Busch Gardens: Take Three

Yowzers!  I feel like such an old person today.  I literally did next to nothing but go work in an office at the end of my pregnancy with Eliot (which I partially blame on it being winter), so I'm constantly being reminded of my pregnant lady limitations over here.

Eliot's cold lingered for a while and is mostly just a cough, but I caught it too.  I'm still a bit down with a sore throat.  Constantly hungry yet feel nauseous when I eat.  Hey, that sounds like the first trimester.  Ha.  That is how I always react to colds.  While I hoped to be really productive this week with Jack's pool party coming up, I've been only mildly productive (and my house is showing it...).  So when I felt all right enough yesterday and the weather was warm, Chris was eager to get out of the house and go to Busch Gardens.

Obviously, I can't ride anything except for the sky ride (which I kind of regretted) and train, but there's a bit for Eliot to do, and it really is fun just being at a theme park.  Eliot gets so excited to go to Busch Gardens and names all of the rides.  He is utterly fearless with rides, but the really weird thing is that when he is on a ride, he looks stone cold, serious-faced, like he is waiting in line or something.  And when he gets off, he says he had fun.  Well, OK!

Can you believe he went up in that thing and was just like, "Whatever..."

Chris was of course very considerate all day and checked constantly on how I was doing, offering to take breaks, get water, get food, or anything else I needed.  He carried Eliot on his shoulders all day, rode everything he could with Eliot, and chased Eliot around.  After three hours in the sun, all of us were just done.  That's why I feel old:  because a younger (less pregnant) Katie would have been able to stay all day and all night.  We had a lot of fun, though, and I was really surprised how Eliot did not have one single meltdown.  He waited his turn in line (even though the lines weren't long by any means).  He told us what he wanted to ride (the big roller coasters included), but didn't throw a fit when we said we had to move on.

Today, Chris is back at the yardwork and hopefully I'll find the energy to get this house straight.  It was supposed to be laundry day the other day, but I only managed to do two loads (and Chris did one of them).  Oops.

The Nursery

Jack's nursery has been together for a while, but I have a few "extra" things in there (like Chris's surfboard...), so it had been difficult to grab a few photos.  Alas, here it is!

I wanted to do an "underwater" theme for Jack, but I really didn't have to buy much at all.  We already had so much of it.  Chris and my mom painted the room a blue-grey back in February.

The crib is the same one Eliot used (ha.  He barely used it--he hated it).  Instead of getting lots of baby bedding with a quilt and all, I just bought a fitted sheet, baby blanket, and mobile from Babies R Us.  I also have a breathable bumper that I will put on later, but I plan to wash everything again closer to when Jack arrives.

These pictures don't look as crooked in real life.  Sigh.  I'm not great at hanging pictures, and while the frames look the same, one has a bracket to hang and one has a wire, so it's kind of weird.  Anyway, they came from Berkley Illustrations.  They used to be hanging in our downstairs bathroom at the old house.

This is what you see when you enter the room.  It looks a little bare and unfocused since we don't have a dresser for Jack, but we'll get him one eventually and it will look more complete.  I'm just having Eliot and Jack share a dresser for a while.

I used this same rocking chair for Eliot.  My mom used it for my sister and me, and my sister used it for my niece and nephew.  I plan to order a cushion for it--maybe I'll do that today.  The pictures came from Studio Tuesday on Etsy.  I had them hanging in the playroom at the old house, but I liked how aquatic they were for Jack's room.  The lamp actually goes more with the next photo and came from Target.

I got this stand when I went away to college and have used it for many different purposes.  It served as a dresser in my dorm.  It was a bookcase at our apartment when we first got married.  I used it as an end table too.  It held Eliot's toys in the playroom at our old house.  Now it holds Jack's toys and maybe some essentials for the middle of the night, like diapers.  I had posted the whale painting when we announced Jack's name, but I painted it with water colors and also made one for Eliot's room.

