Week 17!

Random Thoughts from This Week: Did the devil appear in my children this week? Complete with vomiting? Holy hell. Also, do people who are pregnant or have given birth think they are the only ones on the face of the planet that have done so? I am going to give birth to a third child, people. I know what child birth is like, which is probably nothing like yours. I know about breastfeeding, constipated babies, the worst things to do with your baby (don't prop the bottle!). I get it. Do I really look like I could be having my first baby? And do you have to take yourself and your child rearing so seriously? Look at my kids on any given weekend. Cereal for lunch, almost always naked or in just their skivvies, and guess what? James says please AND thank you, AND asks nicely for shit. I think I know how to raise a damn kid, and birth one as well. Holy shit, you're not the only one!
Maternity clothes? Yeah, I've just gone ahead and broken those bad boys out. Although, apparently, it's still hard to tell if I'm pregs. But it's all maternity, all the way.
Weight gain? Probably?
Stretch marks? Nope!
Best moment this week? School started! It's so nice to be in a routine again! Hooray!
Worst moment this week? Worst/funny moment this week: 1) At least once this week, when I make a comment about being pregnant around students who don't know, someone has said, "AGAIN?" 2) On Wednesday, I had two students say it to me. Another one said, "Don't you already have a baby?" Not necessarily the worst thing they could say to me. I could be 39 weeks along and students don't realize I'm pregnant....... that would be a downer! But it's just a constant reminder that yes, I am having a baby. Again.
Miss anything? Sleep...
Movement? Yes. The pops, bubbles, and even sometimes tiny little kicks are really becoming noticeable after lunch. It's exciting to feel and makes everything so much more real; good or bad...
Food cravings? Eggs... what the hell? I cannot get enough of them. I might just go make me some deviled eggs!
Anything make you queasy or sick? Not really. Now that I'm back in a routine, which means I'm back in an eating routine at the same time every day, it's not that bad.
What pissed you off this week? I told my student teacher this week that if you do your job well, a colleague will not like you because of that. There was a reason behind that statement. See if you can find it.

Otherwise, we're just rocking and rolling into week 17. Crazy how we're almost to the half way point. I will see students in the hallway who aren't in choir anymore, and they continually are surprised that I am pregnant. Can you not see this thing jutting out in front of me? One of my older students said, "I was wondering because I figured you wouldn't wear anything tight if you were self-conscious of some weight gain!" The younger kids are still shocked and keep regaling stories of the last time I was pregnant, which was a few short months ago, it feels like.

In other news, completely unrelated, Catherine has been pushing Mr. Lion around, walking around our downstairs with him! Thank God! Even though our physical therapist said that she should not learn to walk that way, I can't help it. It's so reassuring that she actually CAN walk. In physical therapy, I did bring up the fact that she is not saying any words. The physical therapist reminded me that developmentally, she is about 6 months behind, however, her words should come soon after she begins to walk, as that's the normal progression of things. Once she can stop concentrating so hard on gross motor skills, she can begin working on the other things, like words. She is going to consult a speech pathologist, but I'm not too worried. I have a feeling Catherine will be my child that will do everything "in due time." Oh goody, just like her dad!!!

James is developing the sentence structure of a 5 year old and LOVES to have conversations with people. He's so damn funny! I asked him just the other day what he did, and he said he went on a walk. I asked him what he saw on his walk, and he immediately said, "Duck poop. And no we step in duck poop." I asked him if he played with any toys, and he said, "Yeah, I play with blocks. The pink and blue blocks." I absolutely love it.

James and Catherine have both had a flu virus that is rearing it's ugly head for about four hours and then completely wipes them of any energy they have for a few days. Catherine has also been teething and just pissy all the time. Holy hell. It's been quite the week around here, but we're holding up. Now if I can just stay healthy... God help me, I don't want the flu like I had when pregnant with Catherine. That was terrible!

A busy, tiring week, but a week nonetheless. Here we come, week 17!

