a good day for practice

NOTE: You might find parts of this gross.

As E blogged yesterday, our dog ate a bandage off her leg sometime on Sunday night. Our worst fear was that she would have issues passing the bandage and need some help from the vet. Well, this morning assured us that she wouldn't need any help. She was quite anxious to get going on her walk. She took care of business and I thought it was over.

E went to get a haircut after work, so she wished me well on arriving home to no presents from the pup. Not so. Even sick, our pup is amazing. She always goes to the farthest corner of the basement (which is not finished...concrete floor) when she is sick. I called the vet who said as long as she is acting normal and has normal energy, she could have ground beef and rice and would probably be fine. I made her dinner and headed to the basement to clean up. I got upstairs, mixed her dinner together and walked over to turn on the tv. Of course, she had gotten sick on the carpeting. Arghhh!!! So, I cleaned that up with the little carpet cleaning machine. (The same scenario happened this summer, and when I called E to tell her she laughed so heartily that I almost hung up on her.)

Then, it was back to the kitchen to clean the cleaning machine, clean up the dishes from the dog dinner and super duper cleaning of all the kitchen counters.

So, I guess this is a good day for practice as a mom.

****

E has been a little unlike herself.

Evidence #1:
It's true that she "made" me drive her for over an hour to a small town to look for a chair. When we stopped for lunch, I said I couldn't eat because I was so anxiety-ridden from the white knuckle drive. Let's just say she wasn't happy with me. She has been looking for a swivel/rocker/glider with ottoman for the nursery for months. We didn't find the chair, so we turned around and headed home. The plows and salt trucks had been out and the roads were wet instead of slippery. That was when I decided to stop and eat lunch. I think E was ready to leave me there and drive herself home.

While E has no problem telling me what to do, she is usually quite aware of how I feel and doesn't push too hard. I think baby hormones are changing the landscape for a while.

Evidence #2:
I was getting ready to walk the dog yesterday when E got home and came to wave goodbye to us from the front window. She walked into the room and just looked different. I asked what was up and she said, "I was sad on the way home" and started crying. I asked why and she said, "I don't know" with a smile and tears. While I wanted to comfort her, it was also very funny. She stood there with a silly smile on her face and tears streaming down her face. She rarely cries.

Again, the baby hormones.

***

In other news, we are looking forward to our third snow day of the school year, which is just unheard of. However, I doubt we'll be going tomorrow given that the prediction is for over 10" of snow, the heaviest in the morning.

m

Run Silent, Run Deep

It happened again today. Babygirl gave me a little morning kick when I first woke up and about noon today I realized I hadn't felt her move in hours, which is not normal. I usually feel her on a very regular basis. I try to remain calm and talk myself out of the paranoia. Finally, a few tiny movements and by the time I got home from school she was moving around -- not kicking, just moving. I know that she is perfect and doing great, but I can't help but worry a little. She is now awake and moving and playing with my bladder, but not kicking.

I have a theory about these "quiet" times. I believe they are growth spurts for babygirl. I am usually hungrier than normal and she obviously sleeps more when she is on "run silent, run deep." So, that is my theory.

I love carrying this child. I love taking care of her. I even love worrying about her.

I also have to confess that my sweet love, M, has been wonderful with me. I have been somewhat hormonal lately, and she has been patient and kind. I know that she would prefer to tell me to snap out of it, but she knows I am trying. She even drove me to a small town to look at a chair in the middle of a snow storm. She is amazing and she will be an amazing mother. I am proud to share my life with her.


E-

P.S. Our great puppy has a sore on her right paw. We wrapped it so she wouldn't lick it. She wore the wrap all weekend and wasn't happy about it. This morning we woke up and it was gone. She ate it. The entire wrap. We are hoping it comes out the other end...soon...

26 Weeks

We are now officially 26 weeks pregnant. Things that I notice:

* Babygirl has cycles of alertness. She will be awake for an hour or two just kicking, playing, feeling, rolling, etc... It is an amazing feeling. At night, I can put the tv clicker on my belly and we can watch it jump around. In the middle of the night when she is really trying out for the kickboxing team, I have M put her hand around my belly so she can enjoy the show. Then, at times, she is silent and I assume asleep and happy.

* All maternity pants suck (sorry mom, I know you hate that word). They all ride either too high or too low. I actually still wear my regular jeans with my bellaband, which means I leave them unzipped, but the bella band holds everything together very snuggly. I wear my bella band almost every single day.

* When I am in maternity shirts I feel cute and pregnant. When I am home in my sweats I just feel large. We went and bought a mens sweatshirt in pink that I now wear at night when I get home. M now calls me "bubblegum."

* I snore now. Well, that is what I am told. This apparently is quite normal, but I am sure it isn't fun for M to listen to me and the dog snore all night.

* I make a lot of grunting noises as I move around. Getting in and out of the car, picking things up, and getting out of bed.

* My feet swell a little bit, but not everyday.

* People no longer just say hi to me, they all check out my belly everyday. It is fun to watch peoples eyes and watch them say hi and then see their eyes go directly to my belly. It is quite cool. I totally understand why people do that. The only people who don't are the ones that I see hourly. My best friend, with whom I work every hour , looked at me on Monday morning and said, "man, you are looking really pregnant....and your boobs are huge..." it's all true.

E-

great idea!

