Jeremiah's Favorite Vids

In case you were curious, and to save me some trouble when he wants to sit on my lap and watch Youtube videos. So here we go!

A classic--Dramatic Prairie Dog. Makes Jeremiah laugh everytime!

Laughing Baby--Yet another vid that makes Jeremiah crack up. Always good for those "grumpy" moments.

Numa Numa--This is a recent hit with Jeremiah. Before the Weezer video, he could care less about it. But now, he's even got his own little "Numa Numa Dance" that he does when it comes on. I'll have to try to get it on camera sometime... it's so funny!

Sneezing Panda--Yup, another laugh-inducing video. I love how they're so simple, and he just loves them! Of course, we have to say, "God Bless you!" everytime! :)

Talking Cats--This one and the next one... I don't get it, but Jeremiah thinks they're hilarious. :)

'Twas the night before 39 weeks...

...and all through the house,
Jess was constantly stirring.... since it's impossible to get comfortable nowadays.

Well, so much for rhyming. :) I tried.

And life goes on. In case you were wondering, nope, no baby yet (I know there's at least one or two peoples out there who say to themselves, "I wonder if she had the baby yet, and just hasn't had a chance to post?????" I assure you, you'll know when she arrives. Last time, I was blogging during contractions, so yeah, you'll have the heads up. :)

Yup, tomorrow we're 39 weeks. I don't know what I was expecting, really. I mean, Jeremiah didn't come until his due date, and the average subsequent child comes only 4 days earlier. That would put us on Thursday.... which would mean either Jeremy or Liz would probably win the baby poll (unless they're wayyyyy off on weight and height.... haha, they're almost exactly the same guesses, just a few hours apart. Well, guess it'll be a tight race!) If she wants to be like her big brother and show up on her due date, we'd have a three way tie going, with, I'm guessing, Audrey, our birth assistant winning it all (very close times, but varying weights... I think I may have been off with my lower estimate, but we'll see!) And that's as far ahead as I'm going with the baby poll! Personally, I'm pulling for Sunny to win.... because she guessed tomorrow. :) Although, I'd rather wait 'til Tues or Wed, since the midwives on call for tomorrow are not my first choices. I mean, I'll be glad to have any of 'em catch her, if it means she comes sooner, but if I could choose, I'd rather not have a certain midwife, just because she's been the least friendly to me (though I would still take her over my old OB, anyday!) Hey, when you've got 5 to choose from, you can hope for things like that. Worked out well last time!

THANKFULLY, I think the little girl is finally "stuck". I don't remember if I blogged about it before, but late last week and earlier this week, she started flipping sideways every now and then, only to flip back, head down (though sometimes "sunny side up") a few hours later. This freaked me out, obviously, as you can't push a baby out sideways... It caused quite a bit of stress in my life (added to the stress caused by the whole "IV" thing) and made me pretty miserable. But as of our last appointment, she was definitely head down (though not engaged, which is fine... Jeremiah wasn't either until my water broke,) and she hasn't moved since then. So I think she's finally stuck. Or her head is finally too big to move (maybe it'll be as big as Jeremiah's--15 inches... see, it's not the 10 lbs, 11 oz that makes things difficult--it's the fat head. :) Of course, if 12 minutes of pushing is difficult, then bring it on!)

Other than that, life is good. Well, sorta. Jeremiah's got a cold, still (I'm guessing it's a cold...) and has been running a low-grade fever for the past few days. Tried Tylenol, that didn't help, so we're on to Motrin. While that doesn't seem to really bring down the fever, it does seem to improve his mood, so it's helping at least in that regard. My poor baby. Aside from that, though, life is okay. I'm tired of being pregnant, but at least we know, at most, there's only 3 more weeks! Umm... let's change that to 21 days... doesn't sound so bad. :) I'm trying to keep my plate full, so to speak, to help move things along. Next week (first of Sept.) will be the toughest, probably... I don't have anything going on--our small group will be on hiatus (a.k.a. dissolved....) and our chiropractor is on vacation (not that I live my week to go to the chiropractor, but it's something to do...) so all I'll have is my Birthcare appointment (that takes an hour to drive to, in rush hour traffic,) and.... well, that's it. Kids are back in school, so it'll be pretty quiet. Guess I'll have to take Jeremiah to the mall, get a frappuccino, and let him run around the play area or something. There are three malls within 15-20 minutes, so I guess we'll just make the rounds each day. Or something. Maybe we'll have a baby by then and it won't really matter..... (Oh, Lord, please... help a sister out! :)

We're done with all of our projects, now. I'm glad, and also a little disappointed... Disappointed because now after Jeremiah goes to bed for the night, Jeremy and I just sit around and do nothing... there's just nothing to do. Well, we could be cleaning something, sure, but there's only so much cleaning I can stand in one day. So usually I'm bored. Bored bored bored. I can only read the news, check Slickdeals, and Craigslist for so long, and then it's boring. So then I want to go to bed at 10 (early for us, since we're used to Jeremiah not even falling asleep 'til 9:30, despite us putting him down by 8:30.) When we do go to bed early, I wake up early, which makes for a really tiring morning. All in all, it's a lose-lose situation for me either way. C'mon Jess Jr! Time to be born already!

Life's not all bad, though! I hate posting just one negative thing after another, so here's the chipper side of things: our garden is finally growing! lol, It only took 'til the end of August, but we should have some ripening tomatoes soon, and there's at least one decent size cucumber on the vine! Woo hoo! There are a few other "mystery" plants starting to produce stuff, but we're not sure what it'll be... Only time will tell. But that's been exciting.

