More Rambling from Mamacita

Thursday I had my First Stranger ask me when I was due! Thankfully, I mustn’t look fat but pregnant OR she just had really large balls.

Matias is still talking to the bebe through my belly button. Now, the bebe answers him. In Morse code, of course. He talks and taps and the bebe kicks him back – to which Matias responds with “ow!” and the cycle continues. He was talking to him during a quiet time so I told him to get me a glass of milk and he’d wake right up – sure enough – this bebe was up not 30 seconds after chugging a glass of milk. And the games ensued. We either have a kick boxer, submariner, or soccer player. I’m leaning towards all three because you know this kid has mad skillz, yo.

Honestly, these hits and kicks do NOT come in as singles – they are volleys. Picture Rocky at the punching bag and please include the sound effects because I do when I describe it to people. I think that instead of using ASL (which I only know one “universal” sign) we should just get an old school Morse code machine and just make him OR HER (or really?) a geek from the get-go.

We went to Baby Depot and Toys R Us yesterday to actually touch and feel things instead of just picking crap off the web. We excel at picking crap off the web. Hell, how do you think I found my husband? Kidding, I kid. OR do I? At least it confirmed that yes; the Daddy did like everything I picked! HA! We changed a few things around – no swing but get that adorable Papasan for $50 cheaper. Yes, we have our Travel Gear confirmed – and Daddy pushed the stroller around and approved of the second cup holder to be used as an ashtray. Kidding, people, I’m kidding. Sadly, that usually what we use our Second Cup Holders for on our camping chairs though. Ah, times are a’ changing. He has finally calmed down about the breast pump issue (thank god, eh, Nikki??) and “approved” of the one I picked. I say “finger quotes” because I was getting it “approval” or not. We changed our mind on the playmate based on us not liking the colors and patterns of the one I originally chose. Fun things like this – just remember your wedding registries and think “buying shit for something you have never done before” and it’s TONS OF FUN! Actually, it was a lot of fun, just strange. All going to Toys R Us proved was that they mark their shit up a LOT. Some items were $20, 30, and 40 MORE than a non-sale price at Baby Depot. I’m seriously considering switching our Amazon Baby Registry to a Target registry – this is HUGE because Target registries SUCK. BUT they have better pricing and selection than Toys R Us (my god, how many times can I scare myself by writing that store name?? ME? TOYS R US??? Hold me.) And plus, I’m really pissed at Amazon and will tell anyone who listens.

So you’re listening! Amazon has a 100% affiliation with Babies R Us – that’s the ONLY way you can buy online for that store & when you register at Amazon you register at Babies R Us. BUT unlike other Wish Lists at Amazon NOT ALL PRODUCTS OFFERED ON AMAZON ARE AVAILABLE TO BE ADDED TO YOUR BABY REGISTRY. Do NOT ask why, Amazon had no good answer for me (yes, I emailed them) they simply told me to add those items not available to add to the BABY REGISTRY to a separate WISH LIST. So, I would have to create ANOTHER LIST for nice, generous, loving people to buy MY BABY a gift. I think not, bitches. My idea of using Amazon was so that we could cull all of the items we wanted from non-Super Store stores and have them in one place. All this started with the AMAZING baby sling that NO ONE offers in their Super Store stores. How is this to their disadvantage? Everyone would be making more money & Babies R Us wouldn’t be losing any since they don’t offer that item to begin with!! MORE MONEY, MORE PEOPLE HAPPY – EASY, PEASY PEOPLE!! I hate always having to do things the RIGHT way for people, it’s very taxing. HA! Kidding, I kid. OR do I?

I am also at the point where Every Time I Stand Up, I Must Pee. Running errands yesterday was FUN!!

I’ve been going to sleep around 10-10:30 every night…it’s not too bad on school nights but it’s killing me on the weekends since I DO like to spend time with my bebe daddy but he’s been adorable about it – even tucking me in (ok he does that every night) and making sure I have my cuddle pillow properly in use. Bad side-effect though – I’m up at 7:30 and I mean UP. So this morning it was 6:30 (thanks DLST!) so thankfully Da Monk came back to bed and we had some cuddle time before I got up after he stepped on my bladder.

One more thing – this picking a Glider business – how on EARTH do the prices range so much on the same model at ALL different stores?? And HOW does Baby Depot not even have the one we liked available on line? We REALLY hate going around the stores with the gun thingy since they usually malfunction while in use BASICALLY forcing us to use the gun thingy since it’s not on line! DRATS.

Bonjour from Mamacita & her 6 month belly!! 

Say hello to our little friend! If you tilt your head to the right you can see the bebe's little face a little clearer :) 

Hello Bebe Nino! This is the bebe's profile 

Music, Clothes & Daddy

Music Preferences!!

Last night Matias put on some DMB & Best of What’s Around came on and AS SOON AS Dave sang “hey my friend…” this little Firedancer started jumping around!! HE LOVED IT!! Oh and let’s not forget that when I was choking back tears listening to that song as mentioned in a previous entry, I was listening with my headphones so Bebe couldn’t hear it…

He really does seem to be enjoying DMB music & he liked the Jason Mraz I had on for him the other morning. This weekend I wasn’t home much so there wasn’t much time for music therapy on our quiet weekend mornings but next weekend should be easier for me to get back into the swing of things.

I’m really making an effort not to force feed him DMB [right yet]. Granted I do play Some Devil [but you have to introduce perfection to them right away] but I don’t think I have put on a show or a studio CD beside D&T Live at Luther College…it’s been ALL Matias for choosing the DMB rotation. Thankfully, it hasn’t been that hard of a decision for him!

Bebe also likes old Mayer [back when he was boyfriend material] &, of course, Jack Johnson. Along with all my 80s music that gets played in the car on the ipod…

And I have censored what bebe can listen to – at least to a certain degree. He hasn’t heard Halloween or anything by Prince, nothing too scary or menacing or dirty. You know cause of his virgin ears and all. HA!

Onto another favorite baby topic of mine:

CLOTHES. Thankfully with Spring on the horizon there seems to be a LOT more Unisex clothing to choose from!! YAY!! I wiped GAP out of their cute new onesies and was very pleased with my choices there. I feel confident that our bebe will neither be naked nor dressed all in white for the first while!! Cause, really, folks, I have bigger things to worry about!

And another favorite topic:

WATCHING MATIAS FEEL THE BEBE KICK. This morning the entire family awoke at 5AM. No one feel back asleep – including the bebe. So instead of just lying there, doing nothing, I asked Matias if he wanted to feel the bebe zooming around. He would jump up each time the bebe kicked at him and just smile. It was so cute to watch his expression as we both felt our bebe moving around. It was so nice in that pre-dawn light to lie there and just be together. It’s a moment I’ll always remember. He would tap on my belly and I SWEAR TO GOD this kid would tap back, RIGHT AFTER Matias did it, and in the exact same spot. It was too precious.

Rambling Friday

Wow, I’m in a mood today. I think it’s stemming from this sinus pressure headache that came on while I was on the bus this morning. It’s somewhat gone now, but I can still feel it lingering, you know?

Also, kind of running out of clothes again – the maternity clothes have been great BUT I’m somewhat in-between seasons right now & I didn’t want to spend a LOT of money on winter clothes nor do I want to go and buy MORE winter clothes in the 4th week of March. BUT I also cannot really start buying a bunch of spring/summer clothes that I cannot wear right now. And I seemed to have ended up with a lot of yellow maternity clothes…maybe I unconsciously bought myself a bunch of yellow clothes in my quest for unisex newborn clothing?!!?!? But it’s somewhat annoying to wear yellow 3 times a week, now I know it’s not the same top but I’m getting sick of it.

See? Told you. Not a good mood today. I think the weather is getting to me. It’s still in the 30s when I get up and head out in the morning…I believe they even uttered the words “snow flurries” on the radio this morning & usually my little heart would all twitter-patter over this but for the love of all that is good, IT IS THE 4TH WEEK IN MARCH!

Plus, I’m not paying an arm & a leg for maternity clothes. I just discovered that H&M sells maternity clothes and that we have one in Potomac Mills – we have to go over there anyway for the Carter’s outlet & IKEA (who can go there and not stop by?) – so now I just have to find the weekend day to do it! I think next Saturday sounds good to me…we also have our Birthing Center Tour next Sunday…

But this weekend is All About Jen! (yes, this is different than other weekends.)

Tomorrow I have a scrapbook event – Memoranza – from 9am-3pm – in the past I would have signed up for the 9-10pm slot but I really do not think I can do something for that long at the moment! So this should be LOADS of fun!! Then Sunday I have a Southern Living Party at Kym’s house – more fun!! I think we are meeting up with Isabel this weekend too, just waiting to hear from her…

I just cannot get over how much people will pay for maternity clothes.

On a lighter note:
Monkey was in Crouching Monkey, Hidden Bebe position this morning.

