33 Weeks

Here I am at 33 weeks when pregnant with Lacey



Here I am today at 33 weeks with #2


I thought this was fun. I was going through some pictures and this was taken on 12/31/07...one year ago.


And here she is today on 12/31/08.
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2008

A year in review...

January- Please, please don't make me go back to work. I don't like that job anyway and I don't want to leave my little baby. I wish I lived in Canada and got a YEAR paid maternity leave.

February- I hate winter...I hate cold....can we move? Let's put our house up for rent and wait.

March- We have a renter! What?! Umm, okay, start applying for jobs...where? How about Seattle?

April- Mike actually got a job in Seattle? Whoa. That was quick. Pack up and head out.

May- Hello Seattle! Look all the flowers are in bloom and the grass is so green already!

June- Training is over, Mike starts at his new store. Doesn't get along with his boss. Great. Did we do the right thing? OMG, I am pregnant...

July- umm, where is the AC? I can't find the switch on the wall...are you serious, no AC? I am soooooo sick and my husband is working 60 hours a week. WHY did I think this was a good idea?

August- see above. Happy 2 year anniversary!

September- Finally it's fall. I am not so sick, and we can start to relax. Pumpkin Spice Latte anyone?

October- My baby girl is ONE! I can't believe it. I on the other hand am bored out of my mind. What I would give to get a job. Why did I want to SAH again?

November- ummm, why are we broke? what happened. Oh, right, its darn expensive out here. This sucks. I should get a part-time job, but no one wants to hire someone who is 6 months pregnant.

December- They are cutting your position....WHAT?!? But we have bills to pay! I am having a baby in 2 months. This can't be happening.

And into 2009. This should be interesting.

Present

A Christmas Present to My Mama....From Lacey:


She kicked the sack!!! No more pekemoe sack, she suddenly hates it.

Hallelujah!!!

Thank you!

Liquid Gold

What is it? Probably not what your thinking....

Unleaded Gasoline.

Here is how things typically go for us in Seattle. I hope I can paint a good picture for you!

We hop in the car at 3:00. We need to pick up milk for Lacey, drop of a DVD we rented, return some library books, and grab some gas (7.8 miles until empty). Since everything is within 5 blocks of everything else, we anticipated this to be about a 30 minute trip.

First stop, gas. Drive to the nearest gas station...OUT OF GAS. I have NEVER been to a gas station that was out of gas. Drive to the next nearest gas station...OUT OF GAS (5.3 miles until empty). Drive to the grocery store and return the DVD and go in to grab some milk. OUT OF ORGANIC MILK. What the heck? (they were out of eggs and cheese too...and slim pickings on the meat...weird). I dropped my basket and left. Get in the car. Drive to a third gas station (3.4 miles until empty). Finally get there...OUT OF GAS. No way! (1.4 miles until empty). Drive to the next suburb...Kirkland...stop at our 4th gas station...OUT OF GAS. Now we are starting to wonder if we will even be able to get gas (.4 miles until empty). Finally, at our 5th station we find 'liquid gold' and fill up. Then since we are all the way in kirkland and we still haven't returned the library books or gotten lacey milk we would just do that in kirkland. We have already been in the car for an hour. Go to the Kirkland Library (Redmond Library is closed for remodeling) so we figure we may as well go in and get lacey some new books. Nope. Closed due to weather (at this point we haven't seen snow come down for 2 days). Fine, whatever. Go to the grocery store nearby. Take Lacey out of the carseat. She leaked through her diaper. Go inside. Mike tries to find a bathroom to change her. NO BATHROOM! Doesn't matter...they are also OUT OF MILK (eggs, cheese, meat, you name it). Mike changes lacey in the car. Go to our THIRD grocery store. They actually have milk. Get back in the car. Get home. It is now 5:15 and we have been in the car for over 2 hours and have driven a total of about 8 miles.

Shoot me now.

Cheap & Easy...

1) Two things I wish my life was right now, but its the opposite.

2) Two things I will teach Lacey to never be.

3) Ramen: I had that for lunch yesterday. Need I say more?

4) 2 in 1 Shampoo. (My hair does not thank me while I am pregnant, but I will rescue it soon).

5) The Library.

Any more?

fatigue

i've hit the wall.

i do not remember it being like this before, but with 8 (seemingly long) weeks left until I can push this baby out I've had it. Done. Finished. If they offered me an induction tomorrow I may just consider it. By evening, I can barely walk from the couch to my bed. I finally make it into my bed only to have to get up to use the bathroom 8 times and take a few doses of tums. Last night my heartburn was so bad i felt like it was choking me.

