Pregnancy & Labor Funnies

These last few days of waiting have been some of the most trying on my patience. Thankfully, I'm surrounded by people who lighten my mood. I thought I'd share some of these quotes from family and friends, as well as some "funnies" that they shared with me.

I asked a friend to give me some encouragement, as I was losing my mind, and this is part of the advice she gave me: "Enjoy the last days of your who-haw not being on fire."

We invited a couple over for dinner who had a baby a few months ago, the father's advice to Kyle was this, "Labor is an awesome experience, there's nothing like it. And, man, you think you're tough?! Heh. Heh."

Betty White has an amazing quote that I saw on Pinterest that totally relates to this topic! “Why do people say "grow some balls?" Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”

I had a friend post these on my facebook wall:

Q. My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?

A. Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.

Q. When will my baby move?

A. With any luck, right after he finishes high school.

Q.Since I became pregnant, my breasts, rear-end, and even my feet have grown. Is there anything that gets smaller during pregnancy?

A. Yes, your bladder.

Q. What's the difference between a nine-month pregnant woman and a model?

A. Nothing, if the pregnant woman's husband knows what's good for him.

Conversation with my sister one afternoon:

Me: I have so many projects I could do, but I'm waiting on another project to get done. I feel like I'm waiting for everything right now!

Sister: Yup, waiting, waiting, waiting. You wait 40 weeks for baby and 18 years to sleep again!

And I'll end with....

Marley Man's Weird Quirk #22, #23, #24, #25...

Back in June I wrote about My Little Marley Man and all his weird quirks: My Little Marley Man. As the days go by, I'm realizing just how weird he actually is and could keep adding on....

Weird Quirk #22: He smells our yawns. If we're holding him, he'll get his nose right into our mouth and smell as we yawn. This is annoying and no matter how many times we tell him no, he continues to do it.

Weird Quirk #23: He has a few favorite spots. One of them is outside, leaning against the garage, right in the sun. It's a prime spot I guess, because you can see everything that's happening and it's warm. I'm not sure he enjoyed it when my little niece Alexi decided to join him one morning though...

Weird Quirk #24: When you gasp and point (even if there's NOTHING there) Marley will frantically look around and begin a "deep" throat growl, or his high pitch bark.

Weird Quirk #25: If I talk to Marley directly, he puts his paws over my mouth almost like he's telling me to "shut up," but if you pay close attention to every thing else you can tell he's absolutely loving every minute of the attention. Such a baby!

Weird Quirk #26: He barks at the rocks we throw in a lake. He kinda wants to go after them, but is a tad leery of the water. So he'll stand up to his belly in the water and bark at the rocks as they skip across the surface.

Weird Quirk #27: He loves to ride in the basket on a bike! He just looks around and takes it all in...

Weird Quirk #28: Any time he encounters a metal drainage cover or the sewage covers during a walk, he either hops over it or walks clear around it. He avoids them at all costs. They're scary.

Weird Quirk #29: He loves to bounce with me on the exercise ball. While very pregnant and ready to pop I sit on it and bounce around, he begs to join me! One time as I held him close and bounced, bounced, bounced, he had a hard time keeping his eyes open!

Weird Quirk #30: His favorite place to hang out is in the nursery. I'll go in there to find him just lounging on the rug, looking around....

Weird Quirk #31: Marley loves anyone who will give him attention and throw his ball. However, there is one person he does not like: the mailman. I don't let him outdoors alone between the times of 10 and 2 because the mailman is a tad afraid of him I think. Especially after the time Marley "went after him" so he threw our mail on our porch and took off, not even turning around to hear me apologize profusely. Still, how can you be afraid of a little dog when after his master yelled at him and he rolled over on his back and pissed himself. Really?!

Weird Quirk #32: When we take Marley for a walk we are diligent about him staying between us, behind us, and his attention needs to be on us. This requires some frustrating consistency, but Marley has two speeds: walking and sprinting. We used to watch the dog whisperer do his thing and found out that dogs need a little tap on the rear occasionally, nothing painful, just a reminder of where their attention should be focused. Well... Kyle and I do that and when we do there are times when Marley literally screams like we just beat the ever living day lights out of him. It's so embarrassing! Geez, he's such a wuss.

GOD IS BIG! we are small.