You know you're Hormonal when...

...you find yourself seriously choking back tears and thus saving yourself from choking on your sammich while listening to Red Rocks Best of What's Around on your and chair dancing away at work...

Hey la.

6 Month update!!

“Your tiny diver has a few new moves, thanks to her buoyancy in amniotic fluid. She can turn, spin, somersault, and jackknife. Her motions are becoming more forceful and coordinated”

You don’t say? Driving back to VA this weekend, I SWEAR I felt this bebe do a flip off my bladder into my pool of my cervix. I believe also that this little bebe is using Morse code to communicate the MORE CHOCOLATE distress call. I think last night I started to feel the beginnings of pummeling my back – now I KNOW gas doesn’t feel like that, so I’m pretty sure that’s what it was but since it was my first time, the jury is still out!

“At just over a pound and almost a foot long, your baby is long and lean. And your uterus is growing along with him - it's now about the size of a soccer ball [emphasis mine].”

Daddy was thrilled with the “size of a soccer ball” comment – Mammacita on the other hand, woke up wondering if they meant “if he’s all curled up in fetal position is that the size of a soccer ball” OR “holy f*cking sh*t a SOCCER BALL?!?!?!?!?, how am I going to get a SOCCER BALL out of ME?!?!?! Seriously, I woke up about 3 times last night thinking this over. I will have to make a 110% conscious effort to not think about this too much or I will be screaming for drugs. Not the visualization I’m sure the Lamaze instructor has in mind…

Speaking of Lamaze instructor! She did call me back last week sometime & let me know that she teaches at the PW Hospital but isn’t the instructor for our class in June – she was going to check to see who our instructor who and if she was a certified Lamaze instructor. In the meantime, she was going to send me a ‘magazine’ that they basically use as their “textbook” so that I could go over it and familiarize myself with the practices. She also wanted me to have a “discussion” with my OB the next time I’m in – to gauge his reaction to no drugs and how he feels about Lamaze in the delivery room.

Then she emailed me this week:

As per our phone conversation, I have placed in today's mail the Lamaze parent magazine for you to read prior to attending class. Interestingly enough, after we spoke I received a call asking if I could teach the very class you and your husband have signed up for. Is that weird or what!!!!
We will discuss/practice comfort measures to manage mother's response to labor pain which include relaxation, breathing, use of heat- cold, position changes, visualization, massage and medications.
See you on June 4th!

YAY!!! Of course, I totally take this as a good sign.

THEN!

I just sent in my registration form for PRENATAL YOGA!! Matias is treating me!! He thinks he might even sit in on a few classes so we can practice it together!! YAY!!

THEN!!

A few months ago, Matias asked if I wanted to go on vacation before the bebe came…like any NORMAL human being, I said, yes please!

SO!!

We just booked our trip yesterday to go to CA and crash my parents Spring Break trip with the Other Grandkids in Tahoe and then drive up the coast and hit up Seattle!!! YIPPPEEE!!!!

NINE DAYS OFF FROM WORK!! ON VACATION!!

I haven’t been to CA since 97 – haven’t even seen my brother’s house. Ever. Last time I was in CA was for (come on, you can guess this one…) was for a DMB show. I’m going to show Matias around San Jose – kind of an Old Stomping Ground Tour!! I wont be able to partake in any of the winter activities in Tahoe but I can still have fun!! YOU BETCHA!! And we have a hot tub!! And Matias can go skiing. I WILL miss skating though. Wonder if I can toboggan? HA. Kidding. Or am I? I’ll just take pictures of everyone else doing everything else and pout and possibly whine.

I wonder if TOGOs is still open?? Who thinks I get tragically lost in San Jose when I’m driving us around?

TWO WORDS, PEOPLE: In n’ Out.

So, I’m mildly excited about this trip. In the pregnancy circles it’s called a Babymoon – works for me!

I have no idea what to pack though (yes, I am already thinking about this) since I barely have a wardrobe to begin with. And with Tahoe being still in Winter Phase, I think I can pull that off but I HOPEFULLY wont be needing sweaters in Seattle or Oregon…

AND I will only be missing one YOGA class while on our Babymoon which I can make up!! No harm, no foul!

I meant to post our ultrasound pictures last night but I think I got distracted by doing 2 loads of laundry and putting two more away…so I promise to do that this evening! And I think I’ll take a 6 month picture soon too…

Still think it's cute?!?! Goop and all :) 

Moving forward

I just booked our Birthing Center Tour & Childbirth Preparation Classes (weekend crash course)!! I emailed the local Lamaze instructor yesterday but haven’t heard back – might put in an actual phone call to her but it’s not REALLY easy to talk on the phone at work, you know?

I’m going shopping for cradle sheet fabric with my mom this weekend – YAY!! I like fabric stores, I just don’t like actually making anything myself with fabric! I also want to look and see what they might have for crib bedding – I think we’ve decided to have my mom make the bumpers, crib skirt and just buy “generic” sheets (those are a little harder to make!) – so we have to start looking for fabrics for a boy OR a girl (or do we? I like messing with my mom)…

There’s also some store in Cary that is having a 70% baby sale – so we’ll hit that up!

I’ve picked a couple of dates for Baby Shower in NC – May 13th (Mother’s Day weekend NOT day) is the best one for us but I don’t know if that is going to work!

Also have to get on that baby registry – I think we’ll just do Baby Depot & Amazon.com – that way I can add things from various vendors with the best prices available, hopefully. I know some people like to buy online and others really like to go to the store so I’ll try one online based and one ACTUAL store and see how that goes!

I just discovered that the crib bedding that I want to model our nursery after has fabric for sale by the yard. Very expensive yards, I might add. BUT still there’s hope we can find someone who can special order it for cheaper, possibly!! YAY!! I was hoping to be able to match is closely but now we might just be able to make it ourselves!! Of course this all depends on what’s cheaper, buying it or making it. The sheets are a little more expensive than Pottery Barn and I haven’t found much on Ebay…so it might be worth it depending on how much yardage this stuff takes…

So Grandma just confirmed that it IS very expensive yardage…what to do, what to do…

Out like a Leo, in like a Crab

So…we are no longer expecting a LEO baby…

As a Water sign, the Cancer baby is likely to be more emotional than most. In a word: tears! This baby will probably cry a fair bit, so holding and touching are of paramount importance -- really anything to achieve comfort. Along these lines, this is a baby who needs to feel secure and will easily pick up any bad vibes in the household. Therefore, arguing in the presence of this child should be kept to a minimum. Family is very important to the Cancer baby, as is nurturing. As Cancer is the sign of the Mother, the elements of nurturing, family and mood swings (think sensitivity and emotions) are highlighted. Also, because Cancer is the sign of Memory, the Cancer baby will retain memories from the past, both good and bad. This is a child who could get lost in the supermarket for two minutes and forever remember it as a sign of rejection from the mother! For this reason and others, this tot needs to be made to feel secure, especially within the family unit (family will always be more important to the Cancer baby than friends). The somewhat reticent Cancer baby will nonetheless surprise Mom and Dad by being fussy about food, so be sure to please that palate! To sum up, the Cancer baby is familial, must feel protected, and with any kind of luck, will learn to swim like a fish!

Matias really wanted a LEO baby but the 11th is a Water Sign – which he is also – so that should help ease the ‘disappointment’ a little, no? It’s funny he’s disappointed over the astrological sign of his baby (on many levels) but thankfully doesn’t care if it’s a boy or a girl (although I know he daydreams about a little girl)…weirdo.

This sign doesn’t sound too far from a Taurus either though so seems like a pretty good combination of mommy and daddy…

So we are having a Crabby McCrab and not a ROARING LEO!

Still damn ruby though.

Music Log Updated

So we’ve been using our Wombsong to play music directly for the bebe instead of “through” me – you’re only “allowed” to have two 10 minute sessions a day so we must choose our track listing very wisely.

The first time, Matias just put on random World Music and I was mildly excited about that – I’m never very excited about music without lyrics or music I don’t know inside and out. But, it wasn’t me listening so…I was really neither here nor there about it…

But last night, Matias picked his track listing a little more carefully – and the bebe was introduced to Mr. Jack Johnson and his Curious George soundtrack. Folks, we’ve gone all PBS on him already!! He had the Number 3 song on repeat. This kid is going to come out yelling at us for not recycling his diapers. HA!

We still have yet to pick a Go Night Night song but Matias is suddenly all for that – it was funny our conversation yesterday about it but it wouldn’t translate well to words since there was “acting” involved. But I can tell you it went a little something like this:

Chosen Go Night Night song is playing & bebe just starts snoring.

See, so much funnier when you see me do it in person. I promise.

