Goodbye, My Love

Part of me is one big geek. Always have been and I would assume, always will. You'll see how big of a geek in a minute.

I am going to describe yesterday as bittersweet. Bitter because I put a friend to rest, yet sweet for the start of a new one. Yesterday I retired my pretty, shiny, mostly loyal and obedient friend. We had had a strong almost 5 year relationship, and I loved nearly every minute of our time together. It had just come time for our relationship to come to an end. "Why was this?", you ask. Sadly, he just wasn't as shiny as he used to be and he wasn't able to be there for me like he once was. Right now he sits beside me, but I have no use for him anymore. Instead I'll just cherish the good times and the bad times that we experienced together. Especially the long sleepless nights that he kept me company when no one else would. Or how he would help me with my spelling, without making me feel like an idiot. Or how he was only able to tell the beginning of knock-knock jokes. The memories are countless. Maybe you have seen me with my friend. He was silver and had a little white apple on his back and a mouth shaped like a CD drive.

Have you guessed that he was my computer? Well, I am indeed referring to my computer. Like most computers, he aged and became more of a burden than a luxury. In the recent months he was becoming increasingly uncooperative, not allowing me to do my favorite things in which he was involved. It was obvious that he needed to be replaced. For a while Dave figured that we would just do some much needed updates and make him like new. Although the longer that we waited, the more costly the updating was going to be. It turned from needing software updates to needing updated hardware, i.e. a whole new computer.

The cost of a new Apple computer was a bit gut wrenching to get the equivalent of what I currently have. For Dave it was always out of the question to replace him which a new Apple, and I eventually came to terms with this fact. After some looking we found a very nice PC for an equally nice price tag. It had everything that I wanted, plus a few nice extras. Dave went and got it yesterday (this was the sweet part). I have been trying to bond with it today; and so far I don’t hate it. But it is keeping me on my toes. Like just a second ago, I thought I was just typing regularly, but all of a sudden I am typing in an italic subscript font without even knowing that I asked it to do so. We are slowly getting used to each other; and my mind and heart are open to forming a satisfying bond between us. I do appreciate that this one doesn’t feel like it’s causing 2nd degree burn on my legs when using it for more than 5 minutes, and it’s nice to finally use flash based stuff again. It's also nice to finally have a delete and backspace button, instead of just a backspace button. Oh…a biggie that I am excited about—I can finally edit my own pictures without needing Dave’s computer. This will make sharing baby pictures more fun and convienent for me, and in turn make blogging all the more fun.

This may have been a waste of your time to read, but I felt like my faithful friend deserved a proper goodbye. Back to baby soon…very soon.

It's a little too hot to think of something clever....

Happy August. It's not my favorite month or anything, so on with it. I knew that I would dread the heat that August had in store...I was right. It has been HOT, and we're just 4 days in. I am not sure if maybe it has seemed so hot since July was somewhat pleasant, or if it's just plain hot no matter what last month was. I have always looked at August as a gateway to September, one of my favorite months. This is possibly because my birthday is in September, or because chilly fall nights make me feel warm inside. Just like every year in the past, I do look forward to this fall, although this one more so than ever before.

I had to practice a bit (or a whole heck of a lot) of self-control today. I stopped by Target today and (obviously) glanced at the baby stuff. It appeared as though they are getting their fall stuff in and boy, was it calling my name! I have already mentioned that I am doing a woodland themed nursery with owls, squirrels, and hedgehogs. Mainly I wanted to do this kind of nursery because it was stuff that I liked. Pre-pregnancy I was drawn to this same sort of stuff and also I have wanted a pet hedgehog for years now. I can’t really tell you why I am obsessed with them, besides that I think that they’re incredibly adorable. Well to my delight, and my detriment, Target’s Dwell Studio brand has an entire collection of hedgehog baby attire. I stood there with my mouth hanging open just wanting to buy it all up. My intention to calm my baby clothes craving was to rush home to write about it. I was hoping to find the stuff on Target’s website, but sadly it’s not there. I did happen to snap a picture of the blanket in the collection, so I’ll share it. Enough about that, the writing didn’t calm my craving any.