Got to see my uncle and his fiance over the weekend. They're getting married in October (awww... Jess Jr will be so tiny! Probably only a month old, at the most!) here in VA, so they came to finalize some wedding details. Surprisingly, Jeremiah went right to both of them! We walked in the house, and my uncle went up to him to say hi, and he put his arms up to be picked up! Weird. Cute, but weird. He's usually more apprehensive around "strangers", but hey, progress made. Then, we went down to the pool where my Dad and Fabienne were hanging out. Jeremiah was pretty anxious to get in the water (only so he could climb out and climb back in... it's his favorite thing to do, hang out on the steps...) so Grandpa and Grandma took him in for a few minutes. At one point, though, he slipped and fell right in front of Fabienne, and raised his arms to her to be picked up (despite the fact that Mommy was just a few feet away.) Awww....

Okay, that was pretty gross... We've started letting Big Fella outside again, since he's thoroughly vaccinated now, and well recovered from his little injury a few months back. So he went outside this evening, and showed up a few minutes ago, wanting to come inside. Jeremy opened the door, and we heard this really loud buzzing sound... "What the heck...." Turns out, he'd caught a cicada, and the thing was chirping and buzzing away in his mouth! Ewww! He then proceeded to spit it out a few times, trying to get downstairs (so he could play with it? wash it down with a drink afterwards? I dunno...) Jeremy finally got him, and his "pet/dinner" back outside where Big Fella proceeded to chomp down mercilessly on the helpless bug. Buzz no more, it did!

So gross.

Not as gross as when he ran in the house back in Tysons with, at three different times, a bird, a mouse, and a baby rabbit all dead in his mouth. Don't let his "innocent" face fool ya.... that cat is a full blown carnivore... Maybe he'll take out the ground hog that's been eating our garden, next... One can hope, but I think that may be asking too much--that guy's pretty big, after all.

Alright. That's a good update, I think. So yeah, just keep checking in here for news! You'll be the first to know that way. :) Have a great week, everyone!

This is neat.

Ran across this while flipping through a baby magazine. It's called "Cozy Wedge" and it's an alternative to the crib bumper.

From their website:

Traditional crib bumpers look great, but they have drawbacks. Some safety organizations say padded bumpers pose a SIDs risk. They can also help babies climb out of a crib. Plus, they make changing the sheets a big hassle!

CozyWedge bumpers fit snugly around the crib, won't slip down and are easy to remove for sheet changing. They cushion the crib for your baby but they have a safer, firm surface that won't form a pocket around a baby's mouth and nose. The shock-absorbing foam is the same foam used in swimming noodles, and is totally nonabsorbent, CFC-free and odorless. The slipcovers are completely washable.

If I hadn't spent 4 hours a month ago sewing a new cover for a hand-me-down crib bumper, I would so pick one of these up! They are a little pricey ($60), but I think it's worth it. They have a bunch of cool patterns and colors, so there's something for everyone. I think it's only available for purchase via their website at the moment, though (well, and a few boutique baby stores, nowhere near us.) Ah, I'll give it some time--maybe by #3, there will be a few copycats at a more justifiable price (or someone will get it for us, since by #3, we really won't need ANYTHING, 'cept for a babysitter, every now and then.)

Cool indeed.

Ah well...

Today's been a busy day.

Jeremiah and I headed off to my Mothering Matters small group, first thing this morning. I wasn't quite "all there" though. Didn't sleep well, and one of the first things Jeremiah did was knock over my freshly poured glass of orange juice--all over a white carpet! Thanks, Jeremiah... Needless to say, I was a bit distracted the rest of the group. And tired. You know how your body just hurts when you've slept too long? Just aches and pains all over, when you should feel your best, bright and refreshed? Yeah, that was me this morning, after sleeping for 8.5 hours. And of course, I could have slept longer. So I've given up trying to go to bed early anymore... There's no point. At least when I only sleep 6-7 hours, I feel okay when I wake up. There's always that afternoon nap to finish off what I missed during the night.

After group, we went to lunch with "Miss" Liz and Rachel, where Jeremiah proceeded to throw more things on the floor, including his shoes. The kid has no problem kicking them off when he's in a shopping cart, or high chair, but ask him to remove them upon entering the house, and he'll struggle all afternoon until you come to his rescue. I was definitely ready to go by the time our server brought our check back. In my haste to leave, though, I left his stacking cups on the table (it was a bit chaotic... our server didn't do a very good job clearing stuff away after it was empty... why I still tipped him well, I dunno... guess it's a habit.) They were only a buck, so I guess it's no biggie. Just kinda annoying that I have to get another set when this one was only a few days old. But I digress...

Tried to nap when Jeremiah napped, but didn't have a very successful time at that. Guess it was from all that sleep last night. :) At least Jeremiah got a decent nap in. Lately, he's been sleeping only an hour or so, when he normally sleeps 2-3. So today was nice... I just wish I had done more with that time he was asleep. And if I had found something else to do, I would have wished I'd napped instead. Quite the problem to have, eh? :)

Jeremy came home, we did stuff, blah blah blah. We'll just skip to the end--all this so I can get to the main topic of my post: the spa is only 85 degrees. Yup. That's it. Apparently, it turns off after a certain amount of time... I'm not sure exactly how much time, but this is a fact I was familiar with. I just wish I had remembered, so I could turn it back on before it started getting cold. It heats the water about a degree an hour, so by tomorrow it'll be back up to where it needs to be. But for tonight, no relaxing in the spa for me. BOO!! I was really looking forward to it. Sewed some diapers tonight, and after leaning over a sewing machine (while sitting on the "comfortable for 30 minutes, no more" dining room chair) I was ready to relax in the spa for a few minutes before bed. But alas, it was not meant to be.