I just finished reading through the Psalms. I LOVED it. I have so many favorites for so many reasons: reading the Psalms reminded me to be GOD glorifying, they're also a reminder of God's steadfast love and faithfulness, and God's sovereignty. One piece that I hadn't really given a whole lot of thought to until I watched Louie Giglio's sermon titled, "Indescribable" was how BIG God really is and how small we are. As American's we tend to focus on ourselves, when our focus should be God centered. The Psalms reminded me that in my daily walk with Christ I need to be more GOD FOCUSED. After all, the depth of his knowledge and understanding is far, far, far beyond mine. If we look up into the sky, the understanding of how small we truly are, and how insignificant our lives are in the grand scheme of things, is a humbling experience that should put our life in the right perspective. So how BIG is God and how small are we? Well... according to the Psalmist…

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims is handiwork.” – Psalm 19:1

“My days are like an evening shadow, I wither away like grass. But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.” – Psalm 102:11-12

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him… ?” – Psalm 8:3-4

"O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow." - Psalm 144:3-4

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand." - Psalm 139:17-18

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable." - Psalm 145: 3

"He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure." - Psalm 147:4

READ ALL OF Psalm 104! God is SOVEREIGN!

One little section of Louie Giglio’s sermon pretty much sums it up perfectly… “Believe it or not, we are not even in the center of our own subdivision. Affirming again tonight that it’s not about you and it’s not about me, we don’t even live in the center of our subdivision. You don’t want to live in the center of our subdivision because it’s scary in the center of the subdivision. Well, where do we live? Well we live way out between a couple of the spiral arms, you don’t want to live in there either because that’s dangerous territory inside the bands, we live in that little clear zone between a couple of bands about two-thirds of the way out. We live somewhere about there. You’re like, well, I don’t see me. No. Because we couldn’t put a mark on the diagram that you could see that would be the right relative size to our solar system, you know that’s our little cul-de-sac in our subdivision, we couldn’t even put our solar system on here in relative size to our Milky Way galaxy for you to see. It’s that small inside the Milky Way galaxy. Scientists say that our solar system is the size of a quarter and the Milky Way galaxy is the size of the North American continent… we’re not that consequential in our own subdivision called the Milky Way galaxy. … my life is a tiny little blip on the radar of history, a vapor, infinitesimal little life. You say, ‘well, Louie, you’re making me feel small.’ No, I’m not trying to make you feel small; I’m trying to help you see that you are small!”

BUT, how well does He know us? How much does He Love us?

READ ALL OF Psalm 139!

“Your steadfast love, Oh Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!” – Psalm 36:5-10

“If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” – Psalm 94:17-19

“For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” – Psalm 100:5

"The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy." - Psalm 145

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever; the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever; the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever..." - Psalm 136:1-9

"The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The Lord has established his thrown in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all!" - Psalm 103:6-19

"Long before you decided what you were going to do with God, God decided what He was going to do with you. And that was to not give you what your sins deserved, but to give His son what your sins deserved, and to give you the gift of Himself and an invitation to live forever in a big, big story that is all about HIM. His grace and hope." - Louie Giglio

Isn't God amazing?

Here are the links to watch Louie Giglio's sermon online. It is absolutely, mind blowing! I highly, highly recommend it.

• Part 1 of 5
• Part 2 of 5
• Part 3 of 5
• Part 4 of 5
• Part 5 of 5

What I Found Most Helpful While Prego

We live in an information ready world. We can "Google" anything and receive gobs and gobs of information on that topic, we can Facebook a close friend and get their opinion. We can use our cell phones to call mom and get her advice on something right away. We can download an encyclopedia app, buy books, and read magazines all geared to give you information on a desired topic. So how do you know which are most helpful? I was wondering the same thing, so I asked my doctor, "Can I trust this..?" I also asked other mom's who have been there - my mom and sister have been bombarded with phone calls. I'm sure a few women in our church are asking why they ever went out of their way to tell me, "If you need anything, ask." Ha. Do I ever.

The last thing I wanted to do was to go into pregnancy or motherhood feeling clueless. The fact of the matter is, that even after educating myself, I still feel that way. I ask myself, "Do I really know what I'm getting myself into?" "Am I really prepared for what's ahead?" And all this "education" has left me feeling a tad dizzy. It's overwhelming and fascinating!