I'm really happy with how the nursery came out.  Almost everything was re-purposed and fit perfectly.  I guess moving helped with that since I didn't have a specific place in mind for the prints I already had--which fit with the underwater theme.  The only things I bought were the bedding, mobile, rockingchair cushion (soon, I hope), hamper (which Jack and Eliot are sharing and Eliot's old one broke in the move), and lamp, I think.

Second Baby; Second Chances: The Hospital Bag

I've been getting painful contractions every now and then.  They last a minute or so and are close together, but they don't progress enough to be "real".  With four to five weeks left, I'm not very worried about going into early labor (or even labor on my own) with Jack based on both my medical past and family history, but for peace of mind I plan to get our hospital bag kind of together this week.

I was all kinds of nervous about everything with Eliot, including the simple act of packing a hospital bag.  Perhaps my worries of the unknown with giving birth for the first time were being expressed by my desire to "get right" what I could control.  And that was the contents of my hospital bag.

I totally overpacked.

And when my doctor said, "You're going to the hospital for an emergency induction.  Don't even go home.  Don't even go get your bag.  Go straight to the hospital.  Go.  RIGHT NOW!"  Well, that made me realize how little "control" that bag actually symbolized.  At the time, we lived a mile from the hospital, so my doctor then said it was fine to stop by the house real quick, but we should hurry.

In my first bag, I included items that seem silly now, like a bathing suit (hey, they kept saying during our hospital tour how awesome birthing pools are!) and a curling iron.  I wanted to look my best for all of these important pictures, but I didn't even shower until the morning we left.  Next time, I'll shower earlier because it makes you feel so much better, but I felt like I couldn't pry myself away.  Also, some people suggest bringing movies, which could work, I suppose.  Chris brought The OC.  Really, though, he was so captivated by Eliot that Marissa shooting Trey seemed irrelevant.  Instead, he watched football at one point while cuddling with Eliot.

I also left out some important items.  I didn't have a nightgown for the hospital, so I felt strapped to the bed (I didn't want everyone to see my bare backside in the hospital gown and for some reason didn't put on two like they suggest!).  I didn't have nursing pads for my bra (I had been too embarrassed to buy them).  And I didn't have back-up batteries for our camera's flash, which promptly died.  I didn't bring Eliot mittens because I didn't realize how much he'd be scratching his face.

So, this time around, I have new hospital bag plans:

For mom, nightgown (I actually got a little dress on sale from Old Navy because I couldn't find a good nightgown), nursing bra, nursing pads, socks, going home outfit (sweatpants and a tee-shirt for me), deodorant, a hair tie or two, toothbrush and toothpaste, soap and shampoo if the hospital does not supply them.

For dad, a couple of tee-shirts and a pair of pants, deodorant, shared soap and shampoo.

For baby, a photo outfit, a going home outfit, mittens (2), socks (2), baby hat (2), shoes, boppy, carseat, baby blanket, swaddling blanket (2 or 3), burp cloths (2 or 3).

For everyone, cell phones and charger, laptop and charger, camera with extra batteries, camera memory card reader, some snacks (like cereal bars).

The hospital generally provides diapers, wipes, a hat, receiving blankets, and white onesies, so much of these items are optional, non-essential, and for fun.  I mean, you don't even need underwear (because you won't be wearing your underwear anyway).  If you forget something, Dad can swing by the house or someone else can easily pick it up for you.  No reason to fret over the hospital bag--just bring the essentials.

The Week

I had a really productive week and was feeling all kinds of energetic.  The spring semester ended, so I was focusing on summer courses beginning.  Chris so kindly took Eliot to Busch Gardens by himself for the day in hopes that I could get more writing done and respond to my committee members' feedback on my dissertation.  I had more editing to do than I realized, and the proposal manuscript that I sent on was 66 pages (my previous proposal had been 50 pages and then 56 pages...).

When I wasn't writing feverishly, Chris and I worked to get the yard more in order, and I watched him play with Eliot in the pool.  It has been kind of rainy, so we haven't done as much garden work as usual.  And then we've been enjoying some time together at night since Eliot has been going to bed easier, faster, and at a reasonable time.

