33 Weeks, 4 Days

The nursery is finished!!

Mike finished late last night, with Jesse's help.

I even got them to move in X's GIGANTIC dresser and crib. Although Mike looked like he was about to cry and then saw the crib into pieces once he realized he had to take the whole thing apart to get it through the doorway. However, he actually took it apart and moved it.

Then came the annoying part.

Figuring out where to put the furniture. We tried a couple things, and finally came up with an okay set up. the more I looked at it, the more I like it....so I was pretty annoyed when at 8pm, he decided to take it into his own hands and rearrange it all to the most annoying set up ever, in my opinion.

He thinks of nothing but pure function and saving space, and making room on the floor, and how to get the most crap in there..

I think more of looks and function. I don't need 10 square feet of floor space, X is an infant..what does she need floor space for? When she needs floor space, she also won't need a glider and changing table. Presto. Space!

So, Mike shoved, and I mean, shoved every last piece of furniture into the two back corner, and left the whole front of the room BARE. I was almost in tears because I was exhausted and can't move the furniture myself...and he was not giving in.

It is now 9pm, and for those that know me well, this is past when I am typically in bed.

Finally, he told me the dresser had to stay where he had it, so in the spirit of compromise, he let me spread the rest of the furniture out so that the room was full, not packed in like a truck of mattresses driving to Mexico on a Saturday morning after garage saling.

BTW, I love how I type all this drama, and am not planning to post pictures because M is in there putting on a new door so I can't access the room...So, pictures will follow.

Mike's parents are on the road here right now. They should be here tomorrow afternoon at some point. B has been practicing saying grandma all the time for the occasion, including calling me grandma, however, I am sure once they arrive he won't speak.

They will be here Friday and Saturday for the soccer and Halloween festivities.

Jesse is finally feeling better from his sickness and the rest of us have been pumping vitamin C and multi-vitamins and washing hands like there is no tomorrow. Sp far, we have had much luck not getting sick (knock on wood).

I am feeling huge still, and a tiny bit worried because I don't really feel X like I was feeling her. I am hoping this is due to her growing and running out of room. I am still able to do kick counts, I just don't feel her as much or as strong.

I have a Dr's appt on Tuesday again so we will check with her on that as well.

It is freakish to think I had B at 36 weeks, which is only about 2 weeks from where I am with X now!

I am so ready. I don't think my back can hurt any more than it does right now. I hope it can't, at least because I can't handle much more pain than this, and my Tylenol every 4 hours on the dot is not working, and as of last night, the heating pad is not either.

At least it usually kicks in after lunch, so I have the mornings free :)

Aside from back pain and the odd return of morning sickness, I am feeling good, and my stomach makes a kick ass table, turns out.

33 Weeks, 2 Days

Funny husband comment of the day: "Hey, we don't have a spare mattress anywhere around here do we?"

Seriously?

Yes, I have a few California Kings out back.

So the room is painted and almost floored...finished tomorrow hopefully!

I am not posting and pics right now because it looks f'ing hideous.

Disclaimer: When we painted and floored the kids new rooms, all 3 of them looked like ass until the trim was in and then I loved them all, so I am not concerned.

I <3 the yellow color I picked out which is a HUGE relief.

The biggest issue I have with the room is the light, or lack of. Luckily we are punk rock rebels. The fixture calls for 2, 60 Watt bulbs, which was not working out for us, so we put in 2, 95 watt bulbs.

I love how M tells me it should be fine, I just can't leave the lights on unattended.

Question: What the hell am I supposed to do if I am in there attending the lights and fire spurts out of the ceiling?

I am sure we are fine, afterall, we are the same punk rock rebels who plug 746 strands of Christmas lights in to each other even through the directions say a maximum of like 4?

33 Weeks, 6 more to go

This weekend has been fairly productive. Yesterday, was a waste of work around here, but not a waste for Janee's soccer. Her team won. Again. 6-0. They are pretty much kicking ass this season.

Jesse is coming down with another heinous disease again.

We got home and, because we are huge baseball fans, gathered round the TV for the big Angel game only to find out is was cancelled. So it instead it turned into a lazy tv night for everyone.

Today, Jesse has been quarantined to his room, which for him is probably the best day of his life. No one lays around and does nothing but watch movies all day like Jesse does.

Mike has spent the day working on X's room so that I can get this shit:

out of my living room. Do you realize that this is the last remaining cluster of crap in my house? It has been so many months coming! I never thought this day would actually come.