The great irony in all of this would come with a surprise appearance tonight by Jess Jr. That would be "perfect", wouldn't it? Go through all this trouble of buying/setting up/maintaining a portable spa, only to have it be of little use for its main purpose--a midwife's "epidural". Actually, tomorrow night would be perfect timing for her to arrive. The spa will be warm again, and Marsha will be on call. Though the midwife on call right now, Regina, is working with the new midwife, Sheila, whom I like very much (based on my few conversations with her, at least.) So that wouldn't be bad. But the spa's not warm yet, and by the time it is, they may be at another birth, which would mean we'd get the backup, of whom I'm not that fond. In the end, though, it probably won't matter which midwife we get. After all, they're here to support me, and criticism doesn't help labor progress (not that they've been critical, really, it's just perceptions and tone from the past that I've been less than thrilled with.)

Anyways, I've kinda given up hope for a birth this week. I think next week is more likely. And that's okay. She's going to come when she's ready to come, even though I'd love for her to come earlier. And I just don't have the energy/drive to try the top two natural labor inducers (I'll let you look 'em up....) So we'll wait, and hope she at least comes by her due date. If she doesn't... well, ask me about it then. I'd rather not go there right now. :) Let's just hope and pray that Grandma's guess is WAYYY off! And while we're at it, Ali/Chris, and Harmony, too. What're you trying to do to me???? :)

Okay... I'm pretty tired now, so off I go! What's the forecast for tomorrow... High of 82?! That's it?! Well, I'm not driving out to Warrenton to go swimming in low 80's temps... Good day to walk to the farm, though! The Farmer's Market will be up and running. We'll see. Could be nice. Doesn't look like very much hot weather from here on out--most highs in the low-mid 80's, one or two days in the high 70's??!! Maybe I typed in "Calgary, AB" instead of "Herndon, VA".... Oh, nope, nevermind, their highs are in the more "seasonal" range the next 10 days (though 59 for a high in August just seems weird... But then again, weather is a strange thing...) I guess fall wants to come a little early this year, since spring decided to start back in March! Geez, I hope this doesn't mean a frigid winter ahead of us... I prefer the more mild types (and no snow after Christmas. Up til then, no problem. But that's it!)

What was I talking about?? Oh yeah, going to bed. G'night!

Yay!

All done!

Finally, after weeks of planning and and working, we have finished our bedroom!

Well, not quite entirely... I still need to put some curtains up, and maybe get some art up as well. But for now, it's done.

Many thanks to my awesome parents, who gave up their Saturday to come help us do the last bit! It partially my Moms fault, anyways, that it took so long. I had a mediocre plan of attack, she had a much for fancy solution. Of course, fancy always takes a little more work, but we were able to pull it off! YAY!

We've also finished the nursery. Not that it was waiting for a lot, but we had to wait for a mattress from my parents (which my Mom and I picked up today while my Dad and Jeremy went to Home Depot for bed stuff.) Once we had that, we could pick out a skirt for the crib, and set it all up! It looks so cute! But, no pics right now, because we also set up the spa in there, and it doesn't look good. Functional, yes, but I'll be glad when the birth is over and we can move it out.

It is nice for right now, though! Jeremy and I have been in it a couple of times, and it's so much nicer than the Aqua Doula we had last time. For one thing, because it's inflatable, it's way more comfortable than sitting on the floor. There's a bottom cushion, and the sides are cushioned, so I can actually hang on to the sides during contractions this time, instead of using a pool noodle. Also, it's heated (the Aqua Doula only maintained heat, it didn't heat it up,) which is very nice, indeed. But yeah, it's ugly. :)

Well, Michael Phelps is about to try for his 8th Gold right now, so I'm gonna go. But before I do, I just wanted to say we had a nice date last night. :) The "Friday Night Date Nights" are on, and last night, we had dinner at Ruth's Chris (thanks to some credit card points that I won't be accumulating anymore of...) We even PAID someone to watch Jeremiah (well, sit here and make sure he slept soundly, at least...) which is a first. But it was a nice time. And boy was it a good meal. YUMMY! We had the mixed grille, which had a 4 oz filet, crab cake and chicken breast (among other stuff, but that was the main stuff.) The filet and crab cake were AWESOME! The chicken breast... eh, meh. Coulda done without. But yes, it was all delicious, and we were both SUPER STUFFED when we left. It was just nice to get out and enjoy a nice meal without Jeremiah. We'll have to come up with something else yummy and fun for next week (if there's no baby...) but it'll be tough to top that!

Okay, time to go. :) Thanks again to my parents for all their help (and all the baby stuff!!) My to-do list just got a lot shorter (just need to finish fixing all my diapers!)

Cat Eating Spaghetti

Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard when I saw this...

Unfortunately, the hysteria did not cause my water to break. But the clip is still funny!

Take it, Joel McHale!!

Whatcha doin', Jemiah??

I'm not sure if he's doing his "Daddy at Work" impression, or his "Daddy *ahem* 'at Work'" impression... if ya know what I mean. :) Either way, like how he learned to use his Sit n' Spin as a stool (thanks to Uncle Stephin....) Not the surest footing, but it sure is cute (until he tries get off and it spins out from underneath him...)

Can ya tell he wasn't thrill that I interrupted him? Guess he was "busy". Mommy's bad! :)

No baby yet.

I know, we've only been full term a couple of days. I wasn't expecting a baby by now--maybe hoping, but not expecting. But I have to preface our posts with that now, since I know there are people who will see a new post and automatically assume that it means baby time! I can't even call my Mom anymore without her asking, "What's happening?!" as soon as she answers. Oi... it's going to be a long three weeks. :)

And wouldn't ya know it, now that we're full term, no action, whatsoever! Aside from the "contractions" I kept waking up to Sunday night (we still weren't 'technically' full term at the time... well, I guess we kinda were, but not really... anyways,) nothing's been going on. Even the braxton hicks have backed off! What gives?! And before, I couldn't carry a load of laundry without cramping up, and today, we walked to the park, and nothing! I haven't been able to walk to the park in a month, because I would get so achy and crampy! I don't know if it's that my body is just "getting used to being pregnant" and that's why it's been so "quiet" or if it's the calm before the storm... Only time will tell! I just find it odd that I've been miserably uncomfortable the past couple of months, and now when it's expected, it's almost non-existent (comparitively speaking... maybe I'm the one getting used to it...)