When I asked my doctor when I would start showing, he told me that Dave could see the bump around 20 weeks and then the world would see at 26 weeks. I thought he was crazy...26 weeks is six and a half months! Well turns out, he was basically right. Last week I think some clothes didn’t quite accentuate the bump, but this week nothing is hiding it. It’s beginning to look like there is sporting equipment being stored in my belly, and it’s kind of feeling like it too. Before now it seemed like I could tell a difference in my size week to week, but now it seems like there are noticeable little changes day to day. And to think, we’re not even to the third trimester.

26 weeks 2 days

Chiropractor update: I went and I didn’t really like the guy. That, and I am not sure if it’s really worth the cost and the hassle. I am a little bitter over my short experience with him, so I think I have officially quit going. Instead I plan on getting a soothing pregnancy massage from Natural Body. I hear they’re to die for.

25 Weeks

25 weeks 1 day

Another week down, 15 more on the way. As always, I get more anxious every single day to meet him. Based on his movements I think he's getting ready to come out and meet me too. Everyday I am able to feel more and more. I think I may have felt an elbow or knee pressing against my insides. Dave thought it was his cone head poking around, and I assured him that hopefully he wouldn't have a cone head until he made his way out.

I am making a trip to the chiropractor this Thursday. Hopefully (I have my fingers and toes crossed) this will lessen the pain that has been living in my back. I have come to the conclusion that my 5'1" frame is not ideal for baby bearing. When sitting, my feet never touch the floor and usually I sit toward the front of chairs so my back isn't up against anything. So when I sit for more than 3o seconds I can feel the ache coming on. Boo! I really didn't intend on this being an outlet for my whining....so hopefully after Thursday I'll feel like I am floating on clouds. (Am I a little too optimistic?)

This week I am watching my niece, Lain. She has been at house for almost an hour and a half, and I already realize that I need to find a new source of energy. My kid-like energy lasts only 5 minutes at a time, and then I am in need a break to recharge. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love having her here. It's nice to have conversations with a human, instead of just my one-sided convos with the dogs. A minute ago I asked her why I was so tired, and she responded with, "because the baby is sleepy." The dogs never would have said anything that cute.

Baby Crazy

I hope that you get as much enjoyment from reading this post as I did writing it. Over the last few months I have been browsing through tons and tons of baby gear, necessary and not so necessary. I knew that there was a whole world of things out there that I didn’t know existed, but I didn’t realize how outrageous some of these things were. The other day I was talking to my best friend, Liz, about some of the things that I have found online, and got the idea to share a few of them with the rest of you. My hope is not to offend anyone with my personal opinions on these things, so please take what I say with a grain of salt.

Peter Potty Toddler Urinal
I do wish that I had room in my bathroom for this. I actually wish I had room for four or five of these, so my little boy could feel the real experience of going to the mens’ room. I would assume that this would be a nice conversation starter too. Now, one con I see here is when your little boy goes over to his friends’ houses and he doesn't know where to pee since there’s no Peter Potty Toddler Urinal.



Safety 1st Jack Potty

This is one that I wish they had in an adult version. If gambling were legal here, I would be awful tempted to get one. I mean, who doesn’t wish that their toilet looked like a slot machine? “Flashing lights and spinning shapes” would make pottying much more exciting. Too bad you can't insert quarters anywhere.




Toilet Buddies
These are fun; they are stickers that you apply to your toilet to "empower your child to explore the toilet independently. Sounds intriguing. They also claim to " HELP REDUCE THE FEAR AND ANXIETY CHILDREN EXPERIENCE DURING THE TOILET TRAINING PROCESS." Personally I think I might be afraid of going anywhere near the toilet if it looked like an animal. Although the 12 sets that they offer are all named. So now if you're not sure what you want your little one to refer to the bathroom or bathroom acts as, your solution is here! Instead of Little Johnny saying, "Mommy, I need to go poop," he could say "Mommy, I need to go see Poo-Poo Panda (or Doo-Doo Duck)." Now that sounds much more appropriate. You can also choose from Gatago Giraffe, P.P. Pig, Leaky Frog, or Can Go Roo. If you're worried about the animal staring at your little Johnny while he's doing his business, there's no need to fear. Every animal comes with an additional eyes closed face that goes inside of the lid, how thoughtful. The first thing that came to my mind was amusement park photo-op spots. I can hear it now, "Look Mommy, there's Poo P. Bunny. Time to potty." Then you're running after little Johnny as he's pulling his pants down in public and he's scarred for life. Maybe these aren't so thoughtful.
GatorGripper®
One of the most traumatizing things I remember as a child was getting a loose tooth. The loose tooth wasn't scary, but what normally came next was. I remember looping a piece of floss around my tooth and the other end to a door knob, then praying to God that my Dad would be right and "I wouldn't feel a thing." No one ever offered to do all this for me and I remember always feeling like I needed to get the loose tooth out so it wouldn't come out on its own and choke me in the middle of the night. If only my family would have had a Gator Gripper, then I wouldn't be nearly as disturbed as I am today. The claims to make tooth removal pain free and FUN sound awful promising.