One reason for starting this blog was to share! So this time, I'm sharing what I found to be most helpful in preparation for our baby.

Books:

• What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
• The Complete Book of Breastfeeding by Marvin S. Eiger, M.D. & Sally Wendkos Olds
• Sheparding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
• The Bible (If you want the best guide on how to raise your child, read it! Start with Proverbs, it was written by a father [Solomon] giving his son wisdom on how to live a godly life.)I have 4 other books and a magazines GALORE that were given to me, but I found these most helpful by far.

Websites: (Cause if you're like me you need to know if something is "normal" before you call the doctor for the umpteenth time, which, if you use your resources you'll also be like me and only call them once during your entire pregnancy - if you're blessed with a "normal" pregnancy.)

• http://www.webmd.com/
• http://www.babycenter.com/
• www.whattoexpect.com
• www.mayoclinic.com
• http://www.americanpregnancy.org/index.htm

Other Mothers
To me, this was the most helpful. After posting something here I'd receive helpful information from my friends, family members, and from other mom's who were already doing what I said I was going to try. I received reuseable diapers, learned how to fold them, upkeep them, and use them properly. I learned that other mom's were doing natural births (very encouraging), I learned other mom's made their baby food, and there were tons of mom's out there trying to be more frugal. I learned what to take and what not to take to the hospital. What I really need and don't really need in the nursery. I got so many ideas and helpful information from YOU. So thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!

Exercise: www.crossfitmom.com

I love the workouts posted here designed to build strength, which is what you NEED in order to endure the intensity of labor for a long period of time. However, I either refused to or could not do some of the workouts posted. When I walk, for example, I get Braxton Hicks contractions the entire time. So my doctor encouraged me to continue walking and exercising, but to also give myself rest making sure that they actually subsided. So I refused to jump or run, plus with all that jiggling around the baby did, it became uncomfortable! So I improvised, trying to work the same muscle groups as advertised for the same amount of time or rounds (if it was easier, I increased the time or rounds).

The other day, I couldn't do the posted workout because I don't have access to a swimming pool or row machine. Plus, my hubby and I share the bar and we didn't have time to switch weights back and forth or take turns working out. So I did this:

• 7 Push-Ups
• 15 Squats (I just used a 25 lb plate because that's what we have...)
• 30 Step Ups
• As many rounds as I could get in 15 minutes. I really, really try to focus on my breathing - in through my nose, out through my mouth - as I counted reps. Great practice for labor. :)

These were some of my staple warm up exercises: (Warming up is vital! You're preparing your muscles to work hard, decreasing injury, increasing output. By working up a slight sweat so your muscles are ready to do what your going to ask them to do you'll be less sore because of it, especially if you stretch afterwards and drink lots and lots of fluids before, during, and after exercise. As a track coach I do NOT recommend static stretching for warm ups. Think about it, if you sit down to stretch your quads, hammy's, arms, etc. are you preparing your muscles for action? Save static stretching for AFTER your workout. ACTIVELY work and stretch your muscles. Here's a few of my favs:)

Plank - hold it for 1 minute 3 times - great core exercise for prego people.

Haha, I googled images to give you an idea of what the heck I was talking about and couldn't resist this picture:

Be like a dog about to pee on a fire hydrant, hence the name: Fire Hydrant! :) Lift your leg up and down, keeping your knee bent. Repeat 10-25 times per day with both legs. You'll really feel it in your hips.

Variation of Fire Hydrant, just extend your leg out. I don't always bring my arm forward. I'll do this the same amount of reps as the Fire Hydrant with both legs, you'll feel it in your butt.

Another variation of Fire Hydrant, keeping your knee bent, bringing your leg to your belly and extending it to the ceiling. You'll feel it in your buttocks as well as your hammy's. (Same reps, both legs)

Lunges - 10-15 both legs.

My track kids loved this one, probably because it looks very... sexual..., and although I feel a tad goofy doing it, it helps so much! You literally just rotate your hips in a circular motion feeling the stretch through your core, back, and hips as you rotate. Do this clockwise and counter clockwise.

P.S. Do this with your neck as well. Neck Rotations are amazing and relieve a lot of stress. Do them clockwise and counter clockwise as well. (I hope an explanation is good enough here and that I don't need to find a picture, haha.)