I guess that's good. I've been blah long enough. Might as well enjoy the time I have left--I do feel much less stressed about it, now that she can come anytime. Before, there was always that worry that she would want to come early, which would mean going to the hospital. But now, she's safe whenever she's ready! So I can focus on other things rather than "why did that hurt? what did that mean?" etc, etc.

There has been a little hiccup that I'm really irritated about... One of my tests came back "positive" which now means I'll have to have an IV during labor and delivery, so I can have antibiotics. BOOOO!!!!! Part of the whole reason I wanted to have a homebirth (back when we decided to go that route with Jeremiah) was because I didn't want to have a needle stuck in my hand the whole time! So much for that. It's not like I'll be stuck to the whole thing, though. They'll put it in, and get the antibiotics going for the first 20 minutes, and then that's it until 4 hours later (never made it that long with Jeremiah.) But still... I've had an IV in before, and it's no fun! I know all the other Moms who had hospital births are probably thinkin', "Oh please, suck it up." :) Yeah, I know, I'm being a baby about it, but what can I say... You have this vision of what your birth is going to be like (in my case, I imagine it will be very similar to Jeremiah's) and then someone throws a wrench in your plans... Yeah, if I were in a hospital, it wouldn't be a big deal--that's just the way they do things. But because IV's aren't normally part of the homebirth procedure (since we get to eat and drink as we please, and there are no 'drugs' for them to administer [other than antibiotics, at least.... grrr...]) it's just a bummer for me. But I'll deal! I'll suck it up, and try to not let it bother me. Grrr.... still stinks.

And that's about it. I don't plan on talking about this stuff everytime I post. But I thought I'd throw that out there about feeling better, since I know my last few posts have been less than chipper". I'm looking forward to it, but am definitely more relaxed than I was last week.

Pray for a Thursday or Saturday delivery! :) The midwife we had with Jeremiah, Marsha, is on call those two days... We'd love to get her again (though the first two were both Sunday births, which would mean someone else, mostly the couple of midwives I care the least for, but what're ya gonna do...) so when I have to make the call, I'll be praying like last time, "Please let it be Marsha or Erin!" [Erin's now gone, unfortunately, and her replacement, whom I do like a lot, isn't doing any births yet while she gets acclimated to the BirthCare climate...] and lo and behold, it was Marsha! Woot! We'll see if we get that lucky again this time... I'm sure it'll be fine whomever we end up with.

And that's about it. I should get to my "Master To-Do List B.B. (before baby)." It's a bunch of little things that I'd like to get done before Jess Jr makes her grand entrance (a few "musts" like setting up the spa [ahhh... that sounds so nice right now...] and washing the last of her clothes [mostly because the sheets for our pack and play are in there, and that's where she'll be sleeping during her first few weeks/month or so.]) Some of it's fun stuff--I'm trying to get Jeremy to "reserve" our sitter for the next three Fridays, so we can have "date nights". Not planning on doing anything big and long. Just want to get outta the house, sans Jeremiah, a couple more times before it becomes far more difficult to do. And it'll give me something to look forward to all week... help get me through the daily grind of still being preggers. :) We may have to up it to twice a week if we make it to 40 weeks, though... I don't think we will, but I kept saying that about Jeremiah, too and look what happened there.... Yeah....

Okay, so let's see... laundry, diapers, naptime. Sounds like a good way to spend the rest of my "lunch break" (Jeremiah's naptime. :) Well, minus the first two. :) It's gotta get done, though! Off I go.

Here we go!

In a few hours, we'll be considered FULL-TERM!! Woot!

So anytime, in the next 5 (!) weeks, Jess Jr could appear... I can finally relax, and stop worrying about her coming too early (there were times when I really thought this would be the case... Braxton Hicks this time around aren't very friendly...) So now... we wait. Will it be this week??? No one in our baby poll seemed to think so. Next week??? Probably more likely, but again, might still be early. The week after??? Far more probable. On her due date????? Well, I hope not, but if she really wants to be like her favorite big brother, that's what she'll do!

Right now, I'm trying to gather the rest of our birth supplies into one place. Stuff like trash bags, sandwich bags (for ice packs--you figure out where they'd be needed, :) flashlight, a phone book, etc, etc, etc... Our room isn't quite ready yet--we still have all our furniture in there (put the new stuff together, and haven't moved the old stuff out...) Hopefully that'll get taken care of tonight. And my last big home project, our headboard, is almost done. Jeremy wired the "recessed lights" (really, they're just cabinet lights on a wood panel,) and just needs to attach it to the ceiling. I need to sew the curtains for it (just edging it all, so it looks a bit more polished,) and attach all the panels to the wall--done! Yeah, that'll be tomorrow's project, I'm sure.

Our birth assistant, Audrey, is stopping by tomorrow, to make sure we've got everything ready and in place. We met the rest of her team (she works with two other birth assistants, in case she's already at a birth, or has to go out of town, or whatever...) on Saturday in Arlington. They're all really nice, so we're comfortable with anyone, even if Audrey can't make it (she's wayyyy closer, though... the other two are in Maryland, so if this gal decides to come during rush hour and Audrey can't make it, we may have a baby by ourselves! Well, a midwife would be coming, too, but most of them are in Maryland as well... Let's hope for another night/weekend baby!) It'll be all good. :) The chances of that happening are slim--it would make for an exciting story, though! Good one to tell the grandkids, someday...

