Still baking

Yup, I'm still here, incubating the boy, if anyone is curious. I'm a little surprised that tomorrow I'll be 38 weeks--a whole week and 2 days more pregnant than I was with Moses. I guess it's a little ironic that he's not following his brother's suit considering he'll spend many of his years emulating exactly what his older brother does.

I'm definitely at the uncomfortable stage now. He's really, really high (despite my hoping that he dropped) and I have a constant lump under my breasts that makes it difficult to breathe, sit up straight, get in and out of my car, or do little more than recline on the couch and hope for relief.
I want to sleep, a lot, but between contractions, back pain, and my incredibly squished bladder, who has time for sleep? I'm also having bouts of morning sickness again, which is making for some rough days, but I'm hoping it's a sign that the end is near and not just some cruel joke.

Are you tired of my complaining? I'm done, I promise.

When this little boy does arrive, I'm planning to email friends and family (do I have your email? email me if you want to be included) and blog while in the hospital, but I won't make any promises pending the uncertainties of internet use there. At any rate, I hope you'll hear our baby news soon!

Goody, two shoes!

I heard about this cloth shoe tutorial from a friend and I couldn't wait to try it out. I was a little nervous because I haven't done much sewing recently other than the bunting flags for the boys' room, but I'm pleasantly surprised with the results and have become addicted to making them! These are my first two attempts, but with each pair the quality and time spent improves so I have a few other pairs in the works right now, too. I'm experimenting with and without the suggested interfacing because it's not allowing me to gather the elastic as much as I'd like.

I'm hoping to appliqué some onesies to match the shoes later this week (if he stays put long enough).

-Lindsey

5, 6, 7, 8

Moses' fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth teeth are finally beginning to show themselves! After nearly a year of waiting, I'm relieved to see them. It's been at least 5 months since his last tooth appeared so we've been expecting the appearance of another for some time now. As such, teething has become our excuse for everything--Bad mood? It's a tooth! A restless night? He's teething. Lack of appetite? His gums must be tender. At least now, I don't feel so stupid for my recent uses of those excuses.

8 down, 12 to go.

We're not even thinking about permanent teeth right now.

-Lindsey

Pasta la vista

We knew he was getting tired, but a hungry belly was keeping him from his daily siesta. It was nothing a little Newman's Own and noodles couldn't resolve.


Sweet dreams my bearded boy.

-Lindsey

36 weeks 5 days

Today marks the day in gestation that I had my sweet Moses. On November 27, 2006, while watching Heroes, I noticed that I was having painless contractions 3 minutes apart, lasting for at least a minute. I called Labor & Delivery and was advised to drink some water and lay down in case it was just false labor. Nope!--almost immediately after that call, my water broke and we knew it was really happening. Fourteen hours later, we had our little boy--our big little boy at 7 lb. 8 oz. and 20 inches despite being a little over 3 weeks early.

We were ill prepared for his early arrival because I planned to pack my hospital bag the day I hit the 37-week mark so my hastily-packed suitcase was a mishmash of Dave's clothes and summer sandals. Since I'd also expected to have a big, full-term baby, I'd only bought a "going home" outfit suitable for an 8-12 pound infant not the actual newborn size. Even though he seemed large weight-wise, he hadn't yet put fat on his long body and poor Moses was swallowed by everything we put on him. We left the hospital with him in the hospital-provided t-shirt and hat (and oodles of blankets since it had snowed the night before).

Since then, I've vowed to be as prepared as possible for our subsequent child(ren), and I've had my bag packed for weeks with clothing appropriate for both me and the baby. Now, it's just a waiting game, but I feel much better knowing that I'll have clothes that don't read "Hobbs Track" and our little boy will come home in something better than a white t-shirt.

-Lindsey

Speed bump

Well, Dave and I are still getting this house into shape for the arrival of our second son, and our first, Moses, is lending a hand anywhere he can. All his helping leaves him exhausted, so exhausted that he fell asleep in the middle of the living room this afternoon (clutching a glue stick)--one minute he was playing, the next sleeping. If he weren't my quirky son, I would think something was wrong.


Now, I love watching my boy sleep but having a snoozing toddler in the middle of the living room does not make for a productive afternoon so Dave carefully moved him to his room where he's currently sleeping, still clutching my giant glue stick.

-Lindsey

The poor man's bubble machine

Any parent knows what a thrill bubble blowing is for children and is aware of the relentless requests to produce them. Sure, there are bubble machines available these days, but Dave introduced Moses to another way of making bubbles by turning Moses' water table into a bubble table with the help of soap and tinker toy sticks. It's been a smashing success and unburdened Dave with the task wand-blowing. The only downside is that Moses enjoys an occasional sip of his bubbly water.




I have to take a moment to give my sweet hubby a shout out. He's been such a huge help to me these past few weeks as I get bigger, more tired, and less mobile. I just don't know what I'd do without his help this summer and it warms my heart to see how much fun he and Moses have each day.

Is this not the face of a boy smitten with his father?

-Lindsey

Atlas

-Lindsey

Co-Nesting

Well, I think I'm (we're) officially nesting. Dave and I spent the past week repainting our kitchen walls and cabinets, replacing the contact paper lining the shelves and drawers and organizing their contents, and repairing the non-existent grout on our tiled counter tops. I seem to be summoning that superhuman energy characterized by the end of pregnancy days. I'm not sure this is the nesting, but I'll take it. It's nice to get things done around here.

I nested with Moses two days before I went into labor. Despite being on bed rest, I had the uncontrollable need to organize all the drawers and closets in our house and no power on Earth could stop me. Of course, when he arrived three days later, the rest of our house wasn't clean because I'd focused only on those drawers and closets. This time, I'm hoping it's a different story.

In the pictures, you really can't see the night-and-day transformation that resulted from our repainting and regrouting, but it's a brand new kitchen. We used the paints leftover from our move-in painting so our house flows together nicely now, sans the kitchen's previous zebra motif. We still have a few ends to wrap up, but I already look forward to cooking for my boys in my new kitchen.

Here's a brief before and after look:

Before


After



Now we just have our den, bedroom, and sun room to finish up in the coming weeks!

-Lindsey

Happy 4th of July!

This morning we attended our town's 4th of July street fair as a family. There was an earlier parade that we purposefully avoided as the street fair is mayhem enough for us.

We had a nice time walking around, eating food, listening to music, and running into friends. Our ambling postponed Moses' nap time, but other than the occasional evil eye, he was a good sport.





We're going to cook out this afternoon with some family and friends and just enjoy this overcast day. Happy 4th to all!

-Lindsey