually I use a variety of shampoos, most of which are the hotel sample-sized bottles that Martin brought back for me from his Wabash travels. (Since I don't condition my hair every day, the conditioners especially last a long time! And some of them are Pantene ProV!) Aaaanyway... I decided to buy myself a bottle of Herbal Essances 2-in-1 that smells like nectarines. I LOVE IT. It's amazing, and totally worth the extra money. Plus, it's a ginormous bottle and I am pretty good at using just a dime-sized amount, so it should last me awhile, AND it's volumizing, so hopefully it'll come in handy when my hair thins out in about five months. The other thing I splurged on was a bottle of Pure & Natural body wash, which smells like rosemary and mint. Boooooooo. Not only was it expensive, but it doesn't have a very strong smell, and it has TERRIBLE lather capabilities. I am used to using el-cheapo Suave, which costs me about a dollar and a half for a huge bottle that smells sooooooooo good, and that lathers up so well I could wash myself four times. Plus, it has such a smooth lather that I get a GREAT shave on my legs with it too. Not so, with the Pure and Natural. What a bummer! The other great thing about Suave is that it comes in those rectangular containers that you can always store upside down on your shower shelf, and you can actually get every last bit of soap out of the bottle. Great price, great product, and no waste! So I learned my lesson there. Fancy soaps are a scam, but Herbal Essances is DEFINITELY worth it.

Wow, is anybody still reading?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Wearin' O' the Green!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The other day I made some chocolate chip cookies and I picked out all the green M&M's from our candy dish and stuck them into the cookies. Tonight I will make corned beef and cabbage. I've managed to make it every year we've been married (and I think I made a good attempt the year before we were married, but failed miserably) and every year I still forget how to do it. And every year we eat the meat and potatoes and throw the cabbage away because cabbage is gross. This year will be no exception! It's all ready to go.

By late yesterday afternoon Martin was feeling so much better--a great relief. He even suggested a family walk! So we strapped Anja into her rolling throne (I will have to sometime take and post a video of her face when we bring the stroller in from the back room--it's HILARIOUS) and took a nice walk over to the Levee. It was GORGEOUS evening! I knew the day was nice because Anja and I managed to get out once in the afternoon to go get Martino some Gatorade and a cherry coke, so I was soooooo happy when he was feeling better and suggested a walk. Today is supposed to be EVEN BETTER, if that's even possible!!! Martin is taking the car to work in order to run some lunchtime errands, and Anja and I have two downtown errands to run, so we are guaranteed to get out at least once to enjoy the gorgeousness of the day. Yay!

Anja's started doing this really cool thing lately where she wakes up around 4:00 and doesn't go back to sleep until around 6:00. It's so awesome. And last night there was the added bonus that when she DID finally go back to sleep she slept so restlessly, and since Martin had been sick, I worried that SHE was going to be sick, so instead of sleeping with her I just sat up and read and watched her. It was great. Martin slept on the couch again last night as a precaution. I really like taking Anja's naps with her, all snuggled up together, but night sleeping in the same bed with her is a different story. She spends all night rolling from one side of the bed to another, flip-flopping around, etc. AND, she's evidently inherited Martin's habit of sleep-talking. Last night on different occasions in her sleep she asked for music, panted like a dog, and started saying "Da-da! Da-da?" It was mostly really funny... except for the fact that it woke me up. And when Martin talks in his sleep it's more easy to just chuckle and ignore him. When Anja talks in her sleep it's just kind of weird.