So tonight…I’m not sure what we will choose for him…I’m REALLY trying NOT to push DMB on him [I mean Matias in this case] (I know, doesn’t sound like it should be a hard sell but…) but I really want to put Some Devil on for the bebe!!! And yes, I could do it alone but Matias likes to watch the belly jump and likes to know when he’s kicking around and to what songs so I’m not going to get all sneaky on him about this…I’ve got plenty of other things to be sneaky about! HA! Just kidding. Or am I?

Oh the bebe also likes Ani. Or at least likes me singing and chair dancing along to her.

My, how Time flies…

Believe it or not but we are already in our 23rd WEEK!!

Where did the past two weeks go?!!? Turns out my abnormally large belly is due to be birthed July 11th and NOT July 25th!!

TWO WEEKS EARLIER!!

I WILL BE 6 MONTHS (ALREADY) NEXT WEEK!! Just last week I was 5 MONTHS!!

YIKES!! I changed my due date on my little weekly update emails and they informed me that I only have 17 weeks left in my pregnancy!! DOUBLE YIKES!!

And how do I know there has been a change??

CAUSE WE MET OUR LITTLE BEBE YESTERDAY VIA ULTRASOUND!!!

More on that coming up…

Mother Ducker.

When my mom and sister were here last weekend they brought us quite a few bebe goodies!! We got stocked up on all things Duckie!! I got a bunch of layette outfits and blankies – which are just adorable.

Thing is – anything in “Neutral” is ALL ducks, ALL the time. We went shopping also and I couldn’t find a single thing in “Neutral” that was cute enough to buy. I ended up getting one outfit from Janie & Jack that is for a boy but it’s green and has grasshoppers on it so it’s not TOO BOY. And it says Love Bug, so who could resist that. And I got a bib and blankie from Gymboree that is boy also, but it’s neutral “enough” to pass. It’s really aggravating that I cannot find anything decent. Almost everything is DUCKS. And Grandma wiped them all out, I think!! They are so cute though!! We had them take them back home since we will be moving in May and really don’t have the room to store any extra goodies at the moment…hence the reason I’ve somewhat forgotten to written about the adorable stash of newborn clothes we just got!!

Most unisex sections are really boring or just have like two choices but I did just look at Target and they have PLENTY for us to choose from – THANK YOU! So although we wont be registering them (damn them and their horrible registries!!) we will be maxing out our charge cards, I’m sure!

Why is it so hard to make unisex clothes for newborns? If little boys OR little girls can wear them people who know what they are having would buy them also, right??

And why are all kitty things pink and doggie things blue?!?! WE ARE NOT DOG PEOPLE, PEOPLE.

Matias says I’m making this more complicated than it is & I probably am BUT it’s really aggravating to go shopping and either already own everything (thanks Grandma!!) or not even have any options, beyond Ducks that is. And his, typical male, response is “just get white onesies and that’s all we need”. I try not to argue but, please, we know that’s not going to happen. I just don’t want him OR her to be naked cause I couldn’t find cute clothes. Ok, yeah after writing that last sentence I do feel I’m making this a little more than it really is.

I suppose it’s just hard not knowing and not being able to Plan – it’s not the hardest thing in the world but it sure is tough when you come across smocked dresses or little overalls and you just have to wait LONGER.

And there’s TONS of monkey stuff out there but, seriously, we need to be careful about buying monkey stuff since we have a cat named monkey and all…and some of it is just ugly. HEH. And I honestly don’t know how unisex monkey stuff is…the few pieces I have ARE light yellow and light brown not bright colors so I am fine with that…

So, THANKS GRANDMA & AUNTIE LEANNE!! We love the goodies you bought us!!

Alrighty, folks, dont say I didnt warn you...here's 5 Month Bebe Belly 

Music Log for Saturday Morning

(so far...)

Some Devil - Dave Matthews
Waiting for my Rocket to Come - Jason Mraz
Inside Wants Out - John Mayer
Number 1 Hits - Elvis

:)

Also need this :) 

I NEED THIS!!!! 

Grandma bought this for us - isnt it just perfect? I have it sitting next to my lamp on my desk and I just love looking at it when I'm on the computer! Thanks Grandma!! 

Our Next Steps

I mailed in our Pre-registration for the hospital this week!! We have to register at 20 weeks so that they have, I can only imagine, all of our insurance information before we check in for the Big Date!! YAY!! Oh and by the way Mom, you’re our emergency contact – forgot to tell you…

Then I printed out all the schedules for Birthing Center Tours (free!) and Childbirth Classes ($135) & all the other sundry classes they offer. We decided to do the Speed Childbirth Classes (9-4:30 for two Saturdays) instead of the 5 week long weekDAY classes that would just kill us – we are NO good at after school activities since neither of us gets home until 6:45 if are modes of transportation are running on time, that is. I consulted a fellow co-worker about the additional classes – breastfeeding and childcare – and she let me know that the Lactation Consultant they send in after the birth is the best thing going & your contact with a consultant AFTER you get home and see where any and all problems might lie. There’s no reason to go learn about breastfeeding when you don’t even have anything latching onto you at the moment, right? Plus, that was another $45. And they cover all the Childcare issues in the Childbirth class so we should be set there also. Saving another $35 or something like that. We found a Lamaze instructor in our area-ish (not Manassas but Centreville, which is right down the road) so we will be calling/contacting her shortly to see what’s up with that. Since we want to go the Natural Route, we feel we should get as involved in the learning of that Route before just showing up and saying “no drugs, please & shouldn’t I have something to Focus on?” I’m nervous about how much these Lamaze Classes might cost though & Matias doesn’t think he can learn what he needs to know from a book – which you know was my first suggestion. HA.

When I reminded Matias that I mailed in the pre-registration form he got all excited and I asked him what that was all about – he said “I’m really excited to go on the tour and take the classes together and get moving on this thing” to which I smiled & kissed him, gratefully. I was nervous that he would fight me on the “classes” thing since he’s the oldest of 11 he’s changed his fair share of diapers and then some and bathed and burped and fed and…you get the picture…so I was nervous that he would declare himself Expert and refuse to participate – you know how men can be. Thankfully, this hasn’t happened. I did tell him one time that I haven’t had much experience with babies (really only my niece and nephew and we didn’t even live in the same state for most of that time and there’s one memorable diaper changing incident that still scars me…) and that I, being a Active Learner, need to actually get in there and get my hands dirty, so to speak, to make myself feel more prepared and ready. Plus, tons of reading. Read then do…tis how I learn. And make lists. Plus, and this is the Big Reason, I wanted to make sure we were both doing the same thing and not bringing in lessons learned from past experiences that might be “wrong” and then end up arguing over those points while our child lies on the changing table flinging poo everywhere while we discuss the proper front-to-back or back-to-front style of wiping. I would like to be on the same page with him on this and thankfully, I think we will be. And everyone has heard that the first child is the one who gets the binky boiled clean after touching a dirty surface for a mili-second and that the following children just get the dirt blown off before returning it to their screaming maw – can you just imagine what happens at child number 11? So not only has he agreed to the classes he’s EXCITED ABOUT THEM!! YAY DADDY!!! Elevates some stress for me, considerably.

The Bebe has definitely been moving around more as of lately. He is waking up earlier – sometimes even before I’m out of bed! Usually he was getting active while I was on the bus – sometimes two hours after I’ve already been awake (you really don’t want to know how long my commute is…) and then normally after I’ve eaten snacks or meals. Now, he’s up way before that and pushing off his pond walls and, as I imagine, breaststroking his way to the other side to do a flip turn and head back. He’s our little swimmer, this one! Which just makes me ache for the day I can get him in the pool with me!!! I didn’t spend 6 summers teaching swim lessons for nothing, people!! I thought I felt a kick this morning that Daddy would have been able to feel but since we were sleeping I wasn’t on the ball enough to grab his hand and see if it would happen again.