I have to laugh because this one got more and more difficult the bigger I got, but it's a great hammy stretch. Your basically keeping your leg extended and kicking to hit your hand. Do this about 10 times each leg.

I love this one because you're giving yourself a hug while stretching shoulders, arms, and upper back. Remember that your in motion, so extend your arms, hug yourself, extend your arms, hug, extend, hug, etc.

Lastly, Toe Pops. These were my absolute favorites in track. You literally "POP" from the balls of your feet to your toes as you walk (Stay off your heels). It's great for calves and ankles.

I'm sitting here going through my muscles to make sure I haven't forgotten anything (During track warm ups I'd start singing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes..." to my high schoolers... they were masters at rolling their eyes at me.):

• Neck
• Shoulders
• Arms
• Upper back
• Lower Back
• Chest
• Core
• Butt
• Hips
• Hammy
• Inner thighs
• Quad
• Calves
• Ankles

Um, I think I covered everything... I have tons of different warm ups for each and we'd rotate through them in practice, but during my own workout I like those I just gave you.

Stretching!

This was something I do every day and I can't imagine how sore I'd be if I didn't. The aches and pains your muscles endure as they are stretched to their limit, or prepare for labor, are exhausting! There were days I woke up feeling like I got ran over by the dump truck a couple times. Again, I'll share my favs: (Think of the same muscle groups listed above...)

I can't remember, for the life of me, what this one is called, but thankfully it popped up in the google images when I typed in "yoga for shoulders". It is by far the best stretch I have ever experienced for my upper back/shoulders. This is how it works: Extend your arm like you're going to shake someone's hand. Bring your other arm around it (elbow to elbow), and touch plams as you bend your elbows. As you exhale, bring your elbows to the ceiling, increasing your stretch. AMAZING.

Cat Cow stretches your core and back muscles. This one was my fav for my sore ribs.

Butterfly Stretch for your inner thighs. Increase the stretch by leaning forward, as much as your belly will let you. :)



Next, I sit cross legged and extend my hands as far in front of me as I can, placing them on the floor. With each exhale I slowly "crawl" as far forward as I can. Switch which foot you have in front. This is a great stretch for your hips, butt and lower back.

After this I stay cross legged and do a side stretch, I think I'm in heaven when I stretch my right side simply because that's where she likes to stick her little foot or  butt most often as she stretches, making mommy super sore.

Cradle is an excellent stretch for your hips and butt (it's a great one to do before working out as well) because your literally cradeling your foot in the nook of your arm, and rocking side to side. Pretend your toes are the head of your baby, lol. Do this with both legs.

 I go right from Cradle to my hammy stretch where I extend my leg (like shown) and touch my toes.

I call this one Quad Wall Stretch and it's rather intense. There's time's where I can't bring myself past stage 2 and that's ok.

I googled "partner hammy stretch" and this was the best picture I found to illustrate what Kyle and I do after every workout. Keep your knee unbent, bring your leg as close to you as you can stand, push against your partner for 10 seconds, to extend the stretch to your calves have your partner pull down on your toes. After ten seconds, relax your leg, bend your knee, and allow your partner to "pump" your leg - sending it straight out in front of you and then pushing your knee into your chest, extend out, push in, etc. about 2 or 3 times. I'm always reminded of "Dumb and Dumbers" CPR in the restaurant when I do this, except it's one leg at a time, hahaha. Do this up to 3 times for each leg.

Haha,l I actually remembered the name to this stretch: seated glute stretch. It's amazing for your butt, aka glute.

Everything is connected to everything, so when you stretch be sure to target all the muscles (think of all your muscles from neck to toe, even if you don't know what they're called).

The thing about the warm ups, exercise, and stretching, I did them before I was pregnant and I contribute the health of my lower back to doing these things. I had a back injury in college and it kept reoccuring until I incorporated these things into my life almost everyday. It's worth it. I promise.

