The Queen of Everything

Little Miss MCS arrived yesterday. She is sweet as can be, eats well, works it out well, and even patiently endures her brother ignoring her (for now). Pictures to come, but here are the details:

Born: May 30, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Weight: 7 lbs 9 oz
Height: 21 inches

Love her!

Waiting

This baby sure is taking her sweet time! I was convinced that she would be here right now and was utterly depressed walking into my dr's office today for my appt. She walked into the room and said, "Ok, you need to have this baby." So glad she felt the same way I do. She did what she could so we'll see what happens.

What I have tried this week to get the baby here (even though her due date isn't for 6 more days): Curb walking (twice), big toe pinching really hard (some Chinese herbology theory), the EFX, taking walks around the block (three), and carrying Mr. A up and down the stairs numerous times. Nothing so far, but I'm not Castor-oil desperate yet, so we'll see. I hope this stubborness isn't a sign of things to come!

Too Early

Ok - so we need some serious advice here! Please feel free to post any and/or all advice you might have on a child who wakes up WAY too early (5:52 this am) to get out of his big boy bed. The sleeping in it hasn't been the problem, but the past 3 days it's gotten earlier and earlier. We've got curtains up, blinds closed, even a blanket over the window to make it darker. How do we get back to the 7 am wake up calls we once knew (just last week, even!)? Did we make a mistake by putting him in his big boy bed and not just putting the new baby in a Pack-n-Play for now? Should we just put him back in his crib for a few months? DH and I differed quite a bit on our opinions, but I finally caved thinking it would be ok. Would love your wise/experienced thoughts (and my extra hour of sleep)!!!

All Grown Up

It's really hit me over the past week or so that my "baby" is not going to be my "baby" anymore. In the next few weeks we'll have all sorts of changes going on, but one of them I was not prepared adequately for was just how very much I would "miss" my Mr. A as my baby. He will be our "science project" forever, but he only got to be my "baby boy" once and I miss him already. He hasn't changed at all, but it feels like it in a way! On Sunday in church we started singing "Be Still My Soul" and I could not stop the tears. I was so overcome with everything. DH had given a talk so I was sitting in the row with Mr. A by myself. He stopped what he was doing (eating a fruit bar from Trader Joe's - yum), climbed up on the bench, looked at me, and wiped my tear from my cheek. It was quite possibly the sweetest thing he has ever done. It only served to make me cry harder. What a tender little boy.

So on to the real reason for this post - late as it may be, we finally took the crib out of Mr. A's room and set up the bunk beds, or his "Big Boy bed" as we call it. We took a few rungs off the ladder (we weren't born yesterday), put the lock on the outside of the door, and let him try it out for his nap. He opened the door once (DH forgot to lock it the first time), tried knocking when it was locked the second time, did some serious jumping off the stool that we had left in the corner right underneath the light switch (thus, lights all turned on), unplugged the sound machine, and made lots of noise until 45 mins. later he finally fell asleep. He did come out of his nap in different pants than we had put him to bed in, but that's minor, I believe.

For bedtime last night, we removed the stool, took out the sound machine, closed all drawers solidly and made the place as boring as possible. DH laid with him for a few minutes, but not long. After hearing him messing around for about 20 mins I went back in (he was also knocking at this point). His pants were off, as was his diaper, and he was holding his "car" diaper (his Pullups) in the other hand. I asked DH to throw up the duct tape, I laid him on the floor, put duct tape over his diaper tabs, put his pants back on, and tucked him back under his covers and told him it was time to go to sleep and stay in his bed. We heard him talking for a few more minutes but then all went quiet.

We were anxious to go in and find him in some weird position but this was all we found when we checked on him...


...my sweet prince sleeping soundly. Tonight - talking for a few minutes and then silence again. Didn't even try to get out. Please don't let there be regression!

Mr. A's Favorite Things

I wanted to post a few of the pictures we've been taking. We've been trying to capture a few of our favorite things to do. Nothing too exciting - lots of water involved for our would-be fish.

Swinging - for hours on end - he much prefers it to the slides

A rainy day activity - bath in the kitchen sink

Who doesn't love the Dogwood Festival Parade? Waving to the firemen

Clapping with the band

Helping Mom with her chocolate cake recipe - didn't you see the part where it says "lick beater"? It really should be in all recipes

More swinging

Going "Rea-yee high in ky"

Real Bathtime

Happy that Pablo is clean

Watching "Wiggles" in Mommy and Daddy's Bed

Making Progress

I went to the dr. today and she informed me that there is no way this baby is waiting another 2 1/2 wks (due date June 4). I think that's good, although I did think it would be pretty cool for her birthday to be 06-07-08. Not to be. I'm dilated to a 3 and 30% effaced. Now, granted, I know I could walk around in this state for quite some time, but at least things are a-happenin' since 1 week ago I was at a 1/2 cm.

Baby has dropped and I'm still recovering today from the 2 charlie horses in my calves I woke up with yesterday morning at 6 am. I didn't realize how sore it would leave me! You would think I'd just run a marathon or something the way I'm walking. Don't I wish!

So, since I'd really like for DH to be present we're going to have to hope this baby either comes this weekend (which I'm really not ready for) or after next Friday (much more acceptable). Fingers crossed! (and legs too)....

An Ode to My Ankles

You are now gone. I can't see you while I stand up anyway, but when I sit down I can't even feel the bones anymore. I will miss you for the next couple of weeks but hope that we can quickly re-unite.

I really am glad that you stuck around this long and only decided to leave with a few weeks to go before baby tries very hard to ensure you won't return. Have no fear, though. I'll get you back somehow, someway. Enjoy the time off. It won't last long.