We went to the Tavern last night for dinner (don’t worry mom, no one was smoking around us at all!!) since Matias didn’t have any fish for dinner (good Catholic and all…) and it was so nice to see all of our Girls again – we honestly hadn’t been there, I think, since the end of January!! They all came over when I walked in (bus was also almost 40 minutes late!!) and oooh’ed and awe’ed over My Belly and just generally got excited. They were talking to us and asking questions about how we were doing and how excited and happy they are for us and just general giggle-ment – it’s nice to know we really aren’t just “customers” to them – they even remember our Anniversary! Our regular server (she actually switches stations with people so she can serve us!) was so cute – she commented on how my tastes buds haven’t changed that I was still ordering the same things! (Rueben with fries and a side of Blue Cheese!) and then brought me a double serving of a hot fudge brownie for dessert! She asked how far along we were now and was ASTOUNDED to learn it was 5 months already – she swore it felt like only two months!! And then said, well it’s no wonder you’re showing so much then!! I miss our Tavern though but I’m so glad they haven’t forgotten about us. They all came over and even said “please come back more often and don’t wait so long between visits”. Selfishly, I will MISS our St. Patrick’s Day celebrating there though. It wont be the same this year – no getting to the Tavern at NOON for GREEN BEER and about 540972 cigarettes. No singing along to the Irish band (the owners father is the lead singer) & calling my mom to tell her how much I miss her and how all the Irish-ness of the day makes me miss my childhood and Ireland and blahblahhormonalblah. And no more REALLY drunk pictures to laugh at the next day. *sigh* Maybe we can still go for dinner on Friday night before heading to NC the next day (Auntie’s 40^th Birthday!!) but it still wont be the same…

Plus, I’ve gotten them to start calling my Shirley Temple’s “Virgin Cosmos”. GIGGLE. And I get extra cherries. They like us, they really like us. I suppose this is our first taste of the transition from childless to child-ed; getting to see if our “friends” will still be there after we become Parents, you know? And yes, they still want us around!! I know this might sound silly to some who haven’t experienced the Tavern with us but these guys are fabulous. The night we got engaged we went straight there and celebrated, we get a booth anytime we want cause Matias likes to stretch out, they were fabulous for my Diva Dinner before the wedding, like I said, they remember our Anniversary and us coming in after our engagement…the list goes on…anyway enough about that.

I think it’s time for a little Introduction to Music 101 – just threw on Some Devil!! I’ve ranted numerous times about how I think this is just the BEST LULLABYE ALBUM EVER – now it’s my turn to put it to the test!! HEH. He’s kicking.

“before you came, you know I never cared, it's a just a game, I played, yeah oh up and away...”

Monthly doctor appointment – Week TWENTY!!

TWENTY?!?! How am I ½ way there ALREADY? I know the first 16 weeks were agonizing but it still doesn’t feel like I should be ½ way there already.

Maybe I should get a move on about getting some stuff together, no?

I went to the doctor yesterday for my monthly check-up and it happens also to be WEEK 20!!

Here’s a grocery list of things done/said at my appointment yesterday:

1) I gained some weight but now they want me to be sure not to gain as much again in one month
2) My blood pressure is really good & steady at 100/60
3) I’m carrying “low”
4) I still have an “abnormally large belly for this stage”
5) I confirmed there is only one heartbeat since he keeps mentioning this “abnormally large belly for this stage”
6) They had a problem finding the heartbeat because the bebe kept moving around too much and they couldn’t get a handle on him long enough to nabbed a heartbeat
7) They didn’t tell me that until they found it which nearly damn drove me into a panic for obvious reasons – they need to tell you why they cannot find the heartbeat a little bit sooner before making you assume the worse

We go next week for our ultrasound!!! Still wont be finding out the sex though! I’m very excited to finally meet & greet this little bebe swimming around inside of me. YAY!!!

And every since the doctors visit this little bebe has been moving around more than normal or maybe it’s just stronger than normal. I was telling Matias last night that it’s now more of an “hey, something’s kicking me from the inside” instead of “I don’t think that’s gas, I think that’s a baby in there” – very strange, indeed. I actually cant wait for papa to be able to see & feel our baby moving around AND I think it will be funny to show the cats (the Other Babies) my stomach when he is truly tumbling around in there with elbows and feet coming through and see if they “attack” my belly…giggle.

I LOVE my Cuddle Pillow. Although I’m sure I will be getting more “proper” use out of it in the coming months, right now, it’s so nice just to sleep with something up against my belly that isn’t Matias’ knee. It’s taking some getting used to when I roll over though – I haven’t quite mastered the act of bringing it with me when I roll. Monkey loves it. He sleeps on it when I am lounging on the couch & snuggles up to it at night in bed if he cannot get close to me for some reason. Mystic, as usual, can give two poops J

UPDATES:

Matias continues to talk into my belly button.

Bebe thoroughly enjoyed the Michael Buble concert on Friday night – he kicked it up during the good parts – smart bebe!!

Those damn Girl Scouts better watch out

We have ONE box of Thin Mints in the office - which is NOT why those little bastards have to watch out.

I had FOUR cookies. I have the WORSE heartburn now EVER.

I'm going to hunt one down tonight and trip 'em.

It's a sign.

Ruby

Ruby is the birthstone of July & the anniversary gemstone for the 15th and 40th years of marriage.

Ruby's day is Tuesday, its season summer, and its apostle St. Matthew. The scarlet-colored gem is July's birthstone under the sign of Cancer, is said to accord wearers wisdom, happiness and health, and to bring particularly good luck to gamblers and lovers. [Note: The bebe is due on a Tuesday.]

Rubies are more than talismans or good-luck charms, not only historic and exotic but also valuable. Value is a human set of conditions: gems must have rarity, durability and beauty. Great rubies display all three hallmarks. Rubies - especially fine rubies - are rarer than diamonds, emeralds or sapphires. The beauty of their color is without peer. And their durability is often a surprise to new buyers. [Note: Hello? Sounds like our child!! ;)]

On the famous Mohs hardness scale of 1 to 10, everyone knows that a diamond, as the hardest natural substance on earth, rates a 10. Rubies, at Mohs 9, are harder than any other material except diamonds. You may already have noticed that rubies and sapphires are often paired. For good reason. They belong to the same family, corundum, the crystal form of aluminum oxide. Fine rubies are the most expensive of all gems (with the one exception - very rare colored diamonds, such as red). [Note: That's right, bitches.]

Clarity guidelines are not as rigorous with rubies as with diamonds because a natural flawless ruby is a virtual impossibility. Rubies, like emeralds, are expected to have inclusions. [Note: Mamacita's birthstone is the Emerald. WE ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE FLAWS PEOPLE!!]

And I believe that wraps up todays "Mamacita Must be Bored at Work" random entries...

What's your sign?

Symbol - The Lion
Ruling Planet - The Sun
Birthstone- Sardonyx
Flower - Gladiolus
Color - Orange

The Leo Personality

If your child is born in Leo, he or she is usually a happy extrovert that loves power. A child of the Sun is sincere, honorable, magnanimous, and proud. As adults they are usually dignified and positive.

The Leo child is philosophical, forceful, and demonstrative. Because they are assured, Leos demonstrate faith, hope, and fortitude. This child is apt to be energetic and lavish in expenditure of energy and money when his or her sympathy or interest is aroused. Leos are usually popular and even-tempered but quick to anger if their Leo pride is hurt. Leos always aim for the stars, and with their determination and self-confidence, Leo children usually get there.

The Leo child is daring, unflinching, and unafraid and at times must be taught to curb his or her exuberance. Leos love to be at the head of things.

Leos' great organizing ability and commanding power usually bring success. They are charming and excel as artists, actors, and musicians, and succeed best where they have authority or where they hold responsible executive position.

Leos are most compatible with Gemini and Libra signs.

Famous People Born under the Leo Sign:
Neil Armstrong, Astronaut, August 5
CoCo Channel, Designer, August 19
Alexander the Great, Macedonian Greek World Conqueror, July 23
Robert Redford, Entertainer, August 18

A gaggle of stuff (but not "pink stuff")

Does anyone North of the Mason-Dixon Line know what Pink Stuff is? Be happy, if you dont.

Anyway...

Brief list of random updates:

1) I won the Ebay auction for the Wombsong Prenatal Sound System!!! Paid 1/2 price for it too.
2) Matias is talking into my belly button now. He's only done it once so I'm not sure if a habit is forming or not...
3) My skin is stretching or TRYING TO. I can feel it. It's uncomfortable but Daddy (or Papa [French version] as I like to call him) has offered to rub the cream he bought for me THE DAY he bought the pregnancy test!
4) Cannot remember what else I wanted to say...
5) Bebe is going to another concert tomorrow night - Michael Buble!!

I suppose if I remember anything else I wanted to say (LeNelle distracted me...we are chatting...) I will get back to you :)

Ask Again Later

I just received my Americanbaby.com Ages & Stages newsletter for Week 19 (which starts today for those playing along at home) AND the bebe is the size of a MAGIC 8 BALL!!

CRAZY.

And let me tell you, this little frog is swimming around like crazy today - he must be looking for a better answer to his question ;)

"Most Likely" my belly says.

Very interesting.

So, I brought some tea into work, since I had polished off the stash we had here, and probably for the first time in a week I made myself some hot tea. When I make it for myself at work, I dont use milk or sugar simply because I dont have any here :)

Turns out, I'm pretty sure the Straight Tea is giving me heartburn. BUT when I make it at home with milk & sugar, there's no side effects at all. I wonder what the difference is?

Yesterday I didnt have any tea but did have my yogurt & bagel with cream cheese...and no heartburn. Today, Straight Tea with my yogurt & bagel with cream cheese...Heartburn.

Que??

GAH!!

I just discovered that the birthstone for July is RUBY. It's RED, people. I might have to hold this bebe in a few days ;)

Starting with some purchases...