I'm the type of person that needs to know a little about something before diving into it. Well, we didn't really do that before getting pregnant, lol. Thankfully, we have a few months to prepare for our bundle of joy and educate ourselves on discipline strategies, products to buy, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, etc. etc. I highly recommend learning about pregnancy and motherhood before giving birth. Why? Well... remember that mother's have been doing this for thousands of years before us! Some information you'll throw away, some you'll keep tucked away, either way, I don't recommend "learning as you go" (which you will already do) but go in -sorta- prepared, knowing you know something, or with good questions to ask on the important stuff like, "What are some strategies that worked for you when your 2 year old threw a temper tantrum in the middle of Wal-Mart?" (Read Sheparding a Child's Heart or ask a mom who's been there, done that) or "If my baby doesn't take to nursing right away, what do I do?" (Read The Complete Book of Breastfeeding) etc. etc. The more you know, the more you don't know (sorry), but at least you'll know something, which is better than nothing. Hope that made sense. And you'll go in scared, but less scared about the changes up ahead. I'd take less scared over scared, scared any day!

This all reminds me of my first year of teaching. I felt like Doane College prepared it's teachers, however, there's some things you just have to learn as you go and I believe parenting is one of them. You shouldn't go in clueless, there's so much information out there - take some initiative and learn it! BUT expect tons of ah-ha, light bulb, or just plain "duh" moments as you go through it. I can't wait for the journey ahead! I'm nervous and excited all at once. I feel prepared to take on anything and if I'm feeling overwhelmed (ahem, I mean when I'm feeling overwhelmed) I know I have tons of other mothers and resources full of wonderful advice.

A Students Success at School Depends A LOT on Parents

I get the Better Homes and Gardens magazine every month and was pleasantly surprised to see an article titled, "Class Rules for Parents" by Denise Schipani. The article discussed the importance of being involved with your students education as they grow older, but how being a helicopter mom (one who hovers) does more harm than good.

"According to a 1992 study published by the Educational Testing Service, factors that parents can control -- namely, preventing absenteeism, providing a variety of reading materials at home, and limiting television watching -- accounted for nearly 90 percent of the difference in eighth-grade mathematics test scores. The message is clear: What goes on at home has a major impact on how children perform at school." (Get Involved in Your Child's Education)

Despite this fact, too much can be, too much. Schipani states that "... the right kind of involvement is key." I couldn't agree more. The last five years I've been teaching junior high and high school students and I've seen them all. (Them = Parents) The helicopter mom's who wanted to know where their student was going to be and when and why and who else was going to be there and why an assignment was assigned, or why this was graded this way, or why do teachers do it this way and not that... and believe me, I could go on and on and on. You talk about mastering the eye roll every time you get a message from one of these. But you have the other extreme - parents who want nothing to do with their child's education or discipline. What happens at school is for the teachers and administration to deal with, what happens at home, stays at home, the two do not mesh. Usually, in this case there's not a lot of involvement in the students life at home either. Finding that middle ground is difficult and tricky. Thankfully the article Get Involved in Your Child's Education on the Better Homes and Gardens Website offers some helpful tips.

"Class Rules for Parents" by Denis Schipani also offers great tips as well (I just added some details from a teachers perspective):

• Ask questions early. That means going to the open house and asking what your child might need for the class, find out if the teacher as a syllabus, a grading policy, discipline policy, etc. Nine times out of ten the principle requires that the teachers have this paper work and if they are prepared they will be happy to offer these to you and USUALLY they are given to your student the first week of school. (At least, I made sure the students had that information and brought back a signed copy to mom and dad.)
• Mediate from a distance. I love this one because Schipani advises that even if there are problems with a teacher from the beginning you may not need to get involved immediately. Offer some suggestions to your student on how to handle the problem on their own. You are trying to raise an independent young adult who needs to start fending for themselves. If this doesn't work and problems still exist. Call the teacher, you may be surprised there were missing pieces from the story you were getting at home. :)
• Don't play the blame game. Same as above. Call the teacher, because the disciplinary action taken by the teacher may have been necessary. Discuss the event with the teacher, tell the teacher what you were told, and see what the teacher says. Usually, when parents called to discuss the matter with me and began the conversation that way, I'd say something like, "Hmmm. Well, certain details were left out in the story you were told. Let me explain."
• Know how to get in touch - and how not to. For me I was easiest to call or email. My planning period was at the end of the day and the pile of paperwork and the long list of "to do" items grew rather heftily by this time. Plus, as a coach this is when I spent much of my time preparing for practice that would follow. I was easiest to contact by leaving a detailed message and waiting for me to return the message in the evening hours. Find out what works best for your teacher and try not to bother them too much. Involved teachers do not have a 40 hour week like most believe.
• Accept cause and effect. Ugh. So agree with this one. There were certain consequences that came in to play for behaving a certain way and parents were ALWAYS trying to come up with stupid excuses for their student or wanting special treatment for their bundle of joy. Nope. My response? "If you refer to my discipline and grading policy on the syllabus given to you at the beginning of the year, that you signed, I said that if this happens, this will be the consequence." I never apologized for it either. Schipani advises that the best thing you can do to help your student is find out what went wrong and make a plan on how to prevent it from happening again. The best quote in the article is from Marcia Tate who wrote Preparing Children for Success in School and Life, "Getting good grades is one thing, even better is earning them." Couldn't agree more.