Anyway, here is part of X's new ceiling:




The plan is to paint it a shade of near white. The walls will be a spontaneously picked out shade of yellow. I was debating between 107,000 shades of almost the same color of yellow, and was forced to pick one in about 3 seconds....under the flourescent lights of Home Depot, so I am crossing my fingers on this one. Mike estimates move in day to be Thursday/Friday.

I am feeling gignatic and was actually starting to feel relaxed about the fact that a new human will be in my care, so of course I had to whip myself into a needless frenzy again!

WTF happens if I go into labor before December 7th?

I am happily planning this C-section and what to do with kids, and meals, and sports, ect....What if X comes on the 2nd?

I <3>

Anyway, great news came to us last week. M's parents will be passing back through southern California after Thanksgiving and they have agreed to come stay at our house C-section week. This is fabulous on so many levels...We would hate to get the J's mom involved more that necessary...especially since Ja has a crazy homework situation we are trying to work out...she needs to be home fter school, immediatley to work on her stuff. Amongst other things, like B being able to sleep in his own bed, amongst other things....

On another note, Mike came up with a new name for baby last night. And here is why I love husband so much...

Said randomly at dinner by M: "I think we should name baby X(same first name) Ray"

(BTW, x-ray? haha)

Anyway, babys middle name was always going to be Christine, named after me sort of, after my cousin, and great aunt...

Of course, I think Ray is a fab middle name, and it also helps that when picking a first name, we loved boys names as girls names, however, never could find one we loved enough to name our kid.

So, because I am me, I have to know history so I say "Cute I like it~ plus it is a form of your middle name. Where did your middle name come from?"

Mike "That is what my great grandma used to call my grandpa"

Me "Isn't your grandpa's name Don?"

Mike, beginning to look more confused, "yes"

So, Linda, help me out here :)

Santa Clause

I never would have thought Santa would be a topic of discussion. I believed in Santa. Mike says he did to. Now he says it is teaching your children to lie.

I don't think I had a lying issue because my mother told me there was a Santa Clause (although that would have been a fabulous thing to say to her during one of our fights years ago). I think I lied because I was growing up and that's what happened sometimes.

Well, we dont talk about it anymore because we don't agree.

So the other night when Je and B were play fighting and Jesse said to him loudly "Santa isn't real" Mike stepped in first and told him not to piss off Christy. (Which in Mike world, I think, means that we can play Santa to Brody, but one can never be sure)

Jesse's argument is that he is 2 and doesn't know anything anyway. But I was not pleased to say the least. And this is all I am going to say about that situation because I will get all angry again if I spend to much time on it.

What do you people think? Do you have lying issues because your parents told you there was a Santa Clause?

Things I don't need to be reminded of..

So, we got our computer cleaned up and fixed.

I haven't used this computer in years....

So, I thought I would go through the old pictures in it...mistake

Aside from the matching outfits, I love this picture because I am so excited to know that at one time I did fit in my clothes, and also I am drinking a cocktail. Memories....

32 Weeks, 3 Days

I don't really have any updates on anything at all however, I had to post because nothing has pissed me off today!

I can't think of one moment I have been irritable! This is quite a feat!

I knew this time would come eventually.

AND even with our brand new Hughes internet service we just got installed on Friday going down today and even with my calling them and hearing the message "Your current wait time is 45 minutes"

Seriously, amazing.

Little tidbits:

1) X's room is mudded and ready to hopefully be sanded tomorrow. M estimates purchasing paint this weekend.

2) M told me today that I am suddenly bigger in the belly, which pleases me because it is more confirmation that the 3 pounds is all baby, and not thigh fat.

3) I went to baby gap today to use up some gift cards, and while their clearence sale was something to get excited about, I really don't understand that store.

They had a freaking sweater dress for $44.00 that came in size 0-3 months. Who the F is buying that? How do you strap your infant down in it's 5 point harness in a sweater dress?

How unpractical, and furthermore, who the hell spends that kind of money on something that the weight on the tag is 7-12 pounds. Birth is 7 pounds, 12 pounds is like seconds later....

$44.00....

32 Weeks, 2 Days

Dr's appt went well this morning. I have gained 3 pounds in 2 weeks. It is all baby. Seriously. Just in the last 3 days I think I have gained the weight. I have been in soo much pain nightly all over my stomach, and then to add in all the movement on top of the pains, wow.

She wasn't concerned about the weight gain either..probably due to the fact that she measured my stomach growth and her eyes got big and she said, yep, baby is definitely growing.

