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

Germ warfare

Out of nowhere it seems that Moses has a burgeoning interest in hand washing. Every time we're around a sink, he gestures to wash his hands, and if he doesn't get to wash his hands (say, for the fifteenth time that day), he melts into one of his newly-popular tantrums. Either this is an extension of his hydrophilic self or we're witnessing the early presentation of OCD.

-Lindsey

Why it pays to read blogs

I've read about the hormone-disrupting chemical, BPA, found in plastic bottles on many, many blogs and found myself sick at the thought of tossing away all of Moses' old but hardly used bottles ($) only to buy new BPA-free ones for his brother, but thankfully, after reading some other blogs, I learned that Babies R' Us is doing a bottle exchange on all Dr. Brown's, Avent, and Playtex bottles with BPA (in the US and Canada). This morning I returned 1 Playtex, 4 Dr. Brown's, and 6 Avent bottles (all used) to our local store and received store credit for their full selling price ($51). Now, I just have to figure out which BPA-free bottles I want to buy for baby #2. We didn't use bottles at all with Moses until he started PDO at 9 months and then he'd only drink from Avent bottles so there's no telling how his brother will take to them. I'm just excited that we won't have any additional out-of-pocket expenses for bottles. Hooray for blogging mommies!

-Lindsey

*Of course Moses missed out on the BPA-free bottles but millions of kids have grown up on those BPA-containing bottles so I'm not too concerned about adverse effects--but we'll play it safe, especially when it's of no cost to us.

**I'm not sure how long Babies R' Us is doing this, but it's worth the trouble of collecting all the bits and pieces of your bottles. Also, the sales associate I originally talked to on the phone didn't know about the exchange, but her manager okayed it.

***Zellers in Canada is also doing this, too.

Home again, home again.

So after a long, tiring week in the Dallas Metroplex, we are home again. We had a nice time but Dave and I agreed that we'd never turn a work trip into a family trip again because it was too exhausting for both of us. Maybe when Moses is older and I'm not pregnant we'll give it another go, but for now, we'll just say our goodbyes to Dad at the airport and hope he brings us back something cool.

We did have a great time seeing family and friends and visiting the zoo though. He saw grandparents, great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and more that I don't know the official titles of--some of whom he'd never met. We also met up with one of my good friends and her husband at The Cheesecake Factory, yum, where Dave and I took turns walking outside with Moses because he refused to behave (figures) in the restaurant. He's just at that age where he's into everything and sitting still is not an option. I also took us to the Ft. Worth Zoo, where Moses enjoyed the un-zoo parts most--the stairs, the men with brooms and dustpans, the golf carts zipping around--not the animals. He only took interest in a bear, a crocodile, and the aviary--everything else either scared him ("no, no, no, bye, bye") or was wholly uninteresting to him.

One thing he's taken away from our trip is a love for airplanes. Each one he saw in the sky would bring about pointing and the repeating of "pane, pane" until we, too, acknowledged its existence.

One thing Dave and I took away from the trip was the damage a coyote caused to our rental car. Seven days of driving in Dallas traffic, and we're fine. Forty-five minutes from home, and we hit a coyote with a death wish who seriously damages our front fender and air conditioner. It's just not right. I think Mother Nature should carry insurance for such occasions because we really, really aren't looking forward to handling this with ours.

Enjoying his great-grandparents' backyard and toddler-sized bridge

Learning the art of sunscreen application

Failing at sunscreen application

"Talking" on the phone for the first-time ever, to Dave's dad (Papa)

Crocodile!

The gorilla

Moses' reaction to the gorilla (vigorous head shaking)

Eh, rhinos, so what?

Moses and the bear "connecting"

-Lindsey

Road Trip

We're in the DFW Metroplex this week. Dave is attending a teaching institute so Moses and I decided to tag along for a mini-vacation and last hurrah before his brother arrives. I expected to update and post pictures of our adventures, but it seems that after I packed the camera's USB cord, Dave decided to unpack it so the pictures will have to wait until we return.

We're having a good time here. Moses has gone swimming each day (I even went swimming with him, gasp!) and tomorrow we're going to hit up the Ft. Worth Zoo. I can't wait to see his face when he sees all those animals!

I'll be sure to post all about our adventures when we return later this week.

-Lindsey

The benefits of insomnia

For the last week, I've had terrible insomnia--unable to sleep until 3 or 4 in the morning. It's usually discomfort, a busy baby, or an overactive mind that keeps me up. I try to sleep in, but it's difficult to get back to sleep once I've been awakened (usually by a tiny boy's voice). I might nap through the day, but it's poor sleep. Thankfully, every few nights my body and mind give out and I crash for a good 5 hours. I talked to my doctor, but surprise, surprise, I'm just destined to not sleep for the next 8 weeks. . . and then for months after that.