My productive week ended just as the weekend started as I lost all motivation.  Out of nowhere, Eliot got sick with this cold.  When he gets a cold, he has a rough night of sleep the first night.  He was waking up gagging every 45 minutes, so he really didn't sleep--and neither did I.  The next morning, Chris had a 10k to run and Eliot was going to do a kids' run.  I was so sad that I couldn't go along with Chris because Eliot was so not feeling well.  Chris did an amazing job, though.  He ran the same race last year, but this year he ran five minutes faster (a 7:20 mile pace for 6.2 miles!).  By the time Chris got home, Eliot was feeling well enough to play, and Chris's mom and sister came in town for a quick visit.  Eliot loves the extra playmates and bossing around his "mawmaw and 'izbeth".

Today we hung around the house, ate watermelon, and Chris grilled us all an awesome lunch before his mom and sister left.  Chris was excited to wear his new Hawaiian shirt, which I think is silly, but he thinks it is funny.  All right...

Maybe I caught a little bit of Eliot's cold or maybe it's been all the writing or maybe I'm just pregnant, but this weekend I have been so exhausted.  My sleepless Friday night probably didn't help.  I can't seem to get myself going.  I'm hoping tonight I'll get some good rest and be back at it on Monday.  I just need to be able to make it through next weekend.  After that, I'll make a list of the final baby things we need, wash Jack's clothes, and do all of the final organizing in his room.  Then I can officially hibernate until Jack comes.  About four and a half more weeks...  It's getting close!

34 Weeks

Just a little over a month left!

I got so excited after my last doctor's appointment because I started breaking everything down by weeks.  Suddenly, Jack being here doesn't seem so far!
-At 35 weeks, I will have a doctor's appointment and the Group B Strep test.
-At 36 weeks, I will have just had Jack's pool party.  We've definitely been looking forward to that as a big event.  We keep saying, "Let's finish this project before Jack's party."  It's to the point that I don't know what we'll do after the party--but I probably won't want to do anything.  At my 36-week appointment, we'll have an ultrasound!  I had three ultrasounds with Eliot (and the last one was an emergency type situation the day I was induced), and now this will be FIVE with Jack.  I truly appreciate how the doctors here take more precautions.  They give everyone a 36-week ultrasound, and to me that seems like a good idea.
-At 37 weeks, I will have another appointment and can schedule my induction if I am going to be induced at 39 weeks.  I'll also learn if I am progressing any.
-At 38 weeks, it'll be another appointment, checking my progress, and scheduling my induction if I plan to wait until 40 weeks.  By this point, I'll be going crazy, but it will be pretty much over.

I have to be honest here and say that the looming July due date didn't always bring me peace.  It scared me because of my dissertation.  It has been hard to write with a toddler, and I know it will be more difficult with both a toddler and a newborn.  I know I can do it, but I also knew that I really needed to finish my proposal before the baby came or I'd keep putting it all off.  My proposal itself is 58 pages long, and without getting into too many details, the remaining work requires a lot of steps and, yes, work, but it is more "auto pilot" in a way than the proposal has been.  I finished my proposal one week ago.  My committee is offering some light feedback and then we're hoping I can defend it before Jack comes.  If not, it isn't too big of a deal.  I'm just glad the proposal itself is written with some minor revisions remaining that I will get to this week.  With that behind me, I am able to relax and focus on Jack coming.

With Eliot at this point, I didn't want to do much more than lay around.  This time, though, I am itching to remain active.  We work in the yard pretty much every day, which has been eventful enough to keep me from feeling like we never leave the house.  Sometimes I find myself regretting it, though, because I end up with pains.  I went to the beach last week and tried to drink water and snack constantly, but still got sick in the car (after only staying an hour).  I was getting a lot of contractions for a few days, and Chris kept saying he was taking me to the hospital.  I said I was doing too much; Chris said I wasn't drinking enough water; the doctor said both at my 33-week appointment.  So, I've been drinking exclusively water lately and one glass of lemonade with dinner.  The other morning, it rained so we couldn't do much yard work.  I had done my work for my job before Eliot woke up.  After the sun came out, I settled into the hammock and Eliot fell asleep cuddling my legs.  I lay in that hammock for about an hour doing nothing, just looking up at the leaves in the Japanese maples above me and the palms around the pool.  It was great to have one hour to myself to relax, feel my older son sleeping on me and my younger son squirming inside, and not worry about or do anything.