So I came to the part in the book I'm reading where things go wrong for this midwife. Things like babies dying and end-of-labor medical emergencies. Maybe it's not the best choice of reading after all for a person who is three days away from her due date. Oh well, it's still interesting. This one story in particular was VERY interesting--the midwife had a client that she wouldn't deliver at home because of a previous cesarean (she did homebirths but also worked as a hospital midwife) so the client decided she didn't want to pay for a midwife at all if she was just going to have to deliver in a hospital anyway. (This girl was a major snot-head in the first place.) But she DID want to hire the midwife to be her "labor coach." Reluctantly, the midwife agreed. So THEN, the woman's pregnancy turned complicated and the doctor warned her that things could get dangerous for the baby and that she should come to the hospital early in labor. The woman ignored the doctor, and ignored the midwife when she tried to explain the same thing to her, and the doctor and midwife both thought that this woman was going to try to trick them into giving her a home birth. They didn't trust her. Well, as it turned out, labor never really started, but the complications that she was warned of came anyway, and her baby died. Except, he DIDN'T die. They went to great lengths and ended up reviving him, but he had been without oxygen for so long that he was SEVERELY retarded. After some days of life support, they pronounced him brain dead and the parents prepared for his death, then they cut off life support. But the baby still didn't die! So a few weeks later, this woman and her husband put their baby in an institution and SUED THE DOCTOR AND THE MIDWIFE! Isn't that crazy?!?!?!? Anyway. It's a really good book. And most of the stories in it are really happy, or really funny, and everyone should read it... but that one story was just nuts.

Okay, anyway... I'm going to go lie down with Anja until she wakes up cause I don't think I have time to take a shower before she wakes up at this point.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Just Another Manic Monday

How does one go about making a banner for her blog? I steal mine off the internet because I don't know how to make my own, but I feel a little guilty for using other people's pictures without permission, and I would like to have a banner that is all mine.

For the first time, I'm keeping my fingers crossed today that I DON'T go into labor any time soon. On Saturday we went to the grocery store and Martin picked up a cute little box set of two Guinness pints and two Guinness pint glasses to celebrate St. Patrick's day, should the baby be here by then. That made me excited and want to have the baby right away. But on Sunday Martin woke up feeling cold-ish and by the end of the day he was mostly lifeless on the couch. When I put Anja down for bed, she did that thing where she throws up all over the place, but doesn't appear to be sick. So last night was another late night for Anja and me, then Martin threw up during the night and is still dead on the couch today. (He swears to me he'll be better by tonight, but I'm having a hard time believing him.)

So this morning I had a doctors appointment, and my mom was supposed to watch Anja. I called to tell her that Martin was sick, and would she rather I just take Anja with me? Her answer was yes because she's been having all sorts of heart trouble this weekend. Boy!

Then there's my neighbor Tara who is our "labor support person." She volunteered herself for the job. But until Thursday, she's not much good to us, since she's in New York!!

So as of this morning, I'm out a labor coach, a backup labor coach, and a babysitter. Luckily, I still have a sister, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law. I know that single mothers give birth all the time, but since I'm not a single mother, I kind of didn't plan to give birth in the style of one.

So I had kind of a crazy morning, having a doctors appointment, Anja needing a bath from throwing up on herself last night, and me having full dog responsibilities. Luckily, I was able to shower before Anja woke up. I ran her a bath and had just plopped her in the tub and begun drying my hair, when there was another kind of "plop" and I peeked around her to see that she'd made a giant poo in the tub. So I got her out, emptied the tub, washed off her bath toys, wiped out the tub, and was running her a new bath when I turned and saw that in that time, she'd peed all over the bathroom floor. I got that cleaned up, got her in the tub, fixed some cereal and was feeding it to her while I washed her, only to turn around once and find that the cat was eating it! The morning just kept getting better and better! At last we were both ready for our day and out the door for the doctors, where we arrived on time and perfectly happy... until I had to put her down to step on the scale, and she started crying and didn't stop until we left.

But at least the birds are singing!

But anyway, I don't think I have anything to worry about. I don't think this baby is going to be making any major moves any time soon.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Getting Things Done

My "List of Things to Do Before Dinosaur #2 Arrives" is now empty. Everything has been crossed off, and even stuff that was mentally on there, but not officially part of the list, are getting done. For instance: Anja's Flower Toggle Hat! I finished it yesterday during her nap and it is SO CUTE. It's the most ridiculous hat I've ever seen, not to mention made, and I'm so happy with it that I'm even glad it's still cold. A cold March is the perfect time for a knit hat with an alien flower probe sticking out the top. The two best parts of this hat: The color scheme, and the fact that the yarn was all ridiculously on sale at River Knits!!! I've got so much of it, I can't wait to find another project to make with the same colors.
Hat aside, I'm actually ready for the cold to be gone. I'm starting to get cabin fever and so is Anja. Yesterday she would go to the door begging to go outside, but it was just too cold. (I never thought to go to the library because I'm an idiot.) Martin had the car yesterday, so we were kind of stranded at home, which usually is fine, but yesterday we were both kind of itching to get out. The result was an especially difficult day with her, as she wasn't pleased by anything I was doing, and spent pretty much her whole day whining and crying when she didn't get exactly what she wanted exactly when she wanted it. Oh, the wake-up she's going to get in a short time! Poor girl. She's not going to know what happened to her All-About-Me world. I feel kind of bad for her.