I don't mean to complain, I really don't. Other than the heartburn and the feeling that I have been hit square on by a semi, I am feeling rather well. Still nauseous at night, (but obviously that isn't going away until this kid pops out), but no aches, back is okay, hips are fine, etc. I have less to complain about than most. But then that feeling hits. Its not the 'I'm so tired I need a nap and could sleep anywhere right now' feeling. It's the 'I don't know if I can physically bend down and pick up Lacey one more time, or the 'I don't think I could run away if my life depended on it' feeling.

I think I need a massage/starbucks/haircut/childless day. That would really make me feel better!

Deep Freeze

Many things bother me about where I live. I guess I just haven't gotten used to the way they do things around here.

However, lets all get one thing straight. When the windchill is -30, that is a "deep freeze." When you have to plug in your car (and if you know what plugging in your car means then you are one step ahead of most), that can be considered a "deep freeze." However, a high of 35 degrees can not and should not be considered a "deep freeze" because let's face it, it isn't even below freezing.

And yet out here in the 'ol state of Washington we are in the middle of a deep freeze. That is what the forecasters have decided to call it. Yes, you guessed it, the high today is 35. Ha. If it were 35 in Minneapolis right now, you would have loads of people running in shorts around Lake Calhoun because it is so warm out. I haven't seen a flake of snow in good 'ol Redmond, and yet all the schools in this entire county are closed today (???). I must say that since everyone is warned to stay put, the lack of traffic noise this morning did allow Lacey (and me) to get an extra 45 minutes of sleep.

To be perfectly honest, mike and i feel a little tougher than most. Do I dare say 'superior' in terms of the amount of cold we can handle?? Don't worry, I don't walk around telling people how "this is nothing compared to where I am from." I was put in my place when my neighbor told me that she went to buy chains for her car yesterday. My first thought (thankfully I kept it to myself) was "oh, to pull people out of the ditch who get stuck in the snow?" NO, silly me. Chains to wrap around your tires when you drive through the mountains. What?!? I thought only semi's had those and they were the only ones who pulled into those 'chain up' areas. Apparently not. I guess on some roads if you don't have chains you could get fined.

Hmmm, maybe if you don't know what plugging in your car is, you aren't so behind after all...

It's a Mom "thing"

I think every mom has a thing that she is determined to do with her child. Of course, before becoming a mom I insisted that I would never be the mom who opens food in the grocery store to keep their kid quiet, but alas, I am that mom.

Anyway, I have realized I do have a "thing" and here it is: I will not put a diaper on Lacey unless it is cloth or chlorine free (i.e. Seventh Generation, Generation Baby, or 365 Diapers from Whole Foods). She has not had a Pampers on her since the hospital, and has never seen the likes of a Luvs or Huggies.

Weird Huh?

I don't know why I am so anal about this, I can only assume that when I read about what goes into making diapers it scared me enough to never want to use them.

So, if you are a mom, what is your thing? Is there something that isn't a 'hot topic' (i.e. vaxes, breastfeeding, co-sleeping etc). that you are really passionate about? Some quirky thing you have going for you?

Do share! Do share!

Randoms.

1) I floss every.single.day. without fail. It's kind of become a game for me, and I would be extremely upset if I missed a day. I also rinse with ACT anti-cavity mouth wash per the dentist's recommendation. Pregnancy does a number on your teeth, I had to have 2 root canals and all my fillings replaced (read: all TEN of them) after Lacey was born. That is not happening again.

2) Math is BY FAR my favorite subject. I used to think that everyone loved math, until I grew up and realized most people hate it. I consider myself lucky. On the other hand I am a terrible speller.

3) It has been a lifetime goal (okay, maybe not lifetime, but you get the point), to run a sub 1:38 half marathon. Why sub 1:38? I have no clue. Having 2 kids in 2 years hasn't helped, but you can bet your bottom dollar that once this baby is out, I will be training hard, just as soon as I can. I am thinking that pushing a double jogging stroller may be the ticket. Ironically, I have never had any desire to run a marathon, but Mike would love it if I did.

4) There are 2 stores that I will never stop spending money at, no matter how broke I am. They are Starbucks and Target. Not only are both places completely relaxing, but they are both complete money suckers. I just love them both. On the other hand, I will gratefully never step foot in a Wal-Mart again if I don't have to.

5) I have a fear of flying. Yep, most people look at me like I'm crazy, but I always think that since someone's plane has to go down, nothing could stop it from being mine right? Especially if there hasn't been a crash in a while. I get nervous when friends and family fly as well.

6) I am anal about having a clean car. Thankfully, so is my husband. So far Lacey seems to have the same "clean" attitude seeing she will shriek "oh no, oh no" when a drop of something (water/milk/cereal) lands on the floor. It's quite traumatic for her, yes she is a drama queen.