So, I've decided to look for the positive with this insomnia:

1. Magnum P.I. reruns air at 3 a.m. on Fox.
2. There's no little body to drag dishes from the dishwasher while it's being loaded.
   
3. It's easy to get school work done.
4. I've learned there's a mouse in our kitchen.
   

That's right, a mouse. I noticed some fuzzy movement on my counter early one morning and have consistently had the little guy's company each night around 2 a.m. since. I'm anti-poisons and kill traps so I've resorted to attempting a catch-and-release and it's getting a bit comical. In a way, I've befriended this mouse with our nightly "I'm gonna get you" game. I haven't had any luck catching him yet, and I feel a bit like a slow giant trying to capture some offending, wee-sized, quick-footed intruder. I sometimes talk to the mouse in slow motion and belt out a fee-fi-fo-fum just for good measure. Crazy, I know. But, it's 3 a.m. and insanity thrives at this hour. I'm calling our landlord tomorrow though because I fear there's more than one and as much as I love furry little creatures, I'm a little tired of this fat-and-mouse game.

By the way, at this moment, I'm naming this boy Tom, Tom Selleck Ring. Thank you, Magnum, for making my early mornings more bearable.

-Lindsey

Because I'm pregnant during the summer

I've had the urge to cut off my hair for weeks now despite my recent personal pledge to grow it out. These 40 extra pounds are just making the summer too unbearably hot and my hair was constantly in a sloppy ponytail in attempt to remain cool. This is the shortest I can remember my hair ever being. I like it though and already feel much, much cooler.

It won't always look this pretty since I never blow dry my hair or use a flat iron. Plus, I think styling it with heat would completely defeat the purpose of this short 'do.

-Lindsey

Mulligan

If it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, then I'm doing my gender proud. I started in the boys' room with a certain "look" in mind and have since completely changed direction. The back wall was lime green, now it's a brown called Cathedral Gray. The curtains were also green and now they, too, are brown. I'm much, much happier with the room since making the changes and feel like it fits this house and our family better. Moses seems to enjoy it, too--especially his big boy bed.

Here's the finished product:

View from the doorway

Moses' big-boy bed

The silhouette art work

The baby's crib is ready to go

The nesting dolls are my favorite knick-knack

Brown curtains and invaluable storage

The closet and play areas

More fun wall art

Moses is completely out of the crib now, which frees up the crib for his brother. His new bed is currently a trundle bed frame so he won't have far to fall during this big-bed learning period. Eventually, we'll get him a bed that isn't on wheels, unless it's shaped like a race car. Sigh.

The bunting flags were a project I worked on while at a hotel for my Mother's Day gift. I'd been wanting to make them for awhile but it was too labor intensive for my typical night at home. Cutting the flags took forever (I cut 35). Pinking shears would have helped prevent fraying, but since I don't own a pair, I settled for a zig-zag hem. I'm really pleased with the end result and Moses loves to stand beneath them while looking up and exclaim, "whoa, whoa."

There's now a large, free space under the windows where the trundle bed used to be. It's nice to have that space to play in and its size makes it possible to set up his circus tent without cursing its existence every time you pass. I'm planning on adding a small table and chairs in that area soon, too. Hooray for lots of space!

I had hoped to void his room of a theme when we moved to this house, but there's still a travel motif to the room. Considering Moses' current love for all things wheeled though, I think it's appropriate. Plus, we're open to change as his (and his brother's) interests develop.

One room down, 2 more to go.

-Lindsey

Chutes and Ladders

I joined the boys at the park this morning.




-Lindsey

Family Time

Dave's parents and niece were in town yesterday. It was nice to visit with them and Moses especially had fun playing with his cousin. He's finally at that age where there's real interaction between the two of them.

-Lindsey

Paper Cuts

I'm still working on the boys' room, but I'm nearing the finish line. I needed some cheap wall art so I turned to Moses for inspiration. Since silhouettes are all the rage these days, I fashioned Moses' likeness from some paper, mounted it on a contrasting color, and placed it in a spare frame. Voila! Cheap, personalized art. I actually did two frames with Moses (mirror images) because I plan to replace one with his brother's image when his brother is a) not kicking my insides repeatedly b) capable of holding his head up.

Doesn't he have a nice profile?

UPDATE: To make the silhouette, I found a picture with a good profile shot, cropped it to the size I wanted, and printed it on our home printer. I used tracing paper to outline the silhouette and made a template from cardstock. This was my inspiration.

-Lindsey