I think that my appetite is increasing some.  I am eating larger portions than before, which are still a little less than I'd eat non-pregnant.  If I splurge, I feel so blerg that I can't find the motivation to do anything at all, not even (or especially not) dishes.  Chris has taken over dish duty in the evenings because I'm just so done by then.  My weight is doing OK, though, I think.  Over a couple of months, I wasn't gaining much (a pound every two weeks?) despite eating frequent, small meals; however, I think I'm at about 20 pounds gained, maybe a little less, so I am on pace to be at a good place when Jack comes.  For a long while, I had been craving icy, sour things, but lately, I don't know, nothing sounds great.  We tried splitting a blue raspberry drink from Dunkin Donuts between the three of us the other night to celebrate finishing the spring semester, but, meh, I'm just not into it anymore.  That's actually probably a good thing.  I'll just try to focus on drinking more water in the meantime.

Summer is my favorite season.  The beach, the pool, the warmth, the fruit, eating outside...  I was kind of worried about Jack coming right in the middle of the summer because I thought I'd feel too horrible at the end of my pregnancy to enjoy any of the usual summer activities and that then I'd have my hands full adjusting to a newborn.  I worried the summer would breeze by and we'd be stuck in another long, cold, nasty winter.  However, we've been doing a LOT of work to make our backyard into a tropical oasis, so I honestly don't even miss the beach too much.  And, you know, we might figure something out beach-wise too.  Until then, just stepping into our backyard is enough to make it feel like I'm at a resort.

This pregnancy, I have lived in four tank tops, two shirts, a pair of leggings, and two pairs of jeggings.  I also have a pair of non-maternity shorts that fit OK.  Instead of buying maternity shorts, I cut off one of the pairs of jeggings.  At first, it felt short-sighted.  Then I remembered that I won't be pregnant come fall when the weather grows cooler.  Well, it didn't work out as awesome as I hoped (the shorts are kind of too tight around my legs since they were jeggings), but it's nice to have another option.

Jack is moving a lot, especially when I eat.  I say that every time, but he is.  I love feeling him punch and kick and shift around.  It really blows my mind that he is in there--I never fully comprehend pregnancy.

When I break down the weeks and all of the exciting things we have going on, it feels like Jack will be here in no time.  In fact, it seems like it is just days away.  I hope it keeps feeling that way so I don't go too nuts waiting.  I am feeling antsy in my own skin.  It's not that I dislike being pregnant or that I even want it to end immediately necessarily, but I'm just ready to meet our boy.  I worried so much about missing feeling Eliot move at the end of my pregnancy--I thought I'd wake up the next morning and feel sad.  I was wrong.  Not only did I not wake up (because I never fell asleep), but I didn't miss being pregnant at all.  I was too captivated by our new baby boy.  I know it will be the same again, but that doesn't mean I'm not trying to hang on to each moment of this pregnancy and feeling for each kick.  That antsy feeling, though, it lingers still.  Just five or six more weeks.  Getting there.

Transition Away from Co-sleeping: Regression and Progress

I have written before about why we decided to co-sleep, our sleep battles in attempts to transition Eliot out of our bed, our most recent transition away from co-sleeping, and my search for new tools.  

Eliot recently turned from a not good sleeper into the worst sleeper.  The worst!  He kept creeping into our bed earlier and earlier.  Getting him to sleep for his nap and at bedtime was taking longer, requiring more wrestling (yes, I'd have to pin him down), and resulting in more tears (mostly his, but sometimes mine too).  At night, he'd wake up once an hour and a half or so.  I mean, full-on sit up in bed, talk a little, and then go back to sleep.  When he was asleep, he had to be holding onto me and was kicking Chris so badly that I was either constantly pulling Eliot away from Chris or Chris was actually getting up in the middle of the night to go sleep in Eliot's bed.