Anyway, when Martin got home we had dinner and then he was going to Vienna to prep his class, like he does every Thursday. He invited Anja and me along as a way to get out of the house but I really didn't feel like taking her to a coffee shop in the mood she was in. So, we did something we've never done before. We called my mom and asked if we could bring Anja up there so we could go out alone. It's not that we've never been out alone, it's that we've never gone out for an evening by ourselves. This is partly because of her early bedtime--which is now an hour later, thanks to Mitch Daniels. For once, I was grateful for the change!!!

I ran over to the library (and wouldn't you know, it cheered Anja right up!) and found a book, then we took Anja up to my parents' house and Martin and I set out for Vienna. We didn't stay at Vienna, partly because it was packed, and partly because the two girls working were these really snotty girls who annoy us. So we went down to GreyHouse, where we hadn't been since last summer! It's really improved since it's opening!!! It's soooooo cozy and cute, and since it's run by the Christian church on campus, it's ultra family-friendly. The evening was just exactly what I needed. We sat in comfy chairs and Martin prepped his class while I read my book and didn't think of anything else. It. was. awesome.

And as it turns out, the break from me seemed to be just what Anja needed! She was so happy up at my mom's house, they had loads of fun together, and when we saw each other we were both refreshed and ready to go. Funny how that works... I never would've imagined at time when Anja and I would actually get sick of each other, but I guess in the end we are just people. And now that she is SUCH a little person, it's much more obvious when she is feeling ready to get away from me. It's very funny!

Last night in the middle of the night Anja was in our bed and I was giving her a bottle and she accidentally pulled out one of my earrings. I got it back from her, but she wasn't all the way asleep yet, so I couldn't do anything but hold onto it and hope that I didn't fall asleep before I could put it someplace safe. Well, wouldn't you know, I fell asleep, and now the earring is someplace in my bed. This is especially disappointing because I'd forgotten I had these earrings until a week or so ago when I found them in a jewelry box. And then it became more disappointing when I dreamed that I found it in my bed, but woke up to find that that was only a dream. Bummer!

I'm determined to have a better attitude about DST this year. It WILL be nice to have Anja on a later bedtime so that we can go for family walks in the warm weather, it will be darker when she goes to sleep at night, and, as is true right now, I get a longer time in the morning to sit and drink my coffee and come out of my coma before my day truly has to begin. She will see more of her daddy since our evenings together will be longer, and as we learned last night, we'll be able to go out if we ever need to. Our evenings always seemed so rushed, eating at 6:00 or so, then her going to bed at 7:45. An extra hour on that end may prove to be a very nice thing! However, it's already guaranteed us a MUCH later bedtime than usual. Martin and I haven't gone to bed before 10:00 since DST began... and we're not used to that. I feel bad for Martin who has to get up in the morning no matter what, while I can just keep sleeping until Anja wakes up, if I want to.

Alright, I'm going to go snuggle up in a quilt on the couch and read my book until our Pie wakes up.... which could be any time. The book I'm reading is called "Baby Catcher" and it's stories written by a midwife in California. So far it's good, and really funny.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Pineapples... YUM

Last night I made hamburgers and a salad for dinner. Anja and Martin really like hamburgers, but they are not so much my favorite, so I just ate salad. By 9:30 I was hungry again, but nothing sounded good. NOTHING. Martin told me to go out and get whatever I wanted, so I went to the grocery thinking I wanted chips and salsa. By the time I got there, chips and salsa didn't sound good anymore but fruit sounded really good, and so did soup. So I went to the soup aisle and before I could find the real soup I found the ramen noodles, which was EXACTLY what I wanted. Then I went back to the produce and bought myself a pineapple. While I was buying it I thought I remembered something my sister had told me once about pineapple being a natural labor inducer, so I texted her asking her about it. Then I went home and ate a third of the pineapple and only stopped because my mouth was completely on fire. I shared the rest with our neighbors Tara and Doug (Doug was at our house; he took some home to Tara) and with Martin. I kept thinking maybe that the pineapple, combined with the full moon and the low pressure weather system would bring on labor... and I only heard back from my sister just now with the following text regarding fresh pineapple:

"It really just gives you the runs."