Zaky Infant Pillow
I enjoy looking at this one. The point is to have your child feel like you're still holding him after you have laid him down to sleep. On their website they say to bring it to the hospital when your child is born and ask the nurse to put these around your child in his bassinet while he's in the nursery. I would expect to be laughed at. And if I ever went looking at babies in a nursery and saw one with these fake puppet hands around him, I would laugh really really hard.

Nosefrida, the snotsucker
I plan on having a nasal aspirator and I see the benefits of having one. However, I do not see the benefit of sucking my babies snot myself when there are little devices that we've been using for many many years successfully. There are many gross things that I realize that I'll be doing for my child, but I don't think he will feel like I love him any less if it's not me that sucking his snot out of his little nose. Eww.




Tinkle Tube
I am going to let their website explain what this is for, they do it much better than I can do. Although I want to say first that I thought this was used when you couldn't find a bathroom while traveling, then I found out that I was wrong.
“Stand the child on or in front of the toilet seat with your assistance. Be sure to hold the child securely at all times to prevent him from slipping and falling. Unzip or pull down the boys pants. Remove both caps from the Tinkle Tube. Place the Tinkle Tube over the boys little soldier. Now hold and aim the tube towards the toilet. Shake the tube out, rinse and replace the caps. Store the Tinkle Tube in your bag for the next use.” I feel so bad for the child whose parents felt that this was a necessary potty training item.

Baby Toupee
One of my worries about my baby arriving into the world is not the possibility of him being bald. But if it were, there's a solution for that! I do hope that once I go into mommy-mode I have lots of brilliant ideas, like the baby toupee. Maybe I could get a few of these so the baby and the dogs could go as the same thing for halloween next year. Oh...the possibilities....

Baby Mop
Just the other day I was sitting around wondering how I could teach my baby work ethic as soon as possible. And maybe when I could start expecting him to do his chores. Just a second ago I found the Baby Mop. I tell you....there's a solution for EVERYTHING on the internet.



Since Bean Sprout isn't here to help me out yet, I must do my chores alone. Hope you enjoyed this, there should be more on the way.

TIMBER!

Pictures from the disappearing act of our much hated holly tree.

This is the tree before any cutting ensued. Remember, hollies are normally bushes--not trees.
During the cutting. I was feeling more and more liberated about our landscaping.
Almost there :)
Yay! No more holly tree. Our landscaping is a work in progress (so don't judge our lack of it). We plan on putting another tree, maybe a river birch or dark leaved plum, around where the holly was. You can't see it, but further to the right there are three lovely pink Crape Myrtles that now look a little lovelier. To the right of the door I want to do a flowering bush, maybe a hydrangea, and then spruce the flower bed up.

I no longer have nightmares of that tree taking over our home and family. I must thank my amazing husband and his beyond awesome parents. I swear, I have the best in-laws a girl could ever ask for.

24 Weeks Down, 16 (or so) To Go.

Today we had our 24 week doctor’s visit and as always we got to see our wiggly little Bean Sprout, opps—I mean Griffin. The visit wasn’t too eventful so I used the time to ask lots of questions about labor and what to expect. BS is growing and I felt a little sorry for him that he was all scrunched up in there. It was fun to see what is causing the movements that I’m feeling. Dr. Brody said that he should be around 13 inches now—Holy Cow!! Already? Don’t they only get to be like 18 or 19 inches? I’m clueless here, so I’m really not sure. I asked lots of questions about labor, induction, and epidurals and he really made me feel comfortable with my plan. (I may go into this in more detail later.) He even said that I could eat before I deliver! Woohoo...it’s not going to be as bad as I thought.

