Under the Weather Again

Sometime in my first trimester, I came down with a nasty headcold that just wouldn't quit and kept me at home for several days. Now, as I am coming into the home stretch I am hit with another nasty head cold. I figured it would be a nice way to come full circle with the pregnancy. Unfortunately, due to my impending leave and the tons of things to accomplish, I haven't been able to stay home. Although, I have to admit that I have not been really productive at work - mostly just holding the warm tea mug to my cheeks and wishing the time to go faster. I hate colds. They suck. They just hang around and there is nothing you can do to make them go away. Blah.

But, even in the midst of this temporary misery, I am feeling really good about our preparations for the baby. The nursery is ready with a month to spare and there are only a few more immediate necessities to pick up - like diapers. I still can't believe how soon this baby will be here, though. I have been making plans for things to do in March and it is dawning on me how little time there is left. And I have been having silly thoughts lately, like, 'the next time I buy toothpaste I will be somebody's mom.' At this point, it's just a waiting game to ride out the last weeks of pregnancy.

Parental Advisory

The other day I had the joy of riding shot gun with Marni. I was even luckier to be serenaded with some of Levi's favorite songs. I browsed the CD cases to educate myself on the music. To my surprise (and joy!) there were several selections by some of my favorite artists. O.A.R., Cake and Bare Naked Ladies, just to name a few. These are groups I've been listening to for years. Listening to these voices brought back visions of various concerts and college memories. Had you told me 10 years ago that I'd be listening to Cake on a children's CD, I would have laughed in your face. These are life's little surprises. What is even more surprising? I actually enjoyed the songs! I'm going to have to keep these CD's in mind for future baby gifts, perhaps. Check 'em out for yourself, 'For the Kids' and there are a few volumes, maybe more. Don't worry though, you can still catch the grown up versions in my ride!

jealous already

this morning, i was wrapping a baby gift for a friend, and levi was sitting next to me watching.

he picked up an article of clothing and said "i want this".
and had big wet tears when i told him it was not for him, it was for a baby.

then he saw a stuffed animal for fiffy-fiffy given to us by a friend, and he took that and held on, saying "this is mine".
again, i explained the stuffed animal was for fiffy-fiffy and that fiffy-fiffy will be getting some news toys and books and clothes.
I also told him that when levi was a baby, he got a lot of new toys and clothes too.
but he did not like that answer. he just cried and cried and cried.

now jeff and i are starting to realize what we are in for....

its hard to make a two year old understand what is going on, and although we are trying really hard to prepare him as much as possible, there is definitely going to be some jealousy....

i guess we're going to have to go out and get levi a whole bunch of new stuff too to help him get over all the gifts for the baby....

any suggestions/thoughts from people out there that have more than one child?

hiccups

i never felt hiccups when i was pregnant with levi.....

and today- hiccups! lots of them! little rhythmic blips that lasted about 15 minutes this afternoon, and started again before dinner....

its cute!

now all i picture is a little drunken sailor hiccupping away in my belly....

I feel like all I do is complain....