Oh. Great.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I Guess It's Tuesday

I woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday. Bummer.

Ever since we've gotten this desktop computer set up I find myself spending TOO MUCH TIME on the internet. But with the warmer temperatures all I have to do is put on a big sweatshirt to come back here and be cozy and I am sitting in a real chair at a real computer, which is much more comfortable than the laptop in our ultra-comfy red chair, because every ultra-comfy chairs can get to your bum after awhile. Plus, it was always so hard to move around with the laptop pinning you down. But this is a great setup! So if you're wondering why I suddenly have so much time to post on my blog, the answer is: I don't. I'm just wasting waaaaay more time than I should. Hopefully the newness will wear off soon and I'll get back to being productive.

I've started a new Pandora station: Anonymous 4 Radio. Love it! Perfect mix of Sprituals, bluegrass and folk. I wasn't quite sure what I'd get when I made it, but I have made no changes to it so far because everything it's played so far is PERFECT.

I went to the poopy doctor this morning. He told me there's been absolutely no change in anything since last Monday. Arg. Also, the storms that were predicted to move through tonight have been majorly downgraded for our area, so I doubt I'll go into labor tonight either. Tomorrow is the full moon.... my doctor says if I go into labor any time after tomorrow we can just say it was because of the full moon! I sure hope this baby comes soon. I'm losing my enthusiasm. Especially since now Anja seems to be on a sleep strike.

My mom came over to watch Anja while I went to the doctor, and since I've been home I have noticed about ten hundred little things she did to clean up, one of which must've been to move all the kitchen chairs out from around the table and sweep that dark corner where the dog hair collects. It's not that I'm not grateful... it's just that she's such a weirdo. After my appointment I went to get a cup of coffee, then remembered that I'd left my debit card in my coat pocket last night! So I had to go back home. When I texted Martin that little bit of sadness, he suggested I take my mom out to coffee. I didn't think she'd agree, but she did! We went to Vienna and got vanilla chais, a cream cheese brownie, and a scone for Anja. A fun little date, and Anja was practically asleep when we got home she'd had such a fun morning.

Last night I went with my sister to another CHOICES meeting. This one's topic was "vaccinations." It was very interesting! And exactly what I wanted it to be. I was a little bit afraid that it would be soley focused on the hot topic of vaccines & autism, but in fact, he pretty much stayed away from that. What it really was was telling what was in the vaccines, how they work, and ways to make informed choices about them. I found it to be less balanced than the last one we attended, but it was still very informative and really enjoyable. I'm SO glad I was able to go. After a rocky day, I didn't think I'd be able to make it, but I was able to, and Martin took Anja so I was even able to give the talk my full attention! I know people have their own differeing opinions on vaccinations. This talk was mainly attended by people who lean more toward anti-vaccinations, I think, which is fine. I think people who vaccinate are fine too. I have my own opinions about them for my own children, but who am I to judge what other people do for their kids? I drink caffeine while I'm pregnant, I allow my daughter to put some real garbage into her body, and I think eating stuff off the floor, for the most part, is fine. I know there are plenty of people who don't agree with me there, but I do hope they won't judge me for it! Anyway, I would like to have heard a little more from the pro-vaccination side of the argument, but that's okay. It was still very informative! And afterward Sarah and Bella and I met up with Martin, Anja, TusaRebecca and Mrs. Schap at Vienna for an art opening. Yay!

Sarah invited me to story time out at the Ivy Tech library today, but it starts in three minutes and Anja is still asleep, so I guess we're not going to make it.