These strategies are life skills. You won't always be there to smooth things over when something goes wrong for your child at work or in their marriage, etc. etc. Get involved, but give them some problem solving skills so they do not fail at LIFE.

My Prego Brain in Full ... [Oh, what's the word?] ... Force!

There's definitely some truth to that "you've got prego brain" joke. Not only do stories leave me mid-story, or words fail to enter my brain even though I have a clear picture of what it is I'm trying to talk about, but I do stupid things as well. The thing is, I've always been kind of an air brain, so I'd do things to compensate for this annoying trait. The problem is, it's getting worse and not better! You know what's worse?! I've had women tell me it doesn't come back... ugh... a girl can only hope.

I thought I'd share some stories, after all if you can't laugh at yourself... uh... you finish that one...

• Kyle and I took my brother and my step-father out to eat at Subway. My step-father has a red truck. I walked right up to the first red truck I saw in the Subway parking lot and stood there waiting for the doors to magically unlock. Unfortunately it wasn't his truck and instead of helping me, all three of the boys stood there and giggled!
• I told a friend that I was sorry for the death of her mother-in-law and was keeping her and her family in my thoughts and prayers. Come to find out I read the name wrong and didn't need to tell her that after all!
• I ran a few errands like dropping off the city bill, thank you cards, cashing a check at the bank and running to Dollar General for a few items. It was a quick trip so I put Marley in his kennel, locked the back door and took off without a further thought. When I returned I noticed my front door was wide open, totally deflating the purpose of locking the back door in the first place.
• I'm not sure if anyone noticed before I fixed it, but my original title for the blog entry: Labor & Delivery: Pain Medication vs. Natural Birth was Labor & Delivery: Paid Medication vs. Natural Birth. Ha. Ha.

The Nursery is READY!

"THE NURSERY IS READY!"

Those are heavenly words to every nesting mother's ears during her final month of pregnancy! I'm down to 11 days until my due date, but hoping it could happen any time before September 14th. If she arrives, we'll be ready. The rest of the house, however, not so much. Both bathrooms are in shambles and a house under construction is never truly clean. I have to say, "Oh well" out loud about a 100 times to get it through my head that it's really OK and that she'll survive in this mess. The nursery is really the only room in the house that's good to go. The rest of the house is either being used as storage for bathroom or office items or is loaded down with construction tools. So her nursery is the place to hang out.

If I lost Marley or Kyle, that's the first place I check. Kyle periodically goes in there and sorts through clothing, refolding blankets, making sure her crib is nice and sturdy, I love those moments when I "catch" him doing things like that. Marley will go in there just to lay on the rug, and occasionally he'll bring a toy. I go in there to rock in the glider and dream about the sleepy nights I'll spend in it rocking my baby girl. It's a CUTE room, so who wouldn't want to hang out in there? :)

I had so much fun putting it together and can't wait to share....

What was my inspiration? Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears. Their round, cute, and between Minnie's is a big (usually polka dotted) bow.

Let me give you a picture tour...

We call her Baby B. to all our family and friends, because yes, her name starts with a B and it keeps me from giving it away prematurely. On her door is a cute little wreath and the first thing you see is the crib....

The crib...

The changing table...

The view from the door...

I think she'll be good to go on book choices... :) I wouldn't expect anything less from a reading teacher, lol.

Her dresser is even loaded down with books.

Her closet is full of diapers and clothing up to the age of 24 months!


I LOVE the way it turned out. Unfortunately, I don't think the pictures do it justice. I'm just ready for her to fill it, because then and only then will the nursery truly be complete.