...although not *entirely* for the bebe they do greatly & directly benefit the bebe :)

First purchase was easy - I found that Boppy makes a Cuddle Pillow to use when sleeping. It helps keep you on your side (and supposedly when you put it between your knees it doesnt even unlodge when you flip) and helps support your growing belly and prevents unnecessary Sloshing. ROCK. ON. I feel rather giddy that I got it for 10% off and with free shipping also.

Second purchase wasnt as smooth or un-annoying as my lovely Cuddle Pillow. We wanted to get the prenatal sound system that allows you to put the special headphones on your belly and let the bebe listen to music. Sounds simple, right? Well the two most highly recommended brands have either been disontinued or is out of stock for the unforeseeable future. And the rest of the "prenatal sound systems" that we searched for were only US listening to the Bebe and not the bebe listening to what we want him to...take a wild guess what that might include...

Finally, I found an auction on Ebay with no bids and a little less than two days left. And of course, way under price. Other auctions were not for the ones we were looking at and at full list price and all the Buy it Now options were all over-priced...

So keep your fingers crossed that I win this auction tomorrow :) Matias is already busy downloading webstreams of World Music & we've got to decide which song/s to use for our "sleep time", "calming time"...music!! YAY!! How exciting!! Corruption is starting already!!! Kidding, just kidding. just maybe.

And since it's one of those combo deals, we can also HEAR the hearbeat (if the thing gets good 'reception') and record our own voices (mostly daddy's do this since baby can already 'hear' mommy's voice...) AND I think it lets you email your recordings...SO y'all might be hearing the heartbeat & kicks if it's the one I'm thinking it is. (and who knows, we looked at so many today they all start to look the same after a while!)

How Maternity Clothes are the Opposite of Bridal Gowns

You know that old bullshit of wedding dresses being sized way too small – like a regular size 10 now takes a wedding dress size 12? Although I DO have to say that my dress fit 100% perfectly from the first moment and never once had any adjustments made to it…

I think the opposite is true for Maternity Clothes & I’m trying to figure out why.

Pants that I have bought from The GAP & Old Navy in my “maternity size” are WAY TOO BIG. My new brown Old Navy pants are FALLING OFF. Seriously. My GAP jeans are fabulous but they slide way down also. BUT the clothes I bought from Motherhood fit PERFECTLY and with room to grow. I understand that maybe the Old Navy & GAP stuff just have Room to Grow but I really don’t think that’s the case. What I’m really starting to think is that their REGULAR clothes sizing is bullshit. Nothing I have bought from either stores (same owner) fits the same way for the same size. It’s frustrating as all get out because you are faced with the possibility that your regular clothes size could actually be smaller than you think if they didn’t f*ck with the sizing and now that you are wearing Maternity clothes, of all things, they are TOO BIG for you.

AND what really annoys me is that all of GAP Maternity is online ONLY and Old Navy has only like 5% in-store selection and has about eleventy million % more available online so you CANNOT try them on first. So you trust. And they fail you. And leave you with your pants hanging off your pregnant ass at work.

THANKS!!

IT’S ALIVE!!

AND MOVING!!

I’m finally 100% convinced that this movement in My Belly is MyOur Bebe!!

A confession of sorts – I’ve been feeling the Bebe move for probably two weeks now.

When I first starting feeling the Bebe swimming around down there (and not the “down there” that Grandma means, I’ll get to that in month 10) I wasn’t so sure that what I was feeling wasn’t gas pains or heartburn flaring up into a VurpFest. So I didn’t say anything to anyone besides my mom & my husband.

To me it feels like what I like to call “A Frog” – those tiny little muscle spasms you generally get around your eye or thigh area – the ones you can actually watch “leap”. Heh, just had one while I was sitting here contemplating whether that was an apt enough description! I was waiting to make sure I was fully over The Sickness & that this was in fact my little Bebe Frog leaping around from lily pad (bladder) to lily pad (kidney).

Right now, the movement is still “too far inside” for Matias to feel anything. I have no other way to describe it to him other than “too far inside” and really, how far inside is this little Frogger swimming?? But every once in a while, I’ll let him know that the Bebe just moved around!!

So far, I’ve noticed he likes the bottom of his pond and the left side/West Coast – not a lot of movement up towards “the surface” or on the right side/East Coast.

Sleep positions are becoming interesting…

I sleep on both sides and my back – in that order. I HAVE TO fall asleep on my left side and then I will flip over to my right side (it’s not “tossing & turning” – it’s totally comfortable and cozy for me to do this) and then I will tend to end up on my back at some point with a cat sitting on my face or boobs.

These days the left side is more comfortable to sleep on, as most pregnancy literature will tell you but I still have the urge to flip to the right side. This causes severe SLOSHING Effect. Which leads to an uprising of fluids culminating into a Vurp in Lying Down Position – which equals VERY DANGEROUS LAKE SIDE EFFECTS. I’ve tried to curb my flipping but really, to no avail. I’ve definitely slowed it down though in order not to Slosh. But I can also BE Sloshed – if and when Matias jumps around during the night (cause he does) I get Wake Movement Sloshed. Makes me want to have one of those beds where I can jump up & down and still not knock over the glass of water!! At least my little West Coast Frog is learning to ride the waves early, no?

My FAVORITE sleep position though is the Crouching Monkey, Hidden Froggie.

And it goes a little something like this:

I have to be lying on my side and Monk will drape his body over My Belly and rest his body on me while hanging his head and paws over my side with his feet in “sitting” position. And then he purrs. And I can imagine that the Bebe is feeling Monkey purring on him and that makes me smile & a little weak in the knees.

Week 17-18!!

I’m wondering if my lack of blogging has anything to do with my feeling 100% better?!?!

Granted, I usually write on the weekends but we were away this weekend so I didn’t get a chance to do a weekly catch up and I’m not sure why I didn’t pound one out at work BUT I didn’t so here I am now – Week 18!!

WEEK 18?!?!?!?!

So now I’m 4 ½ months preggos (as my co-workers like to call me) and I’m 2 weeks shy of being ½ there and without jinxing anything (which I think is why I REALLY didn’t write much lately…) I think I’m over The Sickness!!

And there was much rejoicing!!

I suppose for about the last two weeks, I’ve been Sickness-free. The heartburn still persists but TUMS hasn’t let me down yet (knock on wood) so I can ‘manage’ that. It is nice to have my body back even though there’s someone growing inside of me – I feel much better about all the commotion since I pretty much know it’s not going to lead to me praying to the porcelain god.

As for my other bodily “tasks” – Matias thinks I need a whole other blog for that!! I’m simply thinking of making up a calendar and giving myself gold stars when appropriate. I’ve been forcing myself to drink [more] water and fruit – as far as I can tell it is helping. Surprisingly, the watermelon is rather sweet this time of year but the grapes have a little bit further to go before being perfect though. Just an FYI…

I got on the scale this morning (who actually gets on the scale and HOPES they have gained weight??!?! I’m not 15 any more and I’m not getting bribed with Birks or clothes…) and I think I’ve gained about 2 pounds. YAY for 2 POUNDS!!

I STILL think the Belly is HUGE. And people have been touching me. Now, we all know I don’t like to be touched. I knew this would happen at some point but I think this is a little early to be rubbing MY Belly. Sometimes my Ninja skills step in and I can block the offender and then I’ve also learned to just stand there with my hand on MY Belly in order to quickly whisk the offenders’ hand away. Co-workers are touching me, people. So not only do I have to get comfortable with looking fat I have to let other people who I may not even like (god, the horror) TOUCH ME IN A SEMI-PRIVATE AREA! Trust me, I’ll kick you and chalk it up to hormones & not feel bad at all.

Sitting in certain positions is already becoming uncomfortable – I tried to sit cross-legged on the train this weekend and that only last about 10 minutes. I couldn’t lean onto Matias and ½ way lie down on the train. Hey, maybe it’s the trains’ fault and not mine?!!?

I spent the last two weeks or so sleeping on Matias’ side of the bed so that I was closer to the bathroom. Last night I climbed back over to my side!! I’m sleeping with three pillows in an upright position which sometimes leaves my neck with some cramping but that’s because I sleep on my side so my neck isn’t fully supported in this position. Anyway…I think we are both happy to have our own side of the bed back.

I did manage to make MYSELF a little carsick last night though – how talented am I?? I’m definitely going to blame that one on traffic though and not my driving skills – too much stop and go for my liking. TUMS cleared that right up though! YAY TUMS!!

Bebe Belly & Baby Monka. It may not be much longer before *one* of us doesnt fit on the couch! 

"Larger" view of Bebe Belly!! 

Week 15-16!

The past week or so has been relatively comfortable body-function-wise, my mood swings still have not disappeared though. The dragon has come out a couple of times & I know my temper is flaring quicker and my patience is wearing thinner. But seriously, if you think you can control your PMS mood swings, you aint seen nothing like these puppies.