Monday, March 9, 2009

More Trouble Inside Than Out

If it's not one thing, it's another.

I keep trying to remind myself when I feel so sick of being pregnant these days that it really is easier to care for a baby who is inside you than for one who is outside of you. Well, that theory seems to be rapidly changing.

The night before last I couldn't sleep. I was having major BH contractions, so to get them to go away I came downstairs and messed around on the internet for awhile. They eventually went away, and almost immediately after they were gone, I got a wicked case of heartburn. So I was up for a lot longer because of that. Ugh!

Then yesterday I started itching. During the day it was just my hands and feet that were itching. By evening it was EVERYWHERE. From head to toe, I was one giant itch. I laid in bed scratching all over, but the very worst were the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet. The only thing I could figure was it was a reaction to the antibiotic. So I got up and distracted myself by knitting for awhile, and eventually went back to bed around 1:30 and fell asleep. It was only three hours later that our Pie woke up.... and stayed up until after 6:00. Grrrr..... So when she finally went back to sleep, I halfway wanted to get up for my day and enjoy my morning with Martin, but it wasn't worth it, having only gotten three hours of sleep. Plus, I was STILL itching like crazy and the best distraction for anything is sleep. So I went back to sleep and Anja and I slept until 9:00. Yikes!

I didn't take a dose of medicine this morning; I wanted to call and tell them about my itchiness and see if it was a reaction. They told me I can take Benedryl!! Hallelujah! Not that we have any.... but it doesn't matter, because Martin brought the car home to me on his lunch when I wasn't able to get Anja down for a nap until her usual wake-up time, so I will be able to get Benedryl in time to take my evening dose. And now I'm sure it is a reaction because the itching has lessened a lot throughout today.

So in short: this baby needs to be born. It's becoming much harder to keep up with the ailments it's causing me than it would be to just keep up with its diapers if it were in the world. Plus, my lap is disappearing and it makes it hard to read Anja stories if I have no lap for her to sit on.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Going Green

Soooo... this is a little bit gross.

I can't remember if it was just before or just after Anja was born that I made a big pot of chicken-vegetable soup. Whenever it was, it was right around the time of her birth. I put it in the fridge in its soup pot intending to eat it as leftovers, but the rest never got eaten. And, scarily enough, it never got thrown out either. So we've had a pot of soup sitting in our refrigerator for sixteen months. SIXTEEN MONTHS. That's almost a year and a half. We would notice it every once in awhile (mostly when we ran out of fridge space) and laugh about it, then say we'd eventually get to it. Finally today, while putting away groceries, I mentioned that I'd better include a note to our families when they are caring for Anja here at our house NOT to lift the lid of that pot, or they will get a very unpleasant surprise, which, unfortunately, can't be blamed on that old "science project" excuse. As I was going to write the note, Martin declared it time to get rid of the thing. So he took it outside to The Jungle (I watched out the kitchen window) and kicked the lid off with the toe of his shoe. I thought for sure he'd start vomiting when he looked in, but he just looked in and shook his head a little bit, then picked up the pot and dumped out its contents into the trash. He left the pot out there and poured some boiling water in it, but when he came in he told me it had just looked like soup. He described it as "a little faded" but said that every ingredient still looked like itself. All the chicken was at the bottom and the top was just a nice layer of fat. AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF, THE SOUP STILL LOOKED LIKE SOUP!!!!!! So my question is... how? I'm completely baffled. It was just chicken and vegetables. Do I really need to start watching the salt content of my cooking? Did the fat keep everything from rotting or molding? Did the mold grow and then melt away again? Martin said there was no mold on it. I am SO CONFUSED.

I'm sorry if any of you are majorly grossed out by this. I realize it is really disgusting. But more than that, it's downright weird. I am VERY confused. Maybe there's a scientist reading this who can either give me a good reason for my soup remaining soup for sixteen months, or tell me that it really is time I start buying Organic.