I'm all about co-sleeping if it is working and everyone is happy, but it wasn't working and no one was happy.  With a third trimester pregnancy belly and the burning need to change positions and use the bathroom, I was so uncomfortable.  I would wake up aching and my bladder felt neglected because I was trying nottt to get up to avoid disturbing my toddler (who would then greatly disturb my husband).  I was worrying all the time about how in the world this would work with a newborn--and time was running out.

I felt at a loss.  I tried everything I could think of.  And that's when Eliot tried some things I didn't want to.

In a matter of a week, Eliot stopped napping and using a paci.  Surely, I thought these things would make my life harder.  He's a mess without a nap--a really crazy mess running around my house throwing things.  However, without the nap, he started sleeping more soundly at night and didn't need the nap and no longer turned into a wild thing at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm.

We still have an afternoon "rest" time.  He does get tired around his old nap time, but doesn't act up.  I give him some milk and we cuddle while watching tv or reading books.  He rests for about 40 minutes or so, and then is back at it.  This down time seems to help.

As for the paci, we had lost them all, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  I thought it was going to be bad and hard and a fight.  But he just went to sleep without it.  He does wake up once at night without it, though.  He cries and cries until I get him something to drink.  I'm probably perpetuating a bad habit, but you try dealing with a hysterical, crying toddler in the middle of the night.  I've let him carry on for two hours (holding him and rocking him) and he doesn't stop until I get him some milk.  Honestly, I think he is hungry, so I've been trying to get him to eat an extra snack before bed and have a banana or a banana smoothie for the melatonin.  That actually seems to help.  Also, I'll slowly work the milk down and switch to water.  And then work the water down.  Or, if little dude just has to have water in the middle of the night for a while, I really don't care.  I'll deal with that whenever we switch out of nighttime diapers--and we haven't even started potty training.

So, what used to take 15-40 minutes of holding, sometimes crying, sometimes wrestling now just takes about 10 minutes of snuggling.  Whaaa?  All because Eliot no longer naps or uses a paci?

This might sound like the same old story from me, but lately I have been laying down with him in his bed to get to sleep around 9:30 pm.  He always says he wants to sleep in the big bed instead, but he drifts off without a fuss.  Then I leave.  And he wakes up around 4:00 am.  I try to get him back down.  Sometimes he needs the milk, sometimes he goes back to sleep, but this is usually when he gets in our bed.  Then he wakes up for the day around 8:00 or 9:00 am.

I said last time that I didn't mind him getting in our bed in the early morning.  I really don't.  I just wanted him to go to sleep faster (not 40 minutes) and stay asleep in his bed until 4:00 am--none of this asleep at 11:00 pm, wake up at 12:30 am, and then get in our bed at 2:00 am stuff.  And somehow without the nap and maybe the paci, he is sleeping better.  And the 4:00 am thing is working well enough, especially since he isn't kicking or demanding to hold onto me all the time.  While he isn't an independent sleeper all the way, we're at a really good place finally, I think.

p.s. If you were wondering how the weighted blanket worked from my last sleep post, well, it just didn't work out for us.  Eliot doesn't like blankets to begin with and wasn't a fan.  Maybe it'll help a little later.

So Grown Yet So Small

When I look at this picture, I see how grown my boy has become right in front of me.  He knows what he wants and tells us exactly what that is.  He is capable of so much and needs me less and less.  He has his momma's nose, daddy's serious expressions and eyebrows, and both of our tenacity (that we usually try to keep in check when at odds with each other--which fortunately doesn't happen often).

With Jack on the way soon, I know Eliot will seem less and less like the baby of the family, and I'm not quite ready to let my first-born grow up.  Where has the time gone? 

Don't get me wrong.  Two is a lot of fun.  Hard sometimes, but I love sharing life with him and watching his eyes light up.  He's more aware, understands what is going on, and gets excited.  These are experiences you can't share with an infant.

And then I realize that he is that toddler eating all of the strawberries at the you-pick patch.  Sure, he's putting them in the bucket too, but then taking them out and eating them.  And while I tried to stop our little strawberry thief, I am reminded that he's still so small--he's still a baby in many ways with that baby face.