I mean, two Superbowl commercials made me cry goddamnit. The DOVE one & the baby Bud Light horsie one. IF those didnt make you cry, or think about it, then you're dead inside.

I've been sleeping much better & The Sickness has passed (please god, knock on wood) so I'm feeling MUCH better and that does help with the mood swings. It's easier to feel less bitchy when you arent holding down your breakfast, lunch & dinner. Notice I didnt say NOT bitchy, just less - that's an improvement I'm sure Matias is grateful for.

I went to the Doctor on Tuesday for my monthly check in - I'm 16 weeks, 4 months!!!, pregnant :)

I got to hear the bebe's heartbeat again!! And I cried again. I was told this is a "very strong heartbeat" - read into that what you will - I wasnt given the rate but there is some Old Wife's Tale that you can tell the sex by the rate of beats...

I got my blood work drawn for the AFB tests & they will contact me if there is anything awry. I've got that date, Feb. 21st, marked in the organizer already, folks.

I've lost 1/2 a pound. Now folks, I dont know how this is happening. Possibly the no drinking or smoking but I'm eating and drinking (2% milk, baby!!) more and better so I'm just not getting the no weight gain. The NP said not to worry that a lot of women make up for their lack of weight gain between weeks 20 & 24 - so come Week 25 and nothing has happened...then we can all start worrying, ok?

With that said...

The Dr. said, and I'm quoting here, "you have a much larger baby belly than I expected". I said "thank you".

Baby is happy & healthy :) YAY!!

I have my sonogram scheduled for March 14th!!!

Matias was a little jealous that he didnt get to hear the heartbeat again, but I honestly didnt know that I would get to hear it every time. My bad. Dont get me wrong, I still walked in and out of the office doing a "I got to hear the heartbeat" dance :) I'm not above that!! I think it might motivate him to come to every appointment - he works from home on Tuesdays & could totally swing it. Now, dont be mistaken, he has come to the first appt. and will come to the sonogram and others that he is needed at BUT we havent discussed him coming to EVERY appointment with me...that could get REALLY boring, dont you think? But, if he wants to come, he can come!!

I really dont fit in any of my clothes anymore. I should say I really dont fit COMFORTABLY in any of my clothes anymore. They still fit but it's a little difficult to be comfortable at work all day in them. We will be going Maternity Clothes Shopping this weekend - I'll just hit up Old Navy, Hecht's, Motherhood and Target in one swoop - they are all on the same road. And some underwear definitely fits better than others. I havent been dressing all that fabulously for work because the only pants that fit properly are my maternity jeans & those are fine but now my tops are fitting over the bump very well and exposing my "maternity" portion of my maternity jeans - which is terribly un-fabulous.

According to everyone, I should be able to start feeling kicks and movement starting in week 16 - this week. So far, nothing. But I'm ok with that because, morbidly, I got to hear the heartbeat this week. My mom described it as "someone clawing at you from the inside" which is EXACTLY how my period cramps usually feel so I'm waiting for this sign to appear to me...others claim it's like "butterflies" but I dont really get butterflies, I just normally puke when I'm nervous...and then there's the "popcorn popping" which I dont know what that FEELS like, I only know what that SOUNDS like. So my bets are on "clawing" with a side bet placed on "butterflies" with me thinking it's just The Sickness coming back. Again.

Please. Before I Vurp.

I was reading my Ages & Stages newsletter from Americanbaby.com (can you guess why I signed up at this site?!!?) yesterday and the last section was titled "Your Partner" so I started reading it and nearly threw my monitor over this cube wall.

"Think of your partner as a coach, a valuable member of Team Baby. Don't forget to show your appreciation for all he does."

At this point, I'm thinking "EVERYTHING HE DOES?" How about I show my appreciation by not puking on his side of the bed, or making sure I brush my teeth before coming back to bed so I dont have "puke breathe"? HOW'S THAT???

I'm not in any mood to get all 1950s bullshit advice here, people. I really dont think I need to be appreciating my husband for "all he does" - hasnt he done enough?!?!

On Pregnancy

Wendy Wassterstein just recently past away & I was reading some of her articles on Motherhood that I found linked on someone else's webpage...and this quote made me cheer from the rooftops.

I reached for a magazine and came upon a detailed account of Cindy Crawford’s pregnancy: Cindy is “over the moon” about her baby. Cindy does yoga and is working out all the way through. Cindy never has swollen fingers and legs. Cindy never has to lie on her left side.

AHEM.

Wendy was going through high blood pressure and they would try to get it lower by having her lie on her left side...

I love the indignation that you can hear ringing through that quote though.

I dont think I would be so nice, in fact, I know I wouldnt. All I want to say is "Cindy needs to piss off".

ACK! ACK! ACK!

Day # 2 of Heartburn continues.

Last night it hurt so bad, I dont know how many times I nearly puked. Although I did vurp & 1/2 way numerous times nothing ever came all the way up. TMI? TFB.

The tic tacs are no longer working & I just remembered I got some leftover Pregnancy TUMS from a co-worker and just rapidly chewed it.

I just had a large milk and that seemed to have worked but the pain is back again...

I REALLY want Mexican for dinner. (I suppose that's neither here nor there but just thought I would tell you!)

Damnit Jim!

I bought these delicious looking chocolate chip muffins at the grocery run the other night...

I ate one last night while waiting for Matias to come home from soccer with dinner and I didnt feel FANTASTIC after eating it but chalked it up to needing something more "food-ish" in my system.

Brought one to work today for my mid-morning snack and GODDAMNIT IF IT HASNT GIVEN ME HEARTBURN. I didnt even get to finish it before I got attacked.

A fricking chocolate chip muffin?!!? Guess I'll just have to cut the muffins out of the equation ;)

A Girl Can Dream, Cant She?

Last night I had quite the detailed dream about labor and delivery of Bebe Nino. Even Mystic birthed a little one – so detailed, in fact, that her kitten’s face had the same markings but on the opposite sides!! And she was walking around all strutting her stuff just like her Momma. She was such a proud momma too, tail all up full mast with her little one strolling behind her, tail all up full mast too!!

Then it was my turn. And this is totally from the dream not from what I remember OF the dream.

I went into labor – water broke – the whole nine yards, right? For some reason, I had to be lifted into the hospital bed (I wonder if I’m also having anxiety about being “too large”??) and then that’s all I remember until I “woke up” [still in the dream here] and WALKED over to Matias & my mom (don’t know where the baby was…) and asked everyone what was going on.

It appears that I didn’t remember giving birth AT ALL.

They brought the baby GIRL to me and placed her on my chest to start feeding and she was just beautiful. The perfect mix of Matias & I – flawless skin with some olive overtones, little tufts of dark brown hair and the sweetest, friendliest shaped eyes I have ever seen. She had her eyes closed the entire time she nursed and was holding onto my finger. *Sigh* She was wrapped in a pink blanket and that’s how I found out we had a little girl – no one wanted to tell me just outright since I hadn’t remembered delivering her to begin with.

So back to the nursery she went & I finally got to talk with the doctor. I really just couldn’t get over that I blacked out and was wondering how many drugs I had been given. Turns out, I did the whole thing NATURALLY and everything went quite smoothly until right after when I just passed the hell out. And mentally blocked the entire experience out.

So I have no memory, whatsoever, about delivering our baby. The pain was SO severe that I blocked it out right away since that was the only way I was going to be able to get through it without medication. YAY!! I DID IT WITHOUT DRUGS!!

Then it turned not really pleasant – I was walking down to the nursery to see our little girl again and Matias was there in the hall too but not WITH me. I tried to talk to him but he didn’t really want anything to do with me so I asked if it was because I blocked out the pain and didn’t remember anything and he just basically told me that I wasn’t “needed anymore” that I had “fulfilled” my “duty” and that was that!!

That’s when I woke up & turned over to him and told him I had a “weird” dream – it wasn’t really a nightmare cause, damn, who wouldn’t want to go through natural childbirth and then block it out – but then the whole “I’m done with you, thanks for being the hen for my chick” thing kinda put a damper on the whole “YAY!” portion of the dream. I hope I don’t really continue to have these Delivery Dreams for the next 6 months though…we ARE going to attempt Natural Delivery and the “block out system” seems just fine to me but I don’t think I need to continue to dream about it on a regular basis!! And we can axe the whole ‘not needed’ portion of the show too…

But let me tell you Mystic & me had some pretty damn cute babies!!

and oh yeah!

Add Blue Cheese to the list of things that taste like poop.

I LOVE blue cheese dressing on my salads and now I cant eat it without it tasting like something vile got dumped in my mouth. And I'm trying to eat more salads at the caf. and I'm stuck with Ranch. Thankfully, it tastes fine but I miss my blue cheese.