And speaking of going green, I have made The Big Switch from plastic to paper bags at the store. We've always saved and reused or plastic bags so I never felt bad getting them. But Karenin doesn't make a poo on her walks except for rare occasions (unlike Baxter who would ONLY poo on his walks, causing us to call around to our families for grocery bags on a number of occasions when we had run out) so we finally started throwing them away. Plus, I started really needing paper bags for a lot of different things. So I started asking for paper, and it's GREAT!! Not only do I now have a steady supply of paper bags under my laundry room shelf, but it's also amazing the way they pack them at the store--this week's groceries fit into THREE paper bags!! Last week's fit into only four!! This compared to the ninety-zillion plastic bags they give you is a real treat! So until we need plastic bags again (that'll be awhile) I am always asking for paper.

In other news, the palms of my hands and the bottom of my feet have begun itching like crazy. Maybe that same scientist who knows about immortal soups can answer questions on weird itching as well.

Today we went to my aunt's house for a little family get-together and my family members told me I don't look ready to have a baby. Great. Just when I'm beginning to feel like there never was a time during which I wasn't forty pounds over my normal weight, they tell me I just don't look big enough. *sigh*

...however, Martin thinks it'll come at any minute.

Though the storms today didn't do much to push me in that direction, so I am doubtful. I'll probably go two weeks late, have to be induced, and then have a c-section. That would be my luck!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Up and Running

Guess what happened last night? Martin moved furniture in the backroom and got the desktop computer set up complete with internet, meaning we can now upload pictures again! Not only that, but there now remains only ONE item on my list of "Things to Do Before Dinosaur #2 Arrives." And I think that will be getting taken care of today as well! How freeing it is to make that big fat line through all those listed obligations. *sigh* And because we are ABLE to upload pictures, how could I refuse to post a few of the ones I uploaded this morning?!?!?!
This is Anja on our rainy day walk.
CrazyFace, eating my slipper.

So cute in her little raincoat!!! And she loves eating cheerios out of the cupholder in her stroller! Although on this particular day, most of them ended up blowing away down the sidewalk.

Admiring herself in her raincoat...

Anja in the Hood

The day we decided not to wear pants!

A picture of what we do around here all day: Absolutely nothing. We mostly just lie on the floor.

Best friends... hunting.

Prancing.

"Gee, I hope none of my skinny friends see me eating this doughnut..."

This is the new baby's moses basket made all cuddly with its sheepskin. Anja climbed in and brought a lot of stuff along with her... you can't see but she also has a bunch of her Schleich animals and her blue ball, and possibly a few books, piled around her.

Best friends... snuggling.

Sharing her breakfast with some of her animal friends!

Back home after Laura's shower, reading books and eating bananas.
And that's it for today!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Cooler Ranch

Oh my gosh! Martin is such a loser! He seriously doesn't remember when Doritos were called "Cooler Ranch." How can someone forget something like that?!? Sadly, it seems Doritos have caught up with the times and now are just called "Cool Ranch" like everything else. I find this a little bit sad... but what can you do?

I got hooked up with some antibiotics for my yucky infection, which they finally called to inform me about after lunch today. Evidently my pee is infected. I don't know what this means, but as long as it goes away in the 5 days that I'm prescribed to take the antibiotic, I don't really care. It's been a very up-and-down thing... for awhile I feel sort of normal--or at least able to function--and then suddenly I'll feel like death again. It's strange! I've never had anything like this before. I'm glad Martin sent me to the doctor instead of me just waiting it out.

This weather! I love it! And they kept saying all day that it was going to rain this afternoon--ha! I picked Martin up from work (where Anja chased some geese!) because we were already out and about and instead of going home and making tuna casserole for dinner, we kind of skipped dinner to take a family walk instead. (well, Anja got dinner, but obviously she didn't get tuna casserole.) We walked over to Great Clips and Martin got his hair cut. It was such a wonderful evening and EVERYONE was out!

While we were out on our walk, my neighbor Tara called and said she was leaving a bowl of homemade spinach-artichoke dip on our porch. Hooray!! But now I have to go out and get some pita or chips or something so we have something to dip with it.

Part of me hopes that the long walk throws me into labor. Part of me really doesn't care one way or another. I'm not in a hurry anymore to have this baby out. I kind of don't care when it decides to show up. And if it decides to come within the next five days and my symptoms aren't gone yet, I'm definitely getting an epidural... I don't care what my opinions used to be, they've been thrown out the window. (That sounds like I judge people who get epidurals--I don't! I just have a problem with them for myself because of the obvious needle-in-the-back thing, and the possible headache afterward, and the risks involved, no matter how miniscule they are. However, I have to admit that feeling the spinal wear off after my c-section was one of the coolest feelings EVER.)