The Mothers in My Life

While visiting my mother on Mother's Day this year I heard a great talk in church about the role of mothers in our lives. The truth is we all want a mother - we all want to be loved that much by someone, thought about all the time by someone, and worried about incessantly by someone! I couldn't help but agree and think also about how grateful I am to have the opportunity to do all of those things for my Mr. A. He makes being a mom a lot of fun.




But, I also have some great women whom I am blessed to call "Mom." My own mother inspires me to exercise, to clean, to make homemade granola, and to be gracious (my DH often wonders what crazy lady tries to teach her 2-year-old to say, at the end of his meal, "Thank you for the nice dinner, Mama. May I please be excused from the table?" That would be me. Thanks, Mom!).



My great mother-in-law inspires me to be thoughtful (her cute Mother's Day book came 3 days early - my gift to her is still being shipped to me so I can ship it to her - lame, I know), to work hard, to care for others, and to recognize and address a need.

And so, on this week after celebrating a day of mothers, I'm so thankful to have a mother who raised me well, that my husband has a mother who bridled his madness but certainly did not stifle it, and that my son has a mother who hands him his shoes over and over again so he can watch them roll down the slide and laugh hysterically at it.

My Encounter with the 18-Wheeler

Thank goodness for safe, sturdy cars. I was in the lane with the right of way. The Shop Rite truck driver was in the lane that had to merge. I kept going and so did he - uh oh. I stopped short - nowhere to go when I realized he was still going - just as I thought he would barely miss me, I heard a hitting sound and watched a black piece go flying. I'd been sideswiped by the guy.

I honked. He kept on going. I followed him to the next red light, got out of my car, and walked up to his cab and told him that he'd sideswiped me while he cut me off and that he needed to pull over and we needed to exchange information. He told me he'd just been merging but that he'd pull over up ahead. He did. Thank goodness. He even asked me if I was ok.

We exchanged info, I marveled at how the passenger side door was dented in, noted there was no handle, there were some nice scratches on the back passenger side door (so glad Mr. A was NOT in the car on that side) and couldn't believe my mirror was still attached. The police came and wrote a very nice report in my favor (I'm hoping the insurance companies agree), asked if everyone was ok (and asked again while looking at my belly), and I have filed my claim.

Must get handle back on that door. Just what I had planned to do 3 weeks before having a baby - not.

Can You Ever Have Too Much Gifford's?

I should probably ask, "Can you ever have too much ice cream?" My DH and his family are avid ice cream consumers. In every city we ever find ourselves DH explores all ice cream options in search of the best one. I kid you not when I say that on one weekend visit to Columbus, OH, we had an ice cream taste test where we sampled the same flavor (Peanut Butter Chocolate) from 5 different local ice cream vendors. Classic.

As far as other cities go, Rome doesn't disappoint (does gelato ever disappoint?) and neither does D.C. My family's personal favorite is Gifford's, a locally owned and operated ice cream joint with their super smooth homemade ice cream (the Swiss Chocolate is to die for - sometime ask for the Swiss Chocolate Malted Milkshake with Swiss Chocolate sauce - yummy) and fun flavors.

Last weekend, while visiting D.C. with DH's brother and his family, in the span of 24 hours we made 3 stops at Gifford's. Is that too many? Or, is that just pure insanity? We didn't really think about the calories at the time (clearly), but all that Swiss Chocolate sure tasted pretty great. We even saved a pint for the drive home.

So, if you're in a city and looking for some great ice cream, give my DH a call. It's entirely likely that he (or someone in his family) has found the perfect spot. And, if he hasn't found it in that city yet, it's probably because they haven't been there.

The Need to Capture...

Little Mr. A has had some good moments this week. I want to write them down before I forget:

• While trying to quickly run into the high-scale WalMart establishment this evening, Mr. A refused to go in without his cowboy hat on. I told him that if we left it in the car he could wear it the whole way home. Nothing doing. He refused and so, as I like to remind myself, I decided not to pick this battle, and we "sauntered" into WalMart in full cowboy hat glory.
• Somehow Mr. A tore off a good chunk of skin on the palm of his hand this week. We treated it for a few days with some much needed Elmo Band-Aids and then I told him that it needed to "air out." Every so often, though, I'd catch him putting his palm to his mouth. I finally said, "A, don't touch your ow-ie so much. The Band-Aid will fall off." He looks right back at me and says "Mama, A kiss it!" I didn't realize it but apparently my kisses weren't sufficient for the healing - he needed to kiss his own ow-ie too.
• Tonight Mr. A was saying his prayers and we typically say "Bless A that he'll be a good sleeper" (he says that sleeper part, among others). We said a few other things and got to, "Bless Uncle Chris on his mission that he'll be a good _____" and I left it open for Mr. A to fill in "teacher" but instead he said "sleeper" - just like him. For some reason I found it hilarious and had to wrap up the prayer quickly. So, Uncle Chris, if you read this at some point, I certainly hope that little Mr. A's prayer helped you rest a bit more soundly.
• As is typical, every reference to himself is in the 3rd person. Just this week, though, we've started making progress and finally this morning, when asking for a "ride" down the stairs, he said, "Mama, hold ME!" and had a big smile on his face. We cheered and relished in the fact that he wasn't asking for "Mama, hold YOU!" since holding me these days is not quite possible for anyone!

What to Wear?

I'm starting to think about wearing "normal" clothes again. I know - it's still at least a month away, and the definition of normal is very skewed, but wondering if anybody has any good suggestions for what to wear home from the hospital (and have you seen anything cute in the stores lately such as matching sweatshirts/capri pants ensembles out there? Or, do you have any good suggestions for a semi-cute wear home from the hospital outfit?

I'm feeling the need to wear something other than my maternity jeans and stretchy top that I wore home last time (not so cute, might I add). Just thought I'd ask!