I have to change that!!! Why do I complain so much???
So, I should start with the good stuff. My friend vanessa came to visit a few weeks ago and gave me a wonderful birthday present of "shea cashmere bath products" from bath and body works....ever since I told her I was having a problem with keeping clean and taking showers, she has been laughing and thinking it is really funny, and gave me this gift as kind of an incentive to "be clean".
well, it worked!!!! the stuff smells like butterscotch or burnt sugar and smells so yummy i want to eat it or lick it! and im taking a shower everyday (mostly!).
I also indulged a little and bought archipelago "morning mint" lotion from joseph beth and moisturize my skin in the morning after my shower, and i feel lady like and girly and clean and happy!!!! what happened???? im liking my new girliness.....now i just have to get up the energy to actually shave my legs....
now the other stuff.....my legs are one to start- they look like elephants. im really swollen with pitting edema (when you press your finger in, an indentation stays there) up to my knees....this is what happened last time when my blood pressure started to rise....so, off to the OB i went, and yep- i was right- blood pressure is up....so, now im taking my blood pressure a couple times per day, and when it gets too high, that means im done working....
so, ive made some changes at work to allow myself more sitting time and less movement....and hopefully the changes allow me to work up until the baby arrives.....but we'll see!!!! im keeping march 20th on my calendar...and i want to make it all the way there....
we have lots to do before the baby comes and i feel like time is running out. and jeff just realized (i hadnt even thought about it either!) that there are still some things we need to get before the new baby comes.....like a diaper bin and a double stroller and some other little things...and we need to figure out who we lent all of our bouncers to and get all levi's old baby stuff out of the basement....
ok, marni, stop thinking.....the thinking and thinking and thinking is causing stressing and stressing and stressing which is causing my blood pressure to rise. i think it would be nice to go to sleep and wake up having it all done for me! what i would do for a genie in a bottle right now.

Baby Head and Baby Feet

I got to meet with my OB yesterday and after some pushing around, she was able to determine that the baby is definitely sideways. And, the reason for all the pain I have been having is that there is a hard little head pusing on the ligament on my left side. So, the aches and pains that have come with the stretching of the ligament are just seriously intensified because there is extra pressure on it. I just have to keep changing position when it gets bad. But something else is that baby B does not like to stay curled up all the time. I have been feeling kicks so far to the right side that they are practically in my back. The OB says the baby is just stretching out (gee, thanks).

All in all the doctor was pleased because the baby is starting to move in the right direction for delivery!

Baby Furniture Has Arrived!!

Friday moring, right on time, our baby furniture was delivered. It was a really exciting moment because, even though we painted and had our area rug down, the baby's room still just felt like "a room". Now, the furniture is in and looks fantastic. Now, we have "a nursery." Although the only thing "baby" about it at this point is the crib, that's fine with me. It feels low key and relaxing and that is exactly what we were going for. The dogs caught the relaxed vibe too, I think. We let them in yesterday and they just sniffed around and then stretched out on the rug. We have a crib, a dresser/changing table, and SUPER comfy gliding/swivelling stuffed chair and ottoman. We picked up a floor lamp and small table lamp and now all we have to do is put up the artwork. Future plans include putting up shelves that we have, and cubby-type book/toy shelves but those won't be needed right away.

In other news, this baby is still laying SIDEWAYS and, let me tell you, there really isn't sufficient room left to be in that position. Most of the time I have a hard little head in my side. I have been in particularly "uncomfortable" pain since last Friday that goes down to my knees. Luckily, I see the doctor today and while she probably won't do anything to fix the situation, I can at least bring it to her attention to make sure there isn't a problem. At this point, I am starting to look forward to the finish line because things are beginning to get pretty uncomfortable on a regular basis.

Less than 7 weeks left at this point!

Funny Story...

Several weeks ago Matt and I were out and about running errands. At Lowe's they had a display at the end of one aisle with some type of construction worker toy set, complete with hard hat, tool belt and all the necessary construction worker tools. This would be awesome for Levi! I pointed my find out to Matt who looked at the set, looked back at me and said, 'Levi is way too young for that' I looked at Matt, looked back at the toy set, 'Get out of here, it's perfect for Levi'. I marched right over to the display and plucked a package from the grouping. There on the back, in big letters, 'Ages 7+' I obviously have no idea what is age appropriate. Maybe I should leave the toy selections to Matt from now on.

Two Big Projects Down

Today was a very busy day in the Botnick house. We finally got to tackle two big projects we really needed to get to before baby B arrives. Thanks to my mom and her husband, we were able to accomplish both of them in a single day.