Anyway. Hopefully our desktop computer will get set up soon and then I'll be able to put pictures up again! Yay!

Enjoy the weekend, everyone. Remember, if I go into labor and you care to know before I get home, you can always check up on my sister Sarah's blog. Otherwise, have a great weekend! I'll be knitting, hoping to get Anja's flower toggle hat done before the baby arrives! I didn't make much progress today, sadly. I kind of spent my whole naptime cleaning instead. Boo.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Ew. Someone Had the Barfies.

It's been kind of a strange week. There isn't any baby, and at this rate, I don't really care if it comes two weeks late. On Tuesday I woke up with the barfies; I'm amazingly resilient to stomach bugs, which is awesome, so I was feeling pretty much back to normal by noon, but Martin still stayed home to pamper me all day and to entertain Anja. We both commented this morning on what a nice day that turned out to be!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday and birthday party at my sister's house in the evening. I took the cake (it was horribly ugly, so we ran to Rubia beforehand and covered it with flowers. Anything covered in flowers looks pretty!) and the guacamole, and Andrew made his awesome fish tacos. YUM! Unfortunately, Anja was a little on the grumpy side, mostly because she always is a little grumpy at that time of night. Oh well! She still loves seeing her crazy cousins. And it was a good time! I was feeling a little achy, but nothing too major.

But UGH, then I woke up this morning feeling like death! Martin told me to call the doctor, so I did and I saw the nurse practitioner in the afternoon. They didn't tell me much, only that it was probably leftover bug, but maybe a bladder infection or something (um, gross) so they did some checks and told me to call them tomorrow and tell me how I'm feeling. So I guess I'll do that. My mom was convinced I was just in labor, and I told her it didn't feel like that. Unfortunately, I'd made the mistake of admitting to her earlier that I didn't exactly remember what early labor felt like. So she was STILL convinced I was in labor until I was done at my appointment and called to tell her what was up and that no, I was not in labor. I think she'd even told my sister that I was. What a weirdo.

So aaaanyway.... that's all the gross stuff that's going on in this house. The NP seemed most concerned about my fever, but they gave me some Tylenol and told me to take my temperature in an hour and if it hadn't gone down to call--but it did go down, which I guess is good. So it looks like I'm not lying on Death's doostep, and I wouldn't mind if this baby didn't decide to come back until I'm feeling just a little bit back to my old self. Otherwise, I might just ask forget about having a natural birth and ask for a c-section... or at least an epidural.

So after the appointment I picked up Martin and we ate dinner at my parents' house because my mom had been watching Anja for me and the chicken I had set out for dinner at 9:00 this morning was still rock hard at 2:00 in the afternoon. When we got home it hadn't softened up much. I should've put it on the porch! I had no idea what a gorgeous day it was today!! Except for the wind, I guess... but even so!

Anja is so hilarious. Today she insisted on wearing her little froggy bathrobe over her clothes all day. She never took it off! Also, she's become really obsessed with q-tips. Eeeevery day she gets the box of q-tips out and empties them all over the bathroom floor (being sure to throw a few down the vent and a few into the toilet) and eeevery evening I pick them all up and put them back in the box so she can play her game again tomorrow. She loves them. She doesn't even do anything with them, she just likes to kind of throw them around, put them in weird places (like inside our shoes) and try to feed them to the animals.

She's also learned to get on an off of the kitchen chairs, which means she now eats her lunch at the big-person kitchen table instead of her little table. All of her animals are lined up and she feeds them all, then feeds herself each bite. It's VERY CUTE. And I've noticed that she eats a lot better being up at the real table--maybe it's because there are not so many visible distractions? I'm not sure, but she's doing really well with eating these last few days and I'm very happy about that.