So, the C-section is scheduled for 9am on December 7th, which means we can start making arrangements for dispersing all the other children. Apparently check in for surgery is 1 1/2 to 2 hours prior to operation which means we have to be in OC at 7 or 7:30. A bit to early to be dispersing children, so they may all have to go elsewhere the night before.

I am already sad I have to be away from B. I know he will be in good hands, but I am pregnant, and reserve the right to be emotional over things like this if I want. It is either that, or scream and yell at my family over nonsense I make up.

Anyway, the only other thing of note from the appointment was the baby hiccuping the entire time (in fact, all day). She was trying to listen to the heartbeat on the doppler, and my stomach was moving up and down quickly in tune with the hiccups you could hear on the doppler.

So then, after the appointment, my mother and I went to Babies R Us to handle some very important business. Figuring out what to do about car seats and strollers. I decided that I would get the cheaper car seat with a maximum weight limit of 22 pounds with the intent of moving X to B's old seat and then upgrading B to the big boy booster in time....rather than spending $50.00 extra on a car seat carrier that goes to 32 pounds. B is 30 pounds right now, and no way in hell would I carry him around in that thing. Stupid.

So, with this decision made, I decided to keep the red stroller which I am not 100% a fan of, but I am not a fan of much right now anyway.

Pros: the basket is HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE and it fits 2 kids

Cons: It weighs a kagillion pounds, it seems gigantic and bulky, I had the single stroller version and the folding mechanism broke (although this one fold different, I am still a tiny bit worried), and the single one I had faded badly (after sitting in the hot sun on our patio for weeks....)

Bottom line: It will work, and the most important feature to me is the basket size. Plus dealing with a 500 pounds stroller should put my arms in kick ass shape right?

And on a side note, I came home from the Dr and lunch today to find the entire baby rooms has all drywall hung and taped.

Mike told me his plan was to get a first coat of mud on tomorrow morning, which means we could be painting pretty damn soon! Time to get a move on looking closely at the paint chips I have had sitting around since we painted the other 3 rooms....

32 weeks Pregnant, 7 weeks till baby

This weekend has been super busy so far. Once again, we have done nothing to prepare for the arrival of X.

Our shower/BBQ was last night and it was so awsome to see my fabulous friends. I miss them all so much. As time passes and lives get busier with things, I don't get to see anyone often anymore. Actually, often is a bad word...I never see anyone anymore.

I got some super cute things especially baby clothes that do not suck at all!

I am starting to get a little stressed out considering there is nothing done for X's arrival in 7 weeeks and the more pregnant I get, the less energy I have for existing.

We went to Babies R Us/Toys R Us today to let the J's run around and make up a Christmas list, while I returned some things and went to re-research strollers and car seats. I asked me dear husband for advice on a car seat issue and his response was basically, I dont give a F, lets get out of here. When I pushed for help, he then said the less we store, the better since I am not having a baby for over 2 months.

Clueless, and less than helpful.

He then followed it up with this gem "Your going to be in the hospital recovering for a few days, that gives us some time to figure it out"

Yes, why start now on things we can put off till I am in the hospital recovering from major surgery?

Anyway, the bottom line is he really doesnt care, and it is up to me. I just find it funny his line of thinking.

I am still feeling gigantic and am sure the kid is growing drastically. My stomach feels like it weighs 17 pounds and my back is for sure compensating for it. The heating pad it a nightly must, as is Tylenol every 4 hours.

She moves all the time. Especially at night, which is probably due to the fact that I have to have Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal very night. But serioulsy, at least I am past the cake craving as I know the oatmeal is healthier, and they make a high fiber variety, that also helps with other issues...

30 something weeks & over it

This is going to be a total bitch and complain post....

Kids...

Why am I the only person in the house who can do anything? what happened to chores? And why they hell when things arent done and chaos ensues, is it my fault, and my responsibility to fix. i.e. I take the trash out and set it on the deck for someone to take to take to the dumpster. No one does. Dog rips it open in the night. Jesse comes in this morning and says "Christy, dog ripped open trash".

First off, don't tell me, clean it up yourself. This is YOUR dog. I am, packing your lunch and making your breakfast, take the trash to the freakin dumpster.

I just said ok, and cleaned it up though...

Here is why.

It is easier than arguing. (Mom, i know your laughing you ass off right now)

I have fallen into the trap of this.