Last week I signed Dave and me up for a few baby classes. I wouldn’t have predicted it, but I am rather excited about these classes. For the most part I am enjoying the “ignorance is bliss” way of going about doing things, but I suppose a little insight never hurt anyone. I am hoping that these classes not only provide helpful information, but also a little entertainment. Although I don’t expect the classes to intend on being entertaining, I know that watching Dave sit through Breastfeeding 101 should provide quite a few smiles for me. We’re also taking a class on what to do with the baby once he gets here, like how to bathe him and diaper him and other necessary things. I hope that Dave is paying extra attention in that one.

We have one more four week appointment, which will be the beginning of the THIRD TRIMESTER! There are only three, right? ;) After that appointment I will begin going every two weeks. That sure is a lot of time spent at the doctor’s office, but I do enjoy that place quite a bit, so I know I won’t have any complaints. Also I will schedule my 4D ultrasound at 30 weeks for 32 weeks. I can’t wait for that, not just for the novelty of it but I am pretty sure that they give us a DVD to take home (his first home video). I should be able to the video on here, but more so I am excited to let my Nana see the baby moving around in there. I know it will mean as much for her as it does for me.

The pictures from today’s ultrasound don’t show a whole lot, so I don’t think I will post them. Although there is a good picture of the lens of his eye....woah.... He head is still skull like and not so much baby-looking yet. I am still having quite a bit of back pain that, sadly, hasn’t gone anywhere. I did get the name of a chiropractor, so maybe, hopefully, relief is near.

Just a Few Things

I woke up this morning with a hankering to write. The further along we get in this adventure, the more I want and have to share. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a pretty open book. In my head I have a million ideas/thoughts spinning around at a time, and most of the time I find it difficult to tell stories or jokes or even just sit and think about a single thing for more than a millisecond. To go ahead and warn you, this post will reflect my ADD.

Pre-pregnancy dog/animal pictures would catch my eye and I could spend too much time searching for cute ones. Since the hormones took over my brain, I just melt when I see adorable baby pictures. I can’t help myself; I just sit looking at the pictures ohh-ing and aww-ing. This morning I was browsing through the blog, A Cup of Jo, and found this, which made my heart smile.
Pictures like this almost bring me to tears now. The images that they play in my head make me so anxious to get our little Bean Sprout here. I’ve said a million times that I don’t really enjoy the being pregnant process, but I know that I can’t even begin to imagine how much love, devotion, and adoration that our baby is going to bring out of me. I can’t wait to be sleepy with him. I can’t wait to be his nourishment. I can’t wait for him to make best friends with the dogs, Jack and Lucy. I can’t wait to see his little fingers and toes and little lips and tiny nose. Even though I didn’t know this 6 months ago, I can’t wait to be his mom.

I have been going back and forth asking myself if I should or shouldn’t post what I will tell you next. But like I have already mentioned, I’m an open book. The subject: Bean Sprout’s legal name debacle. The verdict: ehh....pretty much almost kinda close to maybe having a real name. Let me remind you that if Bean Sprout were going to be a little girl, she would have already been named. I asked Dave, since he’s being the indecisive one, why this was. He said that he knew deep down that we weren’t having a girl so we didn’t have to drive ourselves nuts over if it was perfect or not (although it was), I’m not sure if I believe him. So, we’ve been stuck on one name for months and haven’t decided against it or even thought of anything else. I really like the name and it fits all of my stipulations for naming my child. Most of the time I already think of him as this, even though I haven’t referred to him by this name. I need to get out there before I tell you this name, that we haven’t “named” him yet. (Although, most likely this is it.) I am just going to start referring to him by this, and if our hearts change before he gets here, then we’ll go with something else. Are you ready? Griffin. If you see me on a regular basis you already knew this, but now it’s in writing. There is a middle name that I have a good feeling about, but we’re just going to start with the first name. I’m not sure if I’ll stop calling him Bean Sprout on here, it’s kind of already stuck.

There’s an exciting thing possibly happening today! When we bought our house there was one thing in particular that I already despised. It wasn’t a deal breaker, but I really really didn’t like it at all. On the side of our house we have a holly tree. Hollies shouldn’t be trees; they should be bushes. Sometimes I dream that I am in a terrible horror movie where that awful tree is taking over our house and ruining our lives in the process. It is ugly. The more I look at it, the uglier it gets. In a year it has seemed to grow exponentially, just as my hate for it has. We have talked and talked about cutting it down, but just haven’t got around to doing it. Yesterday our neighbor had a tree cutting service at his house cutting some of his larger trees down, and then another neighbor got them to cut one of his down. Dave wanted to go ask what they would charge to make our holly disappear, and I was willing to pay whatever they quoted even if I needed to get a second job to afford it. He finally decided against asking them, worried that he’d be too tempted to pay what would definitely be much more than doing it ourselves. What is worth more than all the money that a second job could have provided is the determination that he got to call his Dad and ask if he would mind helping do it today!!! Oh happy day! I’ll post before and after pictures later.