Our Economy

Yes, the poor economy has affected us, but until now we've chalked it up to 1 less income + living in a more expensive state + paying WAY TOO MUCH in rent.

Then yesterday mike came home with words no penniless wife wants to hear: "you may have gotten your wish"

That would be my wish to leave Washington and move back to my friends.

To Be Continued...




I was not kidding when I said "when it rains it pours"

June 2009

That is supposedly when Mike will take over a Jamba Juice.

Which one? Who knows.

Will it be in Washington? Maybe. Maybe Not.

Can you tell I just love living blindly?

when it rains it pours

you know that old saying 'when it rains it pours?' well that pretty much sums up the last 4 weeks of my life. don't worry, i am not going to go into all the details and complain about the last 4 weeks, who wants that? I just hope it ends soon.

anyway, we've had a whirlwind of a week since i've posted last. One Wednesday the 26th, we made the 12 hour trek to Chico, CA to visit mike's brother, his wife, and their 2 little boys. A 12 hour car ride + a young toddler = pure disaster. Well, it really wasn't that bad, but I can't go so far as to say it was fun either. Nope, no fun at all.

We had a good couple of days in California, the weather was perfect. Lacey did medium, nothing like sleeping in a pack-n-play for a couple of nights in a row. Plus she is used to our nice calm quiet house. That is not the case with a 3 year old and a sick 16 month old...

Mike was running the seattle marathon on sunday so we had to somehow make it back earlier in the day on saturday in order for him to go to the race expo and pick up his registration packet. Plus we wanted to have time to eat a good dinner and wanted to make sure lacey would go to sleep that night. So rather than driving all day Saturday, we decided to leave Friday night and drive through the night. I'm not sure what possessed me to do this.

We left Chico, Friday night around 7:30. The first 3 hours went great. Mike and I were just chatting away, Lacey was snoozing in the backseat, and we pretty much gave ourselves the 'parents of the year' award for our perfect plan. But all good things must come to an end...lacey woke up around 10:30 crying of course. She stopped crying but then started staring off into space (poor thing). Mike and I were running out of subjects to talk about, we were in thick fog in the mountains (I was having flashbacks to our accident on the way out here), and we still had 3 hours to go until we stopped for gas.

We finally made it to Eugene, OR around 2:15 am, which was our halfway point. At that point we both felt like death. We filled up with gas (or should I say they filled us up, since it is illegal to pump your own gas in OR...did you know that?). Went to the bathroom, changed diapers since lacey was wide awake and had been since 10:30, mike bought 5 hour energy and we headed back out. Mike was doing well, I was fading fast, but since mike falls asleep at the wheel I had no choice but to stay awake. It was a terribly long night. We pulled into our parking garage at 6:58 am, right as Lacey woke up (perfect huh?), got in, took showers, ate breakfast, put Lacey down for a nap and crashed for a couple of hours. Then went to pick up the registration stuff, ate dinner and were all 3 in bed, sound asleep by 7:00 pm.

Marathon day, started off well. We got downtown, got good parking for free and walked to the starting line. Race started with no issues. I went to find a starbucks and walked and walked and walked for what seemed like miles before I found one (ummm, this is seattle it shouldn't be that hard). I was so tired, and I swear had I been 38 weeks rather than 28 weeks I would have gone into labor (I'll remember that...). Then I met up with my friend Tanya who lives across the puget sound, we hung out and tried to entertain lacey as best we could. I expected mike to come in around the 2 hour 50 minute mark, give or take 5 minutes. When he wasn't there by the 3 hour mark, I got a bit worried. He came limping in at 3 hours and 3 minutes (so not terrible), with one blood soaked shoe and one busted up shin (I forgot to mention he got hit in the shin with a baseball while in Cali, but we didn't think it was a big deal). We came home and he was stiff, of course, but we didn't think too much of anything. Unfortunately, Lacey was running a fever at this point as well.

Monday morning mike calls me from work telling me that his entire shin in swollen and bright red and he can't walk on it. So he took some sick time and came home. It looked terrible. Lacey was also running a fever and refusing to eat anything so I had my hands full. After some rest, ice, and pain meds mike was feeling better. I didn't know what was up with lacey and was out of motrin. Mike decided to take Tuesday off as well, which was nice because lacey was still sick and hadn't eaten more than a few bites a day for 3 days. I finally got my butt to the store and bought her some motrin and then she started to act more herself.

Mike is back at work, although still sore. Lacey is still bouncing back and forth between feeling good and feeling sick. And I am just here, hanging out, hoping I don't catch anything and actually wishing it was a bit colder so that it would feel more like December.