I do all the dishes, no help, because when they dont rinse them off completley and I say J's come rinse your cup, plate, fork, whatever, they say "it isnt mine"

When I say take out the trash, they say "I did it last time"

Maybe this is night 30 of insomnia, and back pain, so I am over it all, but I am frustrated because I also have a 2 year old disaster, a husband home all day who thinks the new recycle bin is the kitchen counter, a baby on the way, and school starting back up again.

And then there is laundry....

Yesterday, I washed the J's clothes, put them in the dryer, and then washed a load of my old baby blankets to put away for X. Fast forward 1 hour, I go back to fold the J's clothes, and to my horror there is a black pen in the dryer. The ONE time I dont check pockets. It is all over the clothes (luckily they were darks), and all over the dryer.

Jesses response: It only happened one time!

He scrubbed the dryer with comet, rinsed it out, and then I washed and dryed 2 loads of rags to try to get the comet out of the dryer. I am scared to use it, and the NEXT load I have to dry today? My BABY blankets....risky.

So todays plan is to hose off the deck to get rid of the coffee grounds, clean up the cat litter all over the floor from when Janee "cleaned" the litter box last night, and pick up the random chunks of cereal on the counter that no one put there, and silently stew...all the while, still trying to figure out some method of giving them chores and some responsibility.

And by the way, I AM aware that this will be repeating itself in 10 years with B and X.

I am positive that these are all things that every parent deals with and that, for some reason, this morning it is extra annoying to me, but there must be a productive solution.

31 Weeks, 3 Days

Can you say, indecisive?

After typing up yesterdays blog post, Mike and I took off to his foot Dr. appt and to drop a computer off at Staples to be fixed....in the process, we started looking at office supplies, and decided it would be best to set me up in our room.

Which I hate because no one wants to look at a desk in their bedroom, but, I love because it gives me back X's room to fit her stuff in...And it also gives me complete silence at the computer.

Anyway, the desk will be here today, the computer should be back tomorrow, and I am calling Hughes to set up our installation for this week.

We should be up and running in a matter of days.

On another bright note, Jesse called (yes, he called himself....) from school on Monday to be picked up because he was feeling sick. (I wont even go into the ridiculousness of him, calling himself, from the office of his school asking for a ride ot be picked up.....hello? Where is the school staff? And I wont get into the fact that they usually check to see if I am an authorized pick up, but I had to ASK the lady to sign him out...I could have been Juan Valdez....BUT this is the same school who I call the front desk and ask what time an after school activity is over and they have no idea the activity is going on....) (I digress)...

Anyway, we got him home and he went straight to bed. It is always hard to tell if the J's are really sick when they say they are....

Jesse's 1 day disease went away yesterday morning and he was back in business, but he had passed it on to M and I.

So, I made the dreaded call to my Dr. to hear the dreaded news I was dreading...No, I cant take Medicine.

Saline spray for nose, and rest.

I already use the saline spray for my heinous bloody nose preg symptom, and rest? hahaha

Anyway, I am up and feeling fine for now, so we will see how the day progresses. Hopefully Mike is feeling good again too because I really need him to hang up a new light over the kitchen table, install some new phone jacks, and an access panel in our bedroom for the internet, change out the toilet seat in our bathroom (The new toilet seat he brought me as a gift from a jobsite is cracked. WTF?), hang drywall in X's room, ect.

Now to figure out how to get him to do all of this without asking, and also have him come up with it himself so he thinks it is his idea.. :)

And an update on the others for the parents:

Mike: still in a bit of pain and off work, Dr. prescribed new medication to see if that helps. He has an appt with nerve Dr. Friday about the numbness

Jesse: Nothing new here. Surprised?

Janee: Won her last soccer game as well. 7-1. Still undefeated and number 1 in the league. Looks like we are going to be camping for president's cup again this year with a 1 month old...

Brody: New favorite word: Mess. Used while pointing to things like me pouring syrup on pancakes and rain falling. He will point at it and say loudly "Mess! Mess mama!" Hey, at least he is calling me mama rather than ma.

31 Weeks, 2 Days

Isn't my baby girls room so adorable!! All we need to do is move the furniture in!!!!

So, once Mike got done ripping out all the drywall and carpet, I want it noted that we all had to go sit outside and get fresh air, and let the room air out for quite some time.

Disgusting. Who the F puts carpet in out here?

I can't imagine what the living room will look like when we get to that point.....and frankly, I don't want to think about it....

I have been up almost all night once again.