Hung out with the family yesterday. My Mom had a "High Tea" at her church, so I went to that while my "boyz" hung out with the other "boyz". It was a nice, casual time, and of course, Grandma got to see her favorite #1 grandson! Needless to say, they're very exciting about #2's arrival, though I think part of it may have to do with the fact that they would get to hang out with Jeremiah for a whole week when it happens (that's how long they've offered to take him, so we can get adjusted to life with #2--are we blessed, or what??!)

Today was a nice, but tiring day. We went to bed late last night, and had to get up early for church--I'm glad we did. Our lead pastor is still on summer break, so they had the director for The House ministry in SE DC, Steve Fitzhugh, come and speak, and he was really good. Like Ricky Bolden, he's another former NFL player and very entertaining. I think it's great that these men (and there are lots more of them) have used their positions in the NFL to minister to people today, now that they're out. This guy does not have an easy job--SE DC can be argued to be the WORST side of DC. The kids he works with have not had an easy life, that's for sure. I don't even want to have to drive though it, let alone stop to work in it. So kudos to him!

Anyways, it was very good, and of course, is available on Mclean's website, if you want to hear it. We had to rush out afterwards, though, because we were having folks over for lunch shortly after. I told ya it was a busy weekend!! :) We hadn't seen Jeremy's friend from the olden days, Andie, and her family in almost two years! So it was nice to finally see them again, and see how Jeremiah and her son, Mateu, interacted with each other (they got along really well! It was cute to watch!) I was beat afterwards, and took a little nap. And here we are! Ready to go!

Well, that's enough procrastination... Time to get these last few things gathered, maybe put a few diapers together, and MAYBE get the old furniture outta our room, so we have room to walk again... yeah, we'll see.

Hope everyone has a good week! Like last time, I plan on posting here when the "action" starts, so if you don't see anything new here, then nothing is happening. I have a far better camera phone this time around, so expect newborn shots soon after I catch my breath. :)

3 More Days!

Pretty crazy to think about, but in as few as three days, our little family could expand to include a little girl. Time flies, huh??!

Had our 36 week visit yesterday, and got all the "cool" stuff--oxygen tank, some sugical antiseptic, ointment for baby's eyes, etc. We now have all of our supplies in place! We'll see our birth assistant tomorrow, and hopefully schedule a visit for her to come and inspect everything (duhn duhn duhhhhhhhhhn!) Then, we just... wait. And wait and wait and wait!

Hopefully, though, Jess Jr does not want to be exactly like her big brother, and decides to come a couple of weeks early. She doesn't have to come Monday, but Thursday would be nice. Then Grandpa would be off for a long weekend, and could take Jeremiah without using up too much of his vacation time (though I think he wants to take it anyways...) But we'll see--she'll come when she's ready, that's for sure! I'd like to think that all the cramping I've been enduring lately was a sign that she's getting ready to show up soon, but I could just be in for a long, uncomfortable 3 more weeks. Ah well.

Lot more going on this time around, though, then with Jeremiah, baby wise. I was barely a fingertip dilated at 36 weeks with him, but am slightly moreso this time around. Also "softening" up, again, moreso than with Jeremiah. So could this mean an early appearance?? Hmmm... I don't know! Only God does!

What I do know is that I'm getting kinda sick of these substitute midwives at all of our visits. I've met all those who would be on call when Jess Jr shows up, but I always feel like the subs are trying to prove themselves to us, even though they don't have to. The gal we had yesterday kept bringing up the fact that Jess Jr is currently laying on my right side and not my left (she knew this because of where she heard the cord and then the heartbeat--when you hear the heartbeat through the cord, it has more of a "whooshing" sound. When you've found the chest, it's more "clicky". Hmm... had no idea. Good to know.) This knowledge of her position seemed to worry Jeremy more than me. She said, "you need to do pelvic rocks so she'll get on the correct side!" Well, I haven't been, and I know it's good, but I didn't really do it with Jeremiah either, and he came out just fine. I guess babies tend to deliver more easily if they're on the left vs. the right, but I think Jeremiah was ROA (right-occipital-anterior or something...) and he came out in 12 minutes. So if I get her to flip to the left side, would that mean she could possibly come out in 6??? Maybe it would be worth it after all! :)

I don't really appreciate it, though, when these sub midwives go on and on about things that really aren't important. The last one kept trying to tell me to start pumping immediately after breastfeeding, to help increase my supply (so we wouldn't have issues like last time.) Well, y'know, she's probably in that "there's no such thing as a supply issue" camp, but I can tell you with certainty, that there is! I tried EVERYTHING with Jeremiah to make it work, and it still didn't. And I had been in that other camp up until that point, and you know what??? It depressed me and made me feel like a bad Mom. Jeremy can tell you, those first 3-4 weeks before I went to the lactation consultant, I was absolutely miserable. What kind of Mom can't provide nutrition for their baby??? Thank GOD for formula, is all I can say. I have a much healthier outlook towards breastfeeding this time now, and I won't allow it to rob me of the joy that comes with being a new Mom. But yeah, don't tell me I didn't do enough, and try to give me "suggestions" that I know won't help. Don't make me feel like less of a woman because my body can't do what I think it should be able to do.

ANYWAYS! That was a bit of a rant. :) On to happier things.

Jeremy's home today--he surprised us last night by saying he was taking off today. Would be funny if he went to work on Monday, only to turn around and come home because baby decided to come really early. :) We're supposed to be getting some stuff done, but we've got a busy weekend ahead of us, so if we only get the essentials dealt with, that'd be fine with me. We do need to install the infant carseat (though Jeremiah has been enjoying using it as his own personal recliner...) and "make our bed" (clean sheets, water-proof liner, old sheets, ready for baby to come!) and I would LOVE to finish our bedroom (we're in the middle of making a headboard for our bed... it's mostly done, but there's a more complicated aspect to it that my parents offered to help with... but they're busy people, so who knows when they'll be able to come over and do it.) We'll see. I'd rather not have all these little projects still waiting in the wings. But what can ya do??