And water started giving me heartburn last night...one a normal day water gives me heartburn but it's been ok as of late. Not last night & of course, it was the only thing in the house to drink.

Going grocery shopping tonight though!!

Week 14

I'm cruising through my week much better! Thankfully! The mind still leaves temporarily but The Sickness has abated. YAY!

The buffalo chicken tenders werent such a big hit though - mucho heartburn. So there's another yummy thing off my list. It's ok though - no complaints here. I'd rather discover something doesnt sit too well with me through heartburn than spending time with the toilet bowl!

I also had a bout of Not Being Able to Sleep the Entire Night at the start of the week but THANK BUDDHA that has gone away also. For about 3 nights I would fall asleep at a good time only to wake up around 2 and not fall back asleep for more than an hour at a time - I know this because I would look at the clock and only an hour had passed. One night I actually didnt even fall asleep util 4am. And then got up for work at 6:30. FUN!

I've discovered a new love for bagels and cream cheese - delicious breakfast and keeps me nice and full with no heartburn or anything!! YAY!! Always nice. I do have to start buying them at the store though and bringing in my own stash of cream cheese cause I just cant keep spending $1.50 every day at the work caf.

This weekend has also been very productive as I have been able to run more than one errand without having to throw in the towel. This is good for us since we dont get out much after work hours during the week. Today we have two more errands to run outside of the house & our To Do Lists will be completed. I cannot say that this has been happening with much regularity in the past month or so but thankfully my energy levels have been returning and I'm able to be much more productive around the house.

Now with that being said, Matias *needs to realize* that I am still not functioning at 100% as I am Under Construction. Yes, I can do things but not EVERYTHING I used to do at the same rate as I used to. Example: cleaning the kitchen is "My Job" but sometimes My Job doesnt get done 100% because I just cannot muster up the energy to do it all & he DOES need to step up and HELP. I'm attempting to find a gentle way of explaining that he needs to help more even at this "early" stage and realize that things will not be functioning at the same level EVER AGAIN. But I have to be careful because usually the rational response doesnt come out of my mouth and that just leads to larger problems :) So, I refrain and try to rationally explain what's going on and try not to flip my ever-loving lid. It's easier said than done, though. LOL.

I have definintely "popped". People are really noticing at work. And I've just decided that even though I'm still in that "tween" stage of being thought of as "fat" or "pregnant?" that I'm going not to attempt and "hide" my belly as I have been in the past weeks. IT'S NOT FAT. And that's a difficult thing to get past when you've "struggled" with ANY weight issues. It's still difficult to wrap your head around the fact that it is OK to be gaining weight (when have you EVER been ok with that statement?!?!) and to be showing a Belly. It's a BEBE BELLY not a fricking Beer Gut. And, honestly, I'm ok with showing - it's not freaking ME out, I just still find myself looking down and realizing that I'm growing a baby and not a Firestone :) I'm still getting over people's line of vision going DIRECTLY to my belly when they see me though - you dont stare at a women's midsection, people. BUT I AM pregnant...ugh, issues. Maybe, I'll just start calling him Our Little Firestone.

Please see above section again if you wonder what I mean exactly when I say "my mind has left...".

The Sickness Returns & The Mind Leaves

I thought I was in the clear with Morning Sickness (The Sickness) – about 1 – 1 ½ weeks ago I basically, thankfully, stopped having all the wonderful symptoms but last night they reared their ugly head.

I got car/bus sick on the commute home last night, was totally able to eat dinner and then was just about ready for sleep not long after. Woke up this morning feeling “ok”, nothing worse than my normal “do I really have to get out of bed?” feelings but by the time I got to work, I was feeling like a Monkey was standing on me and refusing to move.

I had a breakfast bagel and some milk and that just didn’t help matters much. I’ve been feeling like puking all day and it’s just not pleasant.

I call BULLSHIT on this glowing, happy, pregnancy crap. A man probably made that shit up. Along with your “returning libido” in the 2nd trimester. They just tell you that to make you feel “un-normal” so that you will partake in Guilt Ridden activities simply so that you can feel just like everyone else. BULLSHIT.

Pregnancy is not all roses and something else positive that I cannot even think of at the moment.

I’m basically frightened by my Bitchiness. The things that I want to say but thankfully, don’t are just insane. But of course, they make perfect sense at the time. Like the fit I came _thisclose_ to throwing over the wrong soup bowls being used when clearly there are WINTER BOWLS TO USE.

I did throw a tiny fit last night, and if Matias would argue that it wasn’t tiny, I would let him see the transcript in my head that didn’t get read. This fit was over the volume of the TV in the bedroom & the fact that he was the one who turned it down. That whole sentence is just wrong if you have been anywhere near my bedroom the past week or so. So I opened my mouth and gave him a glimpse of what was rambling around in my head and then had to leave the room so that I wouldn’t break out laughing in front of him and thus losing all respect and ultimately the argument. I mean you cannot win an argument by laughing after your justification.

Maybe I should have laughed though. I might have scared the poop out of him and he possibly might have left the volume alone.

RESULTS!! 

Pee Test Results Reaction!! 

New Piles

As my mother calls me, I'm a Pile Manager at heart. A VERY organized Pile Manager but I like piles none-the-less. For The Wedding (just two weeks past the One Year Mark!), I had so many Piles I used an old CD tower to organize them all. Since then I've used it for Memorabilia from The Wedding so that when I get my act together to Creative Memorize it all, I'll know where it is. Me thinks it's time to realize that I will have to put it somewhere else since now I need BEBE PILE MANAGER SPACE!!

We've been getting such wonderful gifts and books from our beloved friends already that my Bebe Pile is taking over the space next to my desk and it's starting to look at a little gross. Let's not kid each other - it IS a mess.

Another new Pile has emerged from my mid-section :) I will get the 3rd month, 2nd Trimester picture up this weekend!! But please be gentle and remember - I HAVE NOT GAINED WEIGHT, THIS IS BEBE!

While I'm at it

I thought I would make a List of Things. Just Things I've been noticing or thinking about :)

Mamacita's List of Things

1) Long hot showers are fantastic - more so than normal
2) Our cigarette & booze bills are non-existent - it's a wonder how much more money we have now!
3) Monkey has got to be trained not to stand on the bebe or my boobs
4) It's fun to screw with our favorite waitresses at The Tavern when I order Shirley Temples and they are dying to bring my a Miller Lite Draft
5) This was my first NYE 100% sober since I think I was 16
6) Will I know the difference between gas & a "flutter"?
7) How much fun it is to say to Matias "bebe doesnt like it when you make mommy do the dishes" or "bebe likes to sit on the couch for 4 hours and watch Law & Order - why would you withhold this from your child?" cause it works.
8) God Bless YOGA PANTS!!

I know I had more to say BUT now I cannot think of damn thing.

The Heartbeat

I've got a case of Mommy Brain already. I had an appointment scheduled for the 29th of Decemeber to hear our little friends heartbeat (ok, first I typed that as heartbet, then heartbeast, then heartbest...issues) BUT I thought the 29th was Friday. D'uh. So not Friday. And I only discovered this as I was pulling out Mystic's vet's number to refill her insulin and saw the appt. card with THURSDAY the 29th on it. It was already Friday morning when I discovered this. BAH. I got the appointment rescheduled for Tuesday though so all was "good".

Tuesday brought Matias' first visit to an OB/GYN office!! Quite thrilling for him, no? I had a hard time telling if he was scared, nervous or bored.

I havent gained ANY weight since my last visit - which isnt a bad thing but they just wanted to make sure I hadnt been SO sick that I wasnt eating. That isnt the case but my portions are definitely smaller since I just cannot fit anymore food in during my Meals but I've been snacking (cheese & crackers, veggies, cottage cheese, yogurt...) throughout the day AND I've started eating breakfast (honey nut cherrios, baby) every morning before leaving for work. A big change from Smokes & Coffee, maybe skipping lunch and a late dinner. They are attributing the no weight gain to just eating healthier and keeping an eye on it for my next visit. BUT I DO have a BEBE BELLY!! It's quite noticeable (and thankfully for once it is NOT attributed to weight gain!) and the NP commented on it with praise. So...all good!!

Then the Heartbeat (or Heartbest as I insist on typing it). A few tears ran down my cheeks when I finally shut the hell up and realized what I was hearing and I just turned to Matias and he smiled his lovingest smile at me. It IS a surreal moment & one you can get addicted to and want to hear again and again. That's your bebe in there. And then you hear your slower heartbest on top of it and something just clicks. YOU are a PART OF THIS. I know that sounds abstract or obvious but it's an emotion that simply comes over you. The obvious connection and bond is THERE FOR YOU TO HEAR not just "know". And if you hadnt felt the emotion of "making a baby together" truly come to fruition already than nothing does it more than hearing your baby's heartbest. And to have Matias there with me just brought it altogether and home more to me.