When B was born, I felt like I was in hell as far as sleep went, and the lack of. I couldnt nap because there were 2 other kids to handle (laundry, meals, cleaning), so my mom would come hang with B, and I would pretend to nap, which means, lay awake and stress about all the other things I needed to be doing....At night, he would cry, I would wake, feed, change, put to bed, and try to sleep, but lay awake knowing he would be up in 2 1/2 more hours....

I am thinking with this one, I might actually get MORE sleep once she is born than I do now.

Seriously.

Anyway, back to the room..........I am about to embark on a new endeavor...which involves me needing silence and the internet. Doesn't that sound nice? :)

So, now, we are thinking we will make this girl's room/office. When girl naps, she can nap in our room, like B used to, and then I can have my office.

Besides, more importantly, if we move the desk, then we have a place for our Christmas tree behind the gates. We dont want to have to repeat last years debocle. (dead Christmas tree from the weed pile - See December 08 blog posts for a heinous reminder...)

So, the list of furniture to fit in the 8'4" x 12" room:

Gigantic tall and wide dresser
Crib
Glider
Desk with computer and accessories
Changing Table
My old vanity
Tall chest of drawers (office supplies)

hahahahaha

Once a clusterF, always a clusterF, I guess. :)

31 Weeks, 1 Day

Only in our house does decorating a room for X include ripping down drywall....

I can't update with pictures yet because Mike is in there with a crowbar and a sawzall right now going at it.

We plan to:

Add new drywall around room, tape and mud, trim

Wood Ceiling

New lighting

New wood Laminate flooring

Paint

My biggest problem in the room is lighting, or lack of....so rather than staining the wood ceiling like we have elsewhere, I have to paint it a shade of offwhite.

And the walls have to be painted super light......I am thinking yellow...being I hate pink, purple, and all things girl like.....

Besides, the kick ass crib sheets I found are yellow with brown and green funky polka dots, so there it is.

My ailments:

Insomnia
Horrible Back pain
Heinous headaches ( I think related to back pain?)
Naseau
And head trips over having to have an operation
Restless legs
Being constantly out of breath after moving for 2 seconds
And my "favorite"? Peeing 3 drops every 10 minutes or so. I think I go to the bathroom 400 times a day

Regardless, things are moving along scarily.

The room is under construction, the C-section is scheduled......

30 Weeks, 4 Days

While it sucks to have had no internet for over a weeks, it may be a blessing in disguise.

The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least.

Mike is trying to quit smoking. (I say trying because I consider it a constant effort) 3 weeks it has been. Good for him....however, I cant say this has been easy on either of us....

I had my Dr. appt on Tuesday and scheduled the delivery date. Decemeber 7th.
Here are some examples of the "I dont give a F" attitude M and I have developed due to the stress around here.....

1) Mom asks us both if the name "such and such" is confirmed because she wants to order a personalized Christmas stocking for her. Mike shrugs and says "Whatever, I dont care. That is fine if Christy says so"

2) Dr. asks about scheduling surgery date. I respond with "The soonest day you can take her, I am done being pregnant"

No thought anymore, we are just kind of going through the motions.

Anyway, I am having a hard time doing kick counts. Interestingly enough, when there is a good day around here, she goes nuts. But, when there is a debocle, I cant get her moving. This scares me because M quit smoking, which causes a tad of stress, and also because when this happened with B, and I went to the hospital for a routine non stress test for lack of movement, I ended up with an emergency C-section.

So, I am trying to take it easy...

The other big thing to think about is my Dr. needs me to sign a release or not re: having tubes tied during C-section. I dont want more kids, neither does Mike....Mike is all for it, however, it seems like so much.

Dr. Walker says there is no additional recovery time, and in the future, I may experience heavier cramping during periods, but other than that, most women report nothing else.

I dont know if I really want to worry about popping a pill every day for the next 20 years, but still....it just seems so big.

So, with due date scheduled...I guess it is time to pull my head out of my ass, and plan for this kid. Maybe get her bedroom handled? Buy some supplies? Do something productive so she doesn't come home to madness?

(By the way, this blog post is the first time I have ever referred to her by her sex. I just realized as I was typing this...)

And to update on the others:

Je: finally cut off all of his hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ja: Soccer team still undeafeated and #1 in points for the season

Br: Talking up a storm and making more sense by the day.

These next few weeks are super busy, and we are hoping to get the internet issue of '09 handled as soon as possible so I can get life together again. I am amazed how much I rely on this thing.....