Well, posting here isn't going to help get anything done, so I shall end this now. More after the busy weekend! Have a good one! :)

The view from 3 a.m...

Okay, so, I wasn't going to say anything... I wasn't going to mention the pain in my hips that I constantly wake up with, or other ailments that seem to be trying to take the 'joy' out of pregnancy.

But then I get woken up by heartburn so bad, I have it my dreams, after triumphantly getting to bed before midnight. Jeremy's in Boston, so I had to drag myself outta bed to get some Tums. Few min later, I'm back to sleep, but not for long! An hour later, I was awake again, looking for more Tums and hoping the pain that had taken up residence in my hips was just a bad dream (it wasn't).

Now, I'm hoping that moving all of my pillows behind me will enable me to get more sleep than the eight Tums I've taken have allowed so far, but I'm not very optimistic.

I hope no one is actually reading this right now, because you're all asleep. But if you are, please say a little prayer for me (and know that I've done the same for you.) I just want to sleep...

:(

Congratulations, Kris & Glen!

They've got a new baby girl!

Cadence Louise entered the world on July 30th, 2008 at 2:19 a.m. in Hawaii! She weighed 6 lbs, 3oz. As far as I know, everyone is doing well!

Glen, Big Brother Cody & Cadence

Congrats, guys! Try to get some sleep! :)

No more free drinks on US Airways

Not that they're my first choice for airlines, but sometimes ya have no choice. Luckily, it sounds like many other full cost airlines will follow suit (as opposed to discount airlines, like Spirit, who apparently have been charging for years.)

Yet another reason to bring a box of chocolates on board with you, for the flight crew. If we regularly get free booze as a result, I'm sure a drink of water here or there would be no problem.

More Here

J*o*k*e*r's M*a*g*i*c T*r*i*c*k

Found this on Youtube... It's from THE DAARK K*NIGHT--just a short scene that doesn't make much sense out of context, but it's a great example of Heath Ledger as the J*o*k*e*r. I just hope I don't get in trouble with Warner Bros. for posting it... we'll see!

**Note: Tends to work best in Internet Explorer, but feel free to try other browsers! :)

Game is now LOCKED!

I know I said I would wait 'til 36 weeks, but since we technically only have a month left now (31 days...) and our ticker has moved to the 9 month window, I did it today. Besides, I think that everyone who had planned on guessing would have guessed by now anyways. If for some reason, though, you're one of the few who did not get to guess, and would still like to, email me and I'll make it happen (before Monday.)

Pretty crazy... 10 more days, we'll be full term! No one seems to be expecting this baby early, though--the first guess is August 25th, two full weeks after "full term". So, yeah, I might as well keep on working on my various projects around the house... no rush, it seems. :)

Jeremy and I put together a new chest for our bedroom last night. Don't ya just love Ikea furniture?? It's so great how they can explain exactly how to build one of their pieces with no words at all, just pictures and arrows. That doesn't mean it's not still incredibly frustrating, and takes FOREVER! I think we started around 10:30 last night, and went to bed at 2... Yeah, not fun. One more, though, and that's it! All the new furniture will be complete! Now I just need to make my headboard... Yet another never ending project...

And that's about it. I'm gonna eat some lunch and then go get ready for the day--getting a birthday pedi at 1:45! I don't really feel like going, though... I never do, but am always glad I did afterwards (and my feet will thank me, for sure...) The weekend is turning into a busy one, but it's all good. Helps move things along. :)

Good morning.

So last night, Jeremy said to me, "You haven't posted anything new on the blog in a while..." I guess he hadn't actually checked the blog before he said it, but I found it funny. :) We've got over 500 posts from the past three years (with most of those being from the past 18 months, I'm sure...) so I guess I'm only allowed to go two to three days without posting something. I'm sorry, my loyal readers! I will try to not slack so much in the coming days. :)

Right now, Jeremiah and I are feasting on a bountiful breakfast consisting of nutrigrain waffles, with peanut butter, honey and bananas. Mmmm... They were all out of his favorite oatmeal when I went grocery shopping, so we've had to think outside the box a bit. I think he really likes it, though. Probably got really sick of oatmeal, after all.

And like we do every morning, we're watching his favorite videos while we eat. If things seem a bit "off" in this post, that's why--I'm typing this in a window half the size of my screen, while the video plays in the other half. I don't generally do well with noise in the background, but I'll do my best. :) Oh, nevermind, we've switched to home videos now. He really enjoys watching vids of when he was a baby. Currently playing, "Yum, Yum, Yum!" which was one of the first videos of Jeremiah eating rice cereal. I'm not sure if he's fascinated with it because he knows it's him, or because it's a baby in general and babies = funny.

Oh, we've changed again. Now, it's the "Hoolie hoolies, and the drip!" where he finds Grandma's paintings in our living room hilarious. I don't get it...

So yeah, pretty leisurely day planned. We've been pretty busy around here the past couple of days, since I wanted to get the most use out of Uncle Stephin as I could before he left (which happened last night.) I've still got lots of things on my to-do list, but I don't think I'll be able to get it all done. I dunno, we'll see. I haven't napped at all this week... I may push that one to the top of my list, and bump something else, like "put up the handrail on the stairs" (it's for Jeremiah, so he can support himself when climbing up and down the steps.)