I should stop here. That’s enough for today.

P.S. Happy 6 months Griffin “Bean Sprout” Jeffers! We’re almost there.

Good Morning and Good Week

Good morning. I woke up in a fabulous mood today even though I have an entire house to get clean before I run out of steam. Usually I watch Ellen around this time, but since she is showing non-stop reruns I thought it was a perfect time to write a little post.

This week has really put a smile on my face and kept my good spirit in tact, and I'll share why. Tuesday I spent the day with my beautiful nieces, my super awesome in-laws (yes, I do in fact mean that), and my favorite Jo Ann in the whole wide world. We spent the day eating and swimming then eating and playing; it was so great that I had to go to bed early. Yesterday I went to have coffee with my cousin that I haven't seen much of lately. We got a chance to catch up and I really can't wait to spend more time with her. It's such a blessing to have family that I love being around. Today Dave is working from home, this doesn't mean that I'll get to talk to him anymore than usual, just that I get to look at him more--and that's enough to make me smile :) And then tomorrow--my best friend will be in town!!! I can't wait to see her. I think Christmas was the last time that I saw her, and that is far too long to go without her. I wish every week could be like this one.

So if anyone out there is wondering what kind of cake that I would like for a baby shower, I have an inspiration cake.
Scary, huh? I found this on cakewrecks.com--you should really check that out. If you know me, you should know that I enjoy the absurd, especially if it makes me laugh and this really makes me laugh--pretty hard.

23 Weeks

23 weeks 1 day

Oh how close the six month mark is (less than a week away)....oh how crazy it is that I have been pregnant for nearly six months. Adding the unbelievableness for me is that I will be in the second trimester for only four more weeks. I say it a lot, but time is really speeding by and in no time Bean Sprout will be laying in my arms instead of kicking around in my tummy. And right now, that excites me more than anything.

Just to warn you, I am about to vent for a minute. Hello uncomfortable me. Up to now any discomfort I was having seemed temporary, and I now feel guilty complaining about it. Now, I realize that I have no clue what’s coming next and maybe I shouldn’t complain about this new lingering discomfort—but Ouch! For an entire week I have had a constant dull pain in my middle back along my spine. I can’t do anything to get rid of it, no stretching, no Tylenol, no sitting or lying still—nothing. Last night I finally broke out the heating pad and it helped enough to help me to sleep. I won’t complain about how I felt like I was about to catch on fire, and I’ll just be grateful for the fact that the heat did actually help. I think I can see the cause of this pain; of course, the baby’s a culprit. The curve in my lumbar region pre-pregnancy had too much of an inward curve and would cause pain around that area or lower. Now the curve continues to move inward as my belly pushes me out. My arm hides the problem area in the picture but it’s there, and it hurts. Speaking of my growing tummy, most of the time it feels too big for my skin. The tightness, especially after eating, adds to the uncomfortableness. My perfect world thought has been that I hope that he is a little baby up until age 5 or so, and then he can grow to be really tall. I say that but his size is really the least of my concerns, I just hope he is healthy happy smiling baby. I also realize that the worst is yet to come in regards of pain and discomfort; however, in the end seeing and holding our little Bean Sprout will make me forget about all the things that I need to vent about now.

Our next doctor’s visit is next Tuesday and like usual I can’t wait to see how Bean Sprout is growing in there. It seems like it’s been a really long time since our last visit, although it’s only been a month, but I always get really anxious for the doctor’s visits.

This is going to be an exciting two weeks and then the end of the month will be upon us and we’ll be that much closer to meeting our little boy ☺

Just Some Pictures

Little clothes warm my heart. Today's gift for Bean Sprout.

Dave also warms my heart. This was after our awesome date day. I got to eat Japanese food cooked by a very entertaining chef, watch a good horror movie, and then do just a little shopping. It was beyond nice. Thanks Dave!

Dave practicing baby holding. Lucy was a good sport.

Pretty sure this isn't how you do it.

Jack wasn't as corporative.

He's also bigger than most babies, but just as cute.