16 Weeks!

Random Thoughts from This Week: I WANT SOME FUCKING SLEEP!
Maternity clothes? Ummm, yes. A lot of them. Nearly impossibly to avoid at this point...
Weight gain? I have no clue, but I'm guessing yes?
Stretch marks? Nope!
Best moment this week? The kids started back to daycare full time this week. I was able to work for a while on Monday and Tuesday, and then in the afternoons, I DID NOTHING. I literally just chilled. It was awesome.
Worst moment this week? There have been plenty. Getting back into a routine, no matter how excited I am to do it, is hard. The mornings are stressful, the evenings are stressful, and I am overtired, pregnant, and ready to get this damn school show on the road. Catherine got the stomach flu last night. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning with Eric's arm slung over my face, my cat laying on my back, and James' head digging into some random nerve in my thy. I am so sick of James sneaking into our bed! I am about ready to lock the damn door!
Miss anything? Eating whatever I want. I have become, yet again, a label-reader.
Movement? I wore jeans yesterday because it was SIXTY-FOUR DEGREES, and they were my regular jeans. Surprisingly, I think I felt a few little bumps and kicks right after lunch.
Food cravings? I want ANYTHING with cheese. SO BAD. The first thing I eat when I have this baby is Dominoes pizza. I can tell you we never have Dominoes pizza as there isn't one around here. But there's one by the hospital! We order it every time we have a kid. Because, you know, we're having another one.
Anything make you queasy or sick? Oddly enough, I think I get a little sick when I eat too much of one thing. It's kind of annoying.
What pissed you off this week? People are fucking stupid. Holy hell.

I'm looking forward to the ultrasound in less than a month (LESSTHANAMONTHOMG!), and my Mamaroo came today (MYMAMAROOCAMETODAY!), and Christy gave me back some of my baby stuff. It just sucks because now I have to find places for that stuff, since I thought I was getting rid of it and filled storage with other things. Awesome. James' closet, since we got him a dresser, is seriously jam-packed with storage bins, the mamaroo, the rock-n-play, clothes, and breast feeding/pumping/bottle shit. The only things in there that actually belong to him are the 4T clothes that he has yet to grow into (which should be sometime this fall - way to plan mom!), some extra sheets for his bed, and a box of hand-me-down pants that we got from our neighbor. The rest is baby stuff that I have reinherited. Awesome.

Beyond that, since we have been back to school and the word of Baby E #3 is spreading, I am able to have a good laugh with ALLLL the people I told I was having a "No More Kids" Yard Sale while in the last days of school. It actually has been a good laugh. What a story I have to tell, and how lucky I am to share it with so many people, honestly. Especially since my co-workers are so awesome. I love where I work (most days) and I love the people with whom I share this building and district. It's been nice to see everyone and hear the congratulations combined with a "that sucks, but... congratulations..." because really, it is a celebratory deal. We are creating another human life, and how lucky am I to say that I will have three beautiful children (under the age of FOUR!).

Amen, and here's to the beginning of the school year!