In other news, our garden hasn't been doing too well. It's pretty disappointing... The only plan really thriving is one tomato plant that we left in a pot on the deck--it actually has a couple of baby tomatoes on it! But that's it. One or two of our cucumber plants have itty bitty cukes on 'em (like, maybe an inch long) but the plants are so tiny, we'll be lucky to get a gherkin size cuke outta it. Yeah... but it's all good. Next year, we'll start with seeds IN the garden, really early, too, like April, and hope for the best. At least the hard stuff is done--building the bed, filling it, etc... So next year should be easier. I hope. :)

On a random note, baby girls' clothes are far more confusing than boys. Maybe some Mommys of girls can explain it to me--how do you keep track of all the diaper cover thingies that seem to accompany EVERY outfit?! I kept all the hangers, but most of them weren't on hangers in the first place--they were just attached with those plastic price tag thingies. Anyways, I think I'll be able to figure most of them out, since they do tend to match the dress they're supposed to go with... but how to Dad's do it?? I don't see Jeremy standing there, shuffling through a drawer on Sunday morning, trying to find the "pink bottom with purple and yellow flowers" to match the "pink dress with purple and yellow flowers"... It's kinda like that game that Bert plays on "Play With Me, Sesame!" called "Perfect Pair". "Okay, this sock is green with brown stripes... can you find the other green sock with brown stripes???" Yeah.... Ah well. I guess we'll just figure it out along the way!

Okay, well, I think Jeremiah's done with his breakfast now, so time to move on! Hope this is good enough to appease the "post gods". There's only so much I can talk about on any given day... Then when I see people and I know they read the blog, we have nothing to discuss... See, this whole blog thing is a catch-22 for us. When in doubt, though, we default to "crazy baby tricks" and let Jeremiah do the entertaining. He's more interesting than our weeks anyways. :)

So much for that.

I had planned on writing this big long post, but Jeremiah just woke up from his nap (booo! he should have slept a little longer!) We'll see how much I can get in before he starts kicking the wall with his feet...

Amazingly, Jeremy and I went to a movie the other night! Shocking, I know. We were actually able to go see THE DARK KNIGHT, at the IMAX theater, no less! Stephin has been hanging with us for the past few days, so he was able to "watch" Jeremiah while we went (it was an 11 p.m. show... more like "listen for" than "watch" Jeremiah at that time of night.) It was REALLY good, but definitely NOT for kids--while there was little/no swearing, blood, and gore, there was plenty of violence (no moreso than on an evening TV program, though...) What the MPAA doesn't score on is how the movie makes you feel, and how your imagination interprets what's happening. That's where the "feels like it should have been rated "R"" feeling comes into play. It really did feel a lot scarier and more disturbing than a PG-13 film (especially from a Mom's point of view... some of the things they 'suggested' were just more than I could take... Too many 'near tears' moments for my comfort!) Was it a great flick??? Absolutely! Even if you're not a Batman fan, you'd probably enjoy this movie, just because it was THAT good. But yeah... as much as you leave the theater saying, "That was a great movie!" you leave saying, "That was messed up..." Just a warning. :) Leave the kiddies at home.

And I must say, Heath Ledger's Joker was SPOT ON! Joker has been many things over the years, but at his core, he's always been a killer who does it just because it's "funny" or "amusing" to himself. He's not out to kill Batman, because that would take away his "fun". As they would say on the streets, he's just one messed up "mofo" (or motivator, if you're using the same dubbing tracks as they used for Resident Evil. :) The guy's crazy, but not, at the same time. He's a very complicated character!

Jack Nicholson's Joker was out for revenge... He was out to be on top. He was "the Joker" that many Detective Comics portrayed him to be. And then Batman got a little darker... The Batman of recent years (especially by Frank Miller) was more "Batman" than "Bruce Wayne". This Batman couldn't hang up the cape if he WANTED to--he's stuck, because Batman is who he is--Bruce Wayne, as Rachel Dawe's stated in BATMAN BEGINS, was his mask, not the other way around. The Joker in THIS universe is just messed up. And Ledger played him PERFECTLY! I know there will be an uproar come Oscar time if he doesn't get a nom. You have to remind yourself during the flick, "That's Heath Ledger!" because otherwise, you forget. He's sooooo out there, so far removed from every other role he's played--he disappears.

Not only do you forget that it's him, he makes you hate/sympathize/love the Joker all at once. Maybe some more than others, but at certain points in the movie, the Joker has a very childlike persona, and ya kinda wanna give him a hug. Okay, maybe that's the hormones talking, but anyways, it's a great film, everyone was terrific in it (though the closeups of Bale as Batman were a bit distracting... he does this thing with his lips when he speaks, it doesn't really make sense. But other than that...) Yeah, we enjoyed it, though I'm okay with not seeing it again for a while... again, that whole, "that's messed up" part of it, yeah, too much for a preggers. Maybe when it comes out on DVD we'll try again (though if you can see it at the IMAX theater, DO IT! They shot 30-or so min with IMAX cameras, and it's AWESOME! You'll never get to see it that way again, once it's gone, so do it now!)

And on to other things!

With Stephin being here, we've been able to get a few things done that we've been meaning to do, like move the nursery furniture into the nursery! YAY! Now, I just need a crib mattress for the crib (hint hint, Grandma/Grandpa!) and I can get it all set up nicely! I'm anxious to get it done, even though we won't need it right away. I do plan on moving her in sooner rather than later, though... Jeremiah didn't move into his own crib until we got back from our trip to Mexico when he was 10 weeks old... Yeah, not doing that again. I needed our bedroom to be a relaxing, calming place, and it definitely wasn't with a newborn and nursing problems... I don't plan on allowing breastfeeding to take away from the enjoyment during those early weeks this time around, but I definitely think he overstayed his welcome in our room (we wanted to move him earlier, but since we had been promised a crib by someone, we had to wait on them before we could get it and set it up.) This time, I plan on keeping her around in our room full time, probably for two weeks, and then transitioning to the nursery during naptimes, and hopefully out completely by 1 month. We'll see... :) So yeah, we need to get that room set up completely before she shows up!