Martin is back here working out right now and between his workout sets, he's moving stuff in the Big Room to try and get it in order. Tonight we followed a firetruck home and we were kind of hoping it was going to our house, that maybe our Back Room had burned down. What a blessing that would be! Then we wouldn't have to deal with all the junk and dirt that's back here! Unfortunately, they weren't coming to our house. Oh well, maybe next time.

Everyone should check out Martin's new blog!!!!! He still has his workout blog, but this one will probably be slightly more interesting to read. He recently made a special purchase for himself, something he's been wanting for a long, long time... and ever since then he's been singing the song "The Devil's Right Hand," which is a song that Kim sings. So I guess Martin not only has a new blog, but a theme song as well.

I feel like I've really fallen behind in my housework lately and it's bothering me. Mostly because I know there won't be much time to catch up after our new little critter arrives. Oh well.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

"Yum! I Love Cow! I'm So Glad I'm a Horse!"

One of the best things about having kids: playing with toys! The above is a quote from Martin tonight while he was playing with Anja's horses. I'd like to say that he was "playing horses with Anja" but Anja was just kind of watching him while he played with the horses by himself. I love being parents! It's so weird and fun! People who never hang around with kids don't know what they're missing out on... perfectly justifiable opportunities to make a fool of yourself. And the only difference between being a parent vs. being an aunt (or uncle, or nanny, or friend, etc.) is that you get to do it more often.

Sad news: Anja caught Martin's cold. I expect tonight and tomorrow to be the worst nights. She woke up pretty snotty and sneezy this morning and has only gotten sneezier and snottier throughout the day. She went down at her usual time but it's been a challenge to keep her asleep and she is very miserable. It'll be one of those nights where you just count the hours until morning.

She was in a great mood all day today though! And she took a super long nap (another clue that she wasn't feeling all that hot) then woke up exceptionally happy. Martin was gone for her nap--he went shooting guns with his friend Patrick from work. He was VERY excited to be doing this (excited, as in, he laid out all of his guns and gear the night before just to be sure he didn't forget something) but when he came home he didn't have much to say. I thought maybe something had happened and he hadn't had fun, but about an hour later he started talking about it and kind of never stopped. I asked him why he hadn't been this excited when he first got home, and he'd told me that he had been SO COLD that he could hardly function. I thought that was funny. And I was glad he was the one going out shooting and I was the one staying home and cozily knitting on the couch!!

Speaking of knitting.... oh. my. gosh. So, the hat I'm currently knitting for Anja is made in three pieces: two identical pieces that are sewn together to make the hat, and the flower toggle that gets attached to the top. I finished one piece of the hat today during her nap and was going to start the second one, but I looked at the pattern for the toggle and it looked pretty easy, so I went ahead and made it. !!! IT'S SO CUTE!!!!!!! I can't wait to get this hat done for her to wear. My only fear is that it might be a little small. I will DEFINITELY be posting pictures when I get it done. (If we ever get our laptop cleared off so I can upload them...)

Other than that our weekend has been pretty uneventful. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow so my germy mom is coming to our house to watch Anja. She had the flu last week and I think she's still carrying the germs around with her in her purse. I don't want Anja to get it, and Martin was going to stay home with her, but it was at a time that he couldn't be gone from the office. Sooo... we're hoping for the best.

I've been having tons of Braxton-Hicks contractions today. It's nothing--I had them like this with Anja too and it never meant anything--it's just REALLY annoying.

Oh! One more thing--I posted on Facebook that I was in the market for a sheepskin for the new baby. Shortly after posting that, my sister-in-law told me that she'd just run across one at their house that is Martin's from when he was little. She brought it over the other night and I worked yesterday and today on combing it out. It turned out looking GREAT!!! And it's sooooooooooooo poofy and soft. I love it. I kind of wish it were bigger so I could sleep on it. And I'm so happy that it was Martin's--it makes it seem so much more special to have our baby sleeping on something that it's daddy played with as a little boy than to just buy a new one off the internet. Combing it out was a pretty funny job... lots of little bits of leaves and grass and acorns and who knows what else from however many years ago came out of it. But it's in great shape and now it looks and feels like new. I put it in the moses basket and Anja climbed right in to enjoy it. Then Theodore climbed in too. I have a feeling it's going to be the most popular spot in the house for awhile!