I havent been one to be removed from this experience, I'm fully aware of what's "going on" inside of me but let me be cheesy and cliched for a moment when I say that there is something truly magicial about the first moment you witness this experience. And let me be silly and say "It's ALIVE!!!" :) I can understand why people buy the home doppler kits to hear the heartbest whenever they wish.

The NP commented on what a nice way to start the New Year this has to be & without her knowing that our Anniversary weekend had just passed, it really just made all the more sense that I Mommy Brained on the Thursday appointment and we got this little gift as an Anniversary present.

I'm going back in 5 weeks (now 4 weeks since it's taken me a week to update!), I'll be 16 weeks at that point, to get a test done and another Belly Check. And then at 20 or 22 weeks to get a sonogram - where we will NOT be finding out the sex but will be more than estatic to wave hello to our little friend (as the NP was calling him) at that point!!

Tuesday marks our arrival into our Second Trimester also!! 12 weeks, already? WOW.

Christmas in Carolina

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday & us Canadians get Boxing Day off (YAY!), I had a lovely 4 days off that turned into a extra 5th day brought on by this flu that was going around. LOVELY!

The drive home with the kitties was pleasant - Red Rocks helped :) And I got home at a decent hour because I had gotten up early to take Matias to the metro that would take him to the Chinatown Bus in DC that would take him, for $20, to the NYC Chinatown...

Then, I took a nap :) Got up, had dinner (roast beef and yorkshire pudding!), wrapped my presents, and made my Christmas breakfast and then I think I went back to sleep.

Christmas Day was fabulous, as usual. The trees and all the decorations looked amazing, per ususal. Lots of great gifts & delicious food! Note to mom Santa - I DO like more than one gift ;) Delicious Turkey dinner - without the stuffing :( Bebe doesnt like onions at the moment, and I mean REALLY doesnt like onions. My sister made me my own stuffing "balls" but with the intensity of the spices kicked up due to the "balling" of the stuffing somewhat just left me with a mouth full of poultry seasoning and Mamacita just didnt really like that. Fantastic gesture, but alas, no taste good :( But Bebe DID like the Carrot Pudding Brown Sauce!! YAY!!

Bebe likes himself some chocolate.

Nice comments were made about how a bottle of wine goes much further when Jen isnt helping to finish it but then nice fun time came for Jen when Make Fun of Drunk People Time happened :)

Cannot remember what we did that night...ALTHOUGH I do believe that was the night we watched the Red Rocks DVD on the big screen with surround sound :) NICE. Hi Dave! Hi Stefan! Hi Sweat!!

We went out to do a little shopping on Monday, and ended up getting some really good deals at a few stores then mom & I headed home to go to a family friend's house for drinks and shoot the shit hour. Grandpa's driving wasnt appreciated by Bebe. Get in line, kid. We got to tell the Beatties that there was a little one on the way so that was nice too :) We came home, had leftovers and watched Monster In-Law - which was NOT as bad as would be expected. And then I'm sure, I went right to bed.

My window of Fun has defintely shortened and there's no such thing as Push Yourself Past That Point anymore. When I'm done, I'm done. And lucky me, I was sick all that night. Leanne took very nice care of me after I awakened her by yelling from the bathroom floor that I REALLY needed a glass of water to get the taste of roast beef out of my mouth. :) TMI! Then I had to warn her about the sink cause Mamacita didnt quite make it to the toilet. Whoops. I slept most of the day away - just feeling like a truck ran my over and then stayed on top of me. We went out to dinner that night but I didnt eat very much :( And, I'm sure it was back to bed for me!

I got quite a lot of family time in and lots of much needed rest - so final verdict - SUCCESS!!

Matias had decided to wait until he got home for the Holidays to tell his parents that we were expecting so I got an excited call on Christmas from his mom :) Everyone is very happy and all ready in Let's Get Ready to Spoil! mode. Matias told me that when he was his time to hand out his gifts on Christmas Eve, he started by saying that he had a gift for everyone :) Sometimes, you might not know where this boy is going when he starts talking but 100% of the time he comes out with the Perfect Thing to Say :)

I drove home on Wednesday and Matias took the Chinatown Bus home that day too but it was delayed (for reasons unknown, except he thinks they didnt want to leave until the bus was full...) and he missed his VRE connection at Union Station and I had to trek out to Vienna to pick him up at the Metro at like 9pm or something. Total Bed Time Interupption. ;) We exchanged gifts from our families and promptly went to bed.

I cannot wait till next Christmas!!

Backtrack to December

Matias, bebe & I traveled a lot in Decemeber - something we didnt see as "silly" at the time cause it was all for very good causes! But in the end we were rushed, more than normal, for Christmas tasks. Everything got accomplished EXCEPT for our tree never did get more than the topper put on it and the cat's favorite ornaments for them to rub on every single time they walked by...

DMB in NYC, Philly (Matias solo), and Boston (me solo) & UCONN (some sort of reunion with college dorm friends for Matias)...then Christmas home to our respective families!

Boston was fabulous!! I got to spend FOUR days with LeNelle and go to the closer of the Fall Tour. We nailed all of our shopping in two, very full, days. Friday has me out like a light and asleep by 8:30 - we hadnt even ordered our Chinese yet!! I had it for breakfast the next day though :)

LeNelle was told over a very scumptous meal at a darling little Tea House on Newberry St. and she was over-joyed!! A little shocked but beaming :) Then the "anger" struck for we had been keeping it from her - my logic was to tell her in person instead of over IM - she lived :) We are now _thisclose_ to getting her to move to VA! Evil Reigns!! Lure the friends closer with BEBES!!!

The DMB show was fantastic with 3rd row pit seats right between Boyd & Dave - with the perfect Sweat View all night. The setlist was just wonderful and the boys were on spot. The Bebe throughly enjoyed himself :)

We met up with Bobbo after the show at O'Conners Pub and let him have a drink or two before spilling the beans to him about the Bebe. He didnt believe me for a good 20 minutes and still had to confirm with LeNelle when I went to the bathroom :) Good times, good times!

Sunday, Joyce taxied Matias from Hartford to Boston where we had brunch and let her order a Bloody Mary before springing the news on her :)

It's all very nice to be able to tell your friends and loved ones in person that we are expecting instead of people finding out over the internet so Matias & I were very happy to be able to see so many friends in those few weeks before Christmas to let them know individually.

Happiness is...

...drinking a cup of coffee!

First time in about 3 months :)

Funny Pregnancy Story #1

I found an awesome deal on some maternity jeans this weekend at Motherhood (shut up they are REALLY comfortable!!) and was being rung up, right?

So they go through all these questions, like due date, number of kids, want to be on mailing list, etc. etc., right?

Then she hands me this “goodie bag” (you’d be surprised how much free swag you get from stores and doctor’s offices…it’s like trick or treating for pregnant folks!) and my bag with my purchase in it and asks me “so, do you know what it is?”

My reply? “jeans”

Then it dawned on me that she wasn’t stupid – for how could she have forgotten that she had just rung up jeans but that it was ME who was the “dumb-dumb idiot mother” (please do NOT steal this phrase, I patented it when I was 8 years old and I’m sure my mother is ESTATIC now that I can use it to talk about myself and not just her!) who couldn’t figure out that she was asking THE SEX OF MY UNBORN CHILD.

Cause you see, sometimes you can forget your pregnant EVEN WHEN BUYING MATERNITY CLOTHES.

I was truly confused though for a good 30 seconds trying to figure this dim-wit out.

Little Girls

I called my brother about two weeks ago, I think, to tell him that we are pregnant – he was very shocked and excited, of course. He’s been trying to get Alexis & Kyle to reach us but it’s difficult cause of the time change and their schedule and then all the traveling we have been doing ourselves.

Finally, Alexis took it upon herself to call me last night (no parents home only Other Grandpa) and the FIRST THING OUT OF HER MOUTH was that this bebe “better not be a girl” cause she “wants to be the only girl”!!! She had already had this conversation with my mom but phrased it as “only girl GRANDDAUGHTER” and we knew this was probably coming but I wasn’t sure how it would manifest itself – I had NO IDEA she would just come out and say it!! To me, she only said “only girl” but I think she changed her mind as it was coming out of her mouth. She’s very excited to have a little cousin coming soon though – they’ve been wanting cousins for a while now and actually started on us even before we got married. Kyle was luke-warm about it but excited too – he doesn’t mind if it’s a girl or a boy. I got Alexis all riled up by telling her it doesn’t look good for her – Grandma’s first baby was a girl (Leanne) and Daddy’s first baby was a girl (her) – she later talked to Leanne and told her this and Leanne and mom added that my mom was the first girl, my two Aunts both had girls first…and she just nearly lost it! HA!

Let the fun begin!!!

New York F'ing City!

Well, it’s safe to say that I think the bebe enjoyed his 3 DMB shows!

New