What else... well, that's all the exciting stuff for this week, so far. Jeremy's off on Friday, so I get to get a pedicure (birthday present I haven't had the chance to take advantage of yet,) which should be nice. We're having some friends over on Saturday, so we need to get some cleaning done around the house (stuff I've been wanting to do, but it keeps getting pushed to the back burner until now... nothing like a little friendly motivation to get things done!) And that's about all that's going on!

Next week, we're 36 weeks (crazy!), so I get to see the midwives on a weekly basis. I still need to pick up a few things for our birth kit, but for the most part, we're ready! It's hard to believe how quickly time has gone by (though depending on when you ask me, I may say it hasn't gone by fast enough.) I would LIKE to have a couple of names picked out by the time she's born... I'd rather not show up at the pediatricians office with another "Baby W" but we'll see. I can tell ya right now, it's not me holding up this process... ;) Must be someone else who was involved in this whole "baby" thing. Jeremiah's been trying to help, but he can't read or speak yet... he can only do so much! :)

And I think that's enough. Jeremiah's been good, but I think I should go get him now. We've got a couple of things we can still do before Uncle Stephin leaves for the week. I'm sure he'll be back soon (especially since Jeremy's going out of town overnight next week...) Hopefully I'll have nursery pics to post before then! If not, well, soon! :)

That's that.

To all the cloth diapering Mommy's out there...

Should you need to order more diapers (as I'm debating to do), order them from Diapers.com. There's always at $10 off $49 coupon available, with free shipping over $49. They also have plenty of other things you could need, like natural detergents, and other "stuff". I've got 3 BumGenius 3.0's (BLOSSOM, of course!) in my cart right now for $43.85 shipped--that's less than $15/diaper (which is way less than I paid for them from Cottonbabies!)

Yeah, I'm done with Cottonbabies for a while. I don't feel like their customer service dept came through for me. I don't understand how it was my fault that I had an order confirmation for my diapers, and then they "ran out" and wanted to sub. Had I known there was a credit card problem when I placed the order, I could have corrected it then while the diapers were still in stock. But I digress... Cottonbabies, I've given you guys almost $1000 in business--I'll not be giving you a dollar more. You of all websites should know, ya don't piss off a pregnant woman!

So yeah, feel free to find alternate deals for your cloths! Heck, $2 more for a new diaper in perfect shape, than a "second" is worth it to me! But I do think we have enough diapers for now, so I guess I don't even need to order those. It'll be pretty frequent washings until Jeremiah gets potty trained, but we should still have enough to keep us on an every 2-3 day schedule. So it's all good! :)

Toddler Obsessions

So, Jeremiah is obsessed with Youtube... Particularly Weezer's "Pork and Beans" music video. It's basically a collection of famous Youtube videos (I think I recognized half of them the first time I watched it... there's a lot in there!) I cannot get him to eat breakfast without playing it over and over again (at least 6-8 times in a row...) Everytime a laptop is opened, he has to watch it. It's crazy... But what can ya do.

I thought I'd share it with ya'z. Here's the original version, but the version below has annotations so you see the original video that's within the video (and see some things that you may not have noticed the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth times... Note: you have to click on the link to see the annotations--they don't work when uploaded via Blogger.) It's pretty neat, so check it out! (And know that between 8 and 9 a.m., we're probably watching it right along side ya...)

18 Months and still growing like a weed!

Jeremiah had his 18 month checkup Thursday--last one 'til he's two! We're now on annual visits!! He's graduated, but Mommy and Daddy haven't (back to monthly/bi monthly/tri monthly visits once Jess Jr shows up... oh well.) Here's the lowdown!

Weighing in at 31lbs, 5 oz on the "big boy scale" (too big for the infant scale!) and 35 inches long, he's still topping the charts at 95 and 97th percentile, respectively. I swear our pediatrician looks at us and expects Jeremiah to come in 20 lbs overweight or something--he's always "very happy, very pleased, he's doing excellant," when he goes over his numbers. And it seems like every visit, he switches us to a different milk--we can now switch Jeremiah to 1%, which is kinda nice, since that's what we drink. No more buying 4 gallons of milk at a time! Yay!

Everything else was good. He screamed the entire time nurses were around (doesn't trust 'em, I guess--with good reason, as another one came in to give him his shot...) but was good when the doc was around. And that's 'bout it on that.

After his appointment, it was Mommy's turn. That visit went well enough--everything looks good, no problems with Jess Jr. She's really high, though, not at all engaged (much to Mommy's dismay... I'd like to have my ribcage back, please! Maybe then I could have a heartburn-free day. Ah well--only a few more weeks, hopefully! Next visit is at 36 weeks, and maybe we'll find out we're dialated or something! Not that it means anything... I'm not expecting any action until the end of August at the earliest, though it'll probably be September. Suck it up, me! Okay. :)

I wish I had the crazy cleaning compulsions of most "nesting" women. Instead, I have the, "We have to do this and this and this!" Like, getting Jeremiah's room done... moving the nursery furniture in, replacing the velcro tabs on his diapers, etc. Yesterday, I re-covered a crib bumper that we had received but will never use (the colors just didn't match anything... and it wasn't that cute to begin with. A worthy sacrifice to be re-covered!) It came out well enough... I didn't have a good way to accurately measure and cut, so some of the panels were kinda crooked (and didn't really match up equally with one another... ah well.) Jeremiah likes it. It's kinda silly that I spent the same amount of money on fabric and ribbons to make it (not to mention time...) as it would have cost to buy one in the store, but I was tired of having this useless bumper sitting around the house, and the new one is much softer and more cuddly than what you'd get in the store. So I guess it was worth it. I'll have pics once we get the nursery set up.

And that's about it. Jeremy's gonna take his brother/SIL to the airport this afternoon, and then we're planning on heading out to Grandma's for some pool action. Though we may have to go tomorrow, if they plan on having guests over... We'll see! Time to go put Jeremiah down for his nap!