Great idea #1
My little sister gave us burp cloths for BabyGirl for Christmas. She took cloth diapers and sewed two ribbons down them to dress them up to use as burp cloths. I thought it was such a great idea that I'm making six each for two friends who are due a month or so before us.



Then, I stacked them up and tied them with some of the left over ribbon.



This great idea has a second part to it. My sister told me to use washable glue stick to hold the ribbon in place while sewing. I had no idea I could use glue sticks! It worked like a charm. The shinier ribbon is harder to sew and keep in place.

Great idea #2
I was showing off my laundry room photos to a friend E works with. She countered with pictures of the bed her husband made. Very talented. Very nice. His "shop" is whatever space he can steal in their laundry room. She said that whenever he finished a project he gets to buy a new tool. Great idea! I told E I thought I should get the same deal. I finished the laundry room last weekend, I was due for my new tool. Since one of my next projects will be painting an old dresser to use as a dresser/changing table in the nursery, I chose a new random orbit sander to get the dresser ready for paint.



Great idea #3
Okay, this one might not have been a great idea, but it was fun. E and I went to the Big Box R Us store last weekend to register for baby goodies. When you register, they give you a little "welcome" box with samples in it. One of the samples was a newborn diaper. Many websites recommend getting your dog ready for the baby by introducing the dog to baby blankets, smells, or even carrying around a baby doll to get the dog used to all aspects of the baby. Well, I used one of the dog's favorite toys as a baby and put it in the diaper. There was some nervousness at first. Then she settled down.



However, she would not play with that toy while the diaper was on it. It laid around for days before I finally took the diaper off and she played with it again.

***

Those are my great ideas. Other than that, we are continuing to watch E's belly and our BabyGirl grow. I can easily feel and sometimes see the kicks and punches as BabyGirl does her daily calisthenics. E is doing a great job of eating good food, getting lots of long walks and plenty of rest. She is providing an excellent home. We have a list of things to do before the baby gets here, and we work on them and check them off weekly. We are having a great time.

m

Mud Room

We can't believe we actually started a project on Saturday and finished it on Sunday. Quite impressive. Not much else to do when the high for the day is 4 degrees. Below are the before and afters. It will be painted in the spring which will make it look even better.... M did most of the work. I was in charge of managing the tools and telling her how great it looked.

It was a functional room before, but it was a wreck. We just piled crap in there. M added another row of shelves, sewed the curtains, installed the curtain rods, and clipped everything together. She is very talented. I am very happy not to stare at bleach bottles anymore....

Our sweet babygirl

We went to the doctor's this week and everything is going well. I am measuring right, strong heartbeat, and a hefty weight gain. We talked a little about pain relief during labor and we are all on the same page. Go as long as you can without anything, sign up for the IV drugs, and then pull out the needle and numb me.

I have been up since 4am. I woke up after a long dream (it was like a full length movie) and realized I couldn't feel babygirl. Normally when I wake up at night it is because she is kicking me, but she was silent. I moved around to wake her up and nothing. Moments of panic, fear, etc... Then, of course, she woke up and started her morning dance class. M leaned over and put her hand on my belly and just giggled every time babygirl kicked. M then rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

Babygirl continued to dance, move, kick, roll, etc for two hours. Every time I was almost asleep she would start dancing. It was somewhat distracting, but also very cute. She is now perfectly asleep and I am wide awake on this frigid day.

We have a three day weekend so we will tackle another home improvement project. The mud room is our goal for the weekend.

E-

moving quickly along

While E gets bigger and BabyGirl kicks and rolls more and more, we've also been working to get things ready. Last weekend we went on a hospital tour. It was good to see where all the action would happen. E was freaked out once we got into the birthing suite and there was conversation about how the end of the bed comes off when labor begins. I assured her that by the time that happens, a) she will probably have drugs and b) she will want that baby out no matter what it takes. The hour-long tour included about 10-12 couples. We were the only same sex couple. The tour guide, an RN who works in obstetrics, repeatedly referred to mothers and dads. I leaned over to E and said, "I guess I'm the dad." The guide caught herself a couple times and said partner or support person. E thinks it stinks that you have the baby at the Holiday Inn (birthing suite) but they move you to the Super 8 (regular room) a few hours after the birth. Overall, it wasn't the most exciting tour, but at least we know what it will look like.

A friend with a minivan and a strong back helped us pick up our crib. We had no idea a bed for a little human would be so big (about 4 feet square in the box) or weigh so much (134 pounds). I took a bit of teasing for weighing less than the crib...not true...however, I held my own getting the crib in the van and then up the stairs once we got home. We set it up last night and we love it. We got a convertible crib, so we figure we're set for the next 15 years or so. It makes me want to paint the room right now, but we're going to wait for spring so we can open the windows to get rid of paint smell. Since we're having a girl we're going pink. Several friends have asked what we're going to do if a boy pops out. If that happens, he'll enjoy all the pink until we repaint and buy more blue.

Today we met two friends for lunch who are going to throw a baby shower for us. We made a list of people to invite and realized that we have a very eclectic group of friends. It should be a great time. We feel very blessed to live in a place where it's not a big deal that we're lesbians and having a baby. Our friends and coworkers have been great. People we consider acquaintances are excited and want to be invited to a shower because they have things for the baby.

She is loved.

m