The first project was painting the baby's room. I am very meticulous about painting, so I carefully tape all of the woodwork off and the ceiling edge against the wall so that we have nice clean lines. As I did that, Bobby moved all of the furniture out of the room. Then my mom arrived, we put down the drop cloths and got to work. I got edge out the room (which I love to do) while Bobby and my mom's husband rolled the walls. And lucky for us it was plenty warm enough to open and window and let the fumes out. After two coats of paint, I pulled down the tape and pulled up the drop clothes. Then, I got to test out my awesome new floor scrubber (which I LOVE) and cleaned the nursery floor with my magic mix of white vinegar and hot water. The room looks fantastic. I also put the crib mattress in there to air out and tomorrow we'll lay out the new area rug to do the same. Our furniture gets delivered in a week and we'll be practically set! I am psyched to see it finished!

While all of this was going on we were actually able to multi-task a second project - removing the shower doors in our guest bathroom. We plan on using this bathroom with the baby because it is bigger and has a tub while our master bath only has a shower. The only problem is that it had these big doors that just weren't going to work if I plan on bathing a child in there. The doors were framed with 2x4s with tile facade, and this really ugly scalloped border. We were able to get all of that down, scrape off the leftover apoxy, fill and sand problems areas and paint. Then, we hung a really nice curved curtain rod and a nice new shower curtain. It looks great and seems to really open up the bathroom. Plus, the major eyesore of the scalloped border is blissfully behind us.

I feel so relieved that these projects are complete because I knew they were going to be the most time intensive and I was worried they just weren't going to get done. And it was REALLY nice to have my mom and her husband help us out - they seem to know how to do absolutely any household project, so Bobby and I always try to learn new things from them when they come over. Now, we only have little projects left, including finishing the art project for the baby's room.

We're getting closer!!!

Lamaze: Bobby is Having a Baby Too!

Tonight was our very first lamaze class. I don't have specific plans or goals for the birth (other than that everyone makes it through safely and that I can avoid surgery or vacuum). However, I have always thought that I would like to try and labor as long as I feel able to naturally, then get an epidural so I can rest up for the big push. Who knows, I may decide that the doctor should meet me at my car to start pumping the drugs. On the other hand, I may find that I want to take it natural all the way. Since I would like to experience labor, I thought it would make sense to take a Lamaze class. Plus, I heard great stories from Marni about the great people she met and the friends she made.

So we went. We had our two pillows, our blanket, and our very active fetus baby with us. After some ice breakers we split the men from the women and I learned that just about everyone else in the class lives far away - Newbury, Concord, Macedonia, etc. Also, some people aren't even due until the end of May, which I found surprising. We actually have the earliest due date in the class. And while I don't know that I will have Marni's good fortune, it was nice to commiserate with other first time pregnant ladies and I think Bobby had a nice time talking to other first-time almost dads.

But the highlight of the evening was when the instructor said to the men "who would like to feel what it is like to be pregnant?" Just who do you think raised his hand right away? That's right, my husband. I am not sure if he was just curious, of if he wanted to see if it really is as challenging as I tell him. Either way, he got a big belly (with big boobs) strapped onto him. Then the instructor had him try and pick something up off the floor, and simulated what it is like to try and get comfortable at night and constantly have to change positions. I think he got the point. The only problem was that the instructor wouldn't let him take it off! She kept telling him - you're not due yet, sorry. At first it was funny, but then it got obnoxious and a little absurd. Even when we got to the relaxation at the end, he wasn't allowed to take it off so he really couldn't do the things she was instructing the coaches to do. But overall, I think he has a new appreciation for my situation. Plus, we got a "belly-to-belly" photo of the two of us which is funny.

can i complain for a minute?

my lower back hurts.....
thats how it started at least....

i felt like i was walking funny at work this morning, like my belly was sticking out extra far, and i just couldnt straighten out my back...and i didnt understand it because nothing really hurt...

then, as the day went on, the sides of both of my legs went totally numb to the knees, and my lower back started to hurt...

now, im hunched over as i walk and it is getting worse....

im done complaining....now i just ask for some suggestions- HELP! I NEED TO GET BETTER QUICK!!!