15 Weeks!

Random Thoughts from This Week: Can I get any more tired? Why am I so damn tired all the time?
Maternity clothes? For some reason, this week, all non-maternity bottoms have fit. I finally went through my closet and drawers to figure out what clothes I might be able to keep in my closet and what to pack up and say adios to once I hit about 20 weeks. I can still fit into my low-cut colored jeans (YAY!) and shorts (DOUBLE YAY!). So I am set for these hot days and for when school starts in a week. Because I did manage to give away so many of my maternity dresses, and inherit so many maternity pants, I went on a binge and spent about $100 on more clothes. But, I have to brag: in that $100 was a great dress for $18, a pair of JEANS at Old Navy for NINETY-SEVEN CENTS, a pair of black corduroy pants from GAP for FIVE DOLLARS AND FIFTY-EIGHT CENTS, and a bunch of shirts on clearance. Of course, I bought a couple of shirts NOT on clearance, but overall, most items cost less than $10. I am nothing if not the ultimate bargain shopper! It helps that I worked retail for so long and have an idea of when and where to find some really great clearance deals!
Weight gain? I had a doctors appointment on Monday and, surprisingly, have lost weight. So here I sit at my typical pre-pregnancy weight: 162 - give or take a couple pounds.
Stretch marks? Nope!
Best moment this week? Umm, honestly, it has been hanging out with James. He just went from toddler to true little boy. He is so damn funny, I cannot get enough of him! Last night, he wanted to lay Hide-and-Seek before bed. I told him no, it was time for bed, so he said he was going to play Hide-and-Seek by himself. Then proceeded to crawl around our bedroom for an HOUR randomly playing with stuff (but hardly making any noise), so we ignored him and finally he just got up and went to bed.
Worst moment this week? Catherine is becoming SO MOBILE (yay!!), but it has become such a pain in the ass. Now that she can pull herself up onto furniture, etc., she has been getting herself into some pretty precarious situations. Particularly when she fell off the window seat and rammed her face into the recliner handle, and when she narrowly escaped spilling the contents of our 10 gallon fish tank all over the dining room floor (the fish died, so Eric moved the tank from the table in the dining room to the floor until he can empty it out this weekend). She loved knocking over full cups of water on the table if we accidentally set it too close, and in general, has just become a grab-hands. We have suddenly gone from the docile baby to the curious baby, and boy, that's a quick change!!! She has discovered a love for throwing EVERYTHING. Today at the wading pool, she had a stack of cups, and she threw every single one of them behind her into deeper water, then proceeded to try and crawl to get them! Which, of course, was too deep for her, so I had to go and get them. She has also been crabby this week and her diapers have been terrible, so I'm guessing teething. At least she's still cute...
Miss anything? I can honestly say I am starting to miss my routine of work. Everyone always talks about how teachers "get the summer off" (if you're a bad teacher, yes, you don't do any work over the summer...), but I miss the routine of getting myself ready for work, getting the kids ready to go, breakfast, getting to work, the actual routine of a schedule etc. I am excited to get back to it next week!
Movement? That would be a negative.
Food cravings? I am missing the shit out of pizza this week.
Anything make you queasy or sick? Hot dogs! Oh my God, and James likes to eat them COLD. Holy shit, get me a barf bag, that is fucking disgusting! I can hardly handle it.
What pissed you off this week? Just today, while we were at the wading pool. I was sitting at our table, with James, while he ate, and Catherine was a few feet away in the water (it's a zero entry wading pool and the deepest is 2 feet in the middle - that girl wasn't going anywhere and I was ready to grab her from only a few feet away at any moment... just so anyone reading this doesn't think I'm a terrible parent). While Catherine was playing with a little toy boat, some shitty kid came up and took it from her and WALKED OFF WITH IT! The best part is, his mom was sitting at the table BESIDE OURS and did not see it because she was on her phone! Good God! Get off your fucking phones, parents!!! There are most times during the day where I don't even know where the hell mine is! In fact, I went without it all day today, meaning, IT STAYED AT HOME while I was out and about with the kids! Anyway, this little boy walks off with it and upon seeing that his parent was going to nothing about it, I got up noisily, stormed into the water, got down to this little boys level and said, "You should not take things from people that are not yours. This boat is not yours, and that baby was playing with it, so I'll take it back now. Thank you." And then proceeded to take the boat back to Catherine and sit my happy ass down next to the PARENT who didn't bother to apologize. Holy hell.

Lastly, Eric and I celebrated 9 years on Thursday night. I wrote in my sappy Facebook post that he and I have endured things most couples will never experience, and looking back, it's so remarkable at how far we've made it. Through alcoholism, a psycho stalker student and all that went on with that, my dad passing away, and random other things that have tested this marriage, we're still chugging along. Sure there are times where we are no longer on teh same page (oh, the last two months, maybe?), but in the end, when we take time to reconnect, it's lovely and I love him with everything I have. Here's to the next 9 years!

14 Weeks!

Not a whole lot to report this week, possibly because I have been busy as hell. I'm looking around wondering where the hell this week actually went. Guess I will be saying goodbye to summer soon!!!

Random Thoughts from This Week: Seriously? This pregnancy has to not only be unplanned, but I have to develop a weird dairy intolerance where if I eat ANYTHING with dairy in it, it feels like I swallowed a brick and I writhe around in pain for a good 8 hours. Awesome.
Maternity clothes? Tops, no. Pants, YES.
Weight gain? Most likely. I have a doctors appointment on Monday, so we shall see how that goes.
Stretch marks? No, surprisingly.
Best moment this week? Today I got to "hang out" with my Select Choir, which was awesome. I forgot how much fun high school students are compared to a three and one year old.
Worst moment this week? Dairy-free grocery shopping, because you have to bypass all the regular stuff you would normally buy (yogurt) and buy the crappy alternative (coconut yogurt...)
Miss anything? Dairy? Seriously, SLEEP. For some reason, pregnancy insomnia is kicking my ass.
Movement? No. The movements I might have felt earlier? Definitely a dairy intolerance.
Food cravings? Dairy?
Anything make you queasy or sick? Dairy.
What pissed you off this week? Discovering that after actually cutting dairy out of my diet, I felt GREAT. It sucked ass, because that was the kicker. It was that moment that I knew I would have to be dairy free this pregnancy.

Emotional Pendulum: Surprisingly swinging toward happy. I am starting to really get excited for this baby, especially since James is becoming more and more independent.