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February 27, 2008
Disconnected
I have, so far, managed to stay within my weight gain goal for this pregnancy. I'm actually impressed, since it's not like I've been eating particularly well. My Sonic habit alone should be kicking my butt. Add that to my obsession with Cadbury Mini Eggs, and the fact that we keep M&M's around constantly to bribe Katie to use the potty. And the Valentine's candy. Oh, and Rex's birthday cake.
You can see why I'm surprised.
I spent my kids free hours today waiting at the rental house for the carpet cleaners to come. Not that they weren't well within their window, and once they got there, were quite quick. Too quick, in fact, to feel like I got what I was paying for. I mean, I'm sure I did, but since there was no furniture to move they arrived, cleaned, packed up and left in under 30 minutes.
Jamie is supposed to take a bug to school tomorrow. I had planned to look with her this afternoon, but I ended up saving my sanity by forcing a nap instead. By the time the girls woke up, they had to eat and run to TKD and didn't come home til well after bedtime. She and Rex remembered a (dead) grasshopper in the garage. I just went out to collect it. It's huge, nicely dead, and Rex ran over it's head when he brought the girls home. I'm not sending a juicy headless grasshopper to school with my kid. Unfortunately, it's cold outside, and not another bug to be seen.
Why is it that whenever you go into a salon to get, say, your lip waxed, they ask you if you want your eyebrows done? I don't think I've once gotten a lip wax without being asked as least once if I wanted my eyebrows done. I don't have faint line eyebrows, but it's not like I have fuzzy caterpillars crawling around up there.
Posted by me at 9:49 PM | Comments (1)
February 26, 2008
Time suck
One of the pitfalls of buying a new house is all the stuff you have to get to finish it off. After we moved into our first house, we spent more time in Home Depot and Lowe's than we did in the house for the first month or so, at which point we tapered off our visits to just once a week or so. When we moved out of that house, we jettisoned most of our home owner gear, so by the time we moved into our second house we were pretty much starting from scratch again. Luckily, we kept most of the stuff through our last three moves (I doubt the movers are as happy about this as I am), so we're just starting off with weekly visitation this time.
That said, I have now been to Lowe's and Home Depot this week. And yes, it is only Tuesday. At Home Depot, I went through the self check line and was accosted by the checkout lady who wanted to discuss her sister (in-law's?) potentially troubled pregnancy. Despite her incomplete grasp of English, I deduced that the unseen four month pregnant woman had had an amniocentesis. Because her baby wasn't moving. At four months? To see if her brain is ok. I'm still not sure why I needed to know this. Apparently it's imperative that as a pregnant woman myself, I must know about these things.
That was just weird. At Lowe's, I caused my own trouble. After two trips to the bathroom (yay potty training!) I found the towel rod I was looking for in a catalog and arranged to have it delivered, right to my very own house. We ran up to the checkout to pay, but as I was sliding the receipt into my purse, I found the 10% off coupon I've been hauling around. Since there was no one else checking out, I asked if I could still use it. Sure! All she had to do was return and re-ring up my purchase! Of course, that meant the people in the bath department had to cancel and reorder my part, which apparently took over half an hour. I'm not blaming them, I swear. I'm just saying that if I had known that it was going to take that long to save less than five bucks, I would have saved my coupon for my next purchase.
Posted by me at 7:40 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2008
Bruised, a little bloody, but not a single contraction
Not that I would recommend twisting an ankle and taking a fall at any time, but I definately don't suggest doing it 37 weeks pregnant. The gimpy walk I developed as I stiffened up over the day just makes me feel more self-conscious than usual, with my leading belly.
On the up side, the baby finally has a carseat installed just for him and the girls are thrilled with their new seating arrangement.
Posted by me at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2008
Brilliant
Keeping the cat locked in the bathroom so he doesn't pee in the new house, and so that he eats his super-special expensive food and not the regular stuff works a lot better when you remember to PUT HIM IN THE BATHROOM before you leave the house.
Posted by me at 8:26 PM | Comments (1)
The hardest part of moving
I was trying to figure out what to feed the girls for breakfast Friday morning before the movers came, and finally decided what the heck, they could have chocolate Pop Tarts. We were out of pretty much everything else, after all, since I'd been avoiding buying anything in an effort to move, well, less. Besides, it would be a special treat. After all, how often do we move?
And then I realized we move all. the. time. Four times in the last two years. That's twice a year. Other people spend their disposable income on DVD's or video games or nice vacations. We spend ours on closing costs and movers and utility deposits.
But the hardest part of moving? Reattaching the drying vent.
Posted by me at 1:03 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2008
We're mostly moved and all pooped.
Posted by me at 9:15 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2008
Temporarily smooth
I have pretty much given up shaving my legs for the last few months. Somehow the fact that reaching for my legs with the razor cuts off my supply of oxygen overrode my need for smooth legs. Today, however, I had to take my pants off for the doctor, and even though she's no hot stud, I felt the need to debristle.
As I was breathing heavily between sorties against the hair, it occurred to me that today was the last day I would have to try to fold myself in half to reach my ankles. The movers come for the furniture and heavy crap tomorrow, and tomorrow night we'll be sleeping in our new house. Not that we'll be done moving, by any means. We still have a lot of van loads of oddly-shaped, delicate, or just plain overlooked stuff that won't make it by tomorrow night, but the beds will be there, and I follow the comfort.
Posted by me at 8:45 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2008
Things I shoudn't have to say
"No touching anybody's nipples but your own!"
"And you didn't look to see if the van was in the way before you shut the garage door?"
"My cat is on anti-depressants. Hopefully he'll stop peeing on the carpet, now."
Posted by me at 7:23 PM | Comments (1)
February 11, 2008
By jove, I think she's got it!
This whole thing happens while I'm in the shower.
Katie comes running in butt naked.
"I went pee pee in the potty, Mama!"
"Good job!"
"I get M a M!"
She runs off with the cup of M&M's.
A couple minutes later, she comes running back in, still naked.
"I did a pooper in the potty, Mama!"
"Great job!"
"You need to wipe me, Mama!"
"Can you try to wipe yourself?"
"OK."
She runs off.
A couple minutes later, she runs back in, still naked, carrying a piece of toilet paper.
"I wiped myself real good, Mama!"
"Great job! Now can you go get dressed?"
"OK!"
Posted by me at 12:25 PM | Comments (1)
He who shall remain nameless
Well, I'm now past 35 weeks, and I still don't have a name, or even a list of possible names, for this kid. In fact, I still refer to him as "she" frighteningly often. I still dream about him being a girl. I *know* he;s a boy, I really do. I accept it. I've been buying boy clothes to make it more real. But I can't seem to convince my subconscious.
I'm starting to get desperate. I don't want to go home with "Baby Boy," I don't want to call and email family and friends after the birth and tell them we have a new bundle of joy, and no, I don't know what we're going to call him. Unfortunately, desperation isn't leading to inspiration. Rex hasn't been a whole lot of help, either. I think I spoiled him by coming up with the girls' names on the first shot. We didn't really argue or discuss, we never even considered boys names and we always went with my first idea. I guess I'm spoiled, too.
Posted by me at 12:22 PM | Comments (1)
February 8, 2008
My inner Martha
Posted by me at 7:49 PM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2008
Curious George Bush
Posted by me at 8:22 PM | Comments (0)
Or maybe a close relative
We were at Barnes & Noble today, where there was a big display of Curious George dolls. Katie walked over to them and got all excited.
"Look Mama!"
"Who is that?"
"It's George Bush!"
Posted by me at 8:15 PM | Comments (0)
February 6, 2008
It's all good
Jamie still had a fever when I put her to bed last night, 103 when I checked it when I went to bed. I gave her some Tylenol and gave up hope of having both kids go to school for the day. She woke up cool, but acting uncharacteristically low. I was expecting the fever to come back at any minute. Instead, her funk wore off and she went from asking to stay home to being excited to go to school. Her fever has yet to reappear.
I was relieved, for several reasons. I mean, of course I was happy that my girl felt better. And also happy that I would be able to run the errands I had lined up for yesterday. Also important, though, is that Katie had her first non-crying drop-off this week, since her first two days. And when Jamie wasn't feeling well, Katie was talking about how *she* didn't feel well, so she could stay home, too. I really didn't want to try dropping Katie off without her beloved sister, since I'm sure that would cause some serious tears and trauma.
So I got lucky. Both girls went to school. Both were happy about it. I didn't get any calls from the school, telling me to take my sick kid back. Things got done.
Posted by me at 9:12 PM | Comments (0)
Before the storm
Posted by me at 9:04 PM | Comments (0)
February 5, 2008
Feline Yin and Yang
Posted by me at 8:21 PM | Comments (0)
Topsy turvy
This has been a weird day. Jamie woke up with a good fever, but acting on the happy, perky side of normal. Katie was perky and happy, too, and NOT sick. I felt like crap, probably because I barely slept last night. The day started in the 60's and went up from there. Then Katie turned into a teary crank. Jamie's energy ran down. We watched a movie, had some lunch and then spent a few minutes outside, enjoying the sunny 70's. I started feeling better. They were obviously winding down. I put them to bed, and they both fell asleep. Then the storm hit. Pea sized hail, high winds, we've dropped 25 degrees so far. I wonder what this evening will bring?Posted by me at 3:03 PM | Comments (0)
February 4, 2008
The sick has arrived
Jamie is going to miss her first day of school tomorrow. She complained that she didn't feel good "in her head" this afternoon, and fell asleep on the couch just before dinner. The nap alone wouldn't have tipped me off, but her behavior beforehand did. The child never lays on the couch for more than 30 seconds at a time unless something is wrong.
She seemed much better after a two hour nap, hungry, perky, and cool to the touch once again. I thought we might get lucky.
And we did. She made it to linoleum before she lost dinner.
Posted by me at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)
Shadows and light
Posted by me at 8:23 PM | Comments (0)
February 2, 2008
I finally did something right!
We told Jamie that we had bought a new house that we would be moving into soon. She'd been through this particular house plenty of times, but I guess not recently enough to have made an impression. We took the first load of stuff over yesterday, and as we pulled into the garage, she said, "Mama! This was just the house I wanted!"
Posted by me at 9:34 AM | Comments (0)
Insomnia
No, not me. Well, mostly.
Katie's sleep schedule has been driving us nuts for the last couple weeks. She's been pretty consistant for quite some time, sleeping in til 7, give or take. She won't nap consistently, but seems to give in and take one when she really needs it, at least a couple times a week.
The past, oh, two weeks I guess, she's been getting up about an hour early, saying she needs to go potty. I'm thrilled she's taking to this potty thing, but, uh, lets get good at making it during the day before we start waking people up to go at night! Especially since she's refusing to fall back asleep after. And she's not making up for less sleep at night by napping, either, so she just get progressively more tired and cranky as the week goes on. Add in the night terrors or nightmares or screaming fits, whatever they are, that she's had the last three days or so, and we're all starting to feel a little cranky. Last night we had the screaming thing, then a non-potty early morning wake-up that I thwarted, and she still woke up before 7.
It's been a loud morning.
There's a lot going on around here: potty training, moving, new baby, preschool. All great things, but I imagine they're wreaking havoc with my girls.
Posted by me at 9:16 AM | Comments (0)
February 1, 2008
Just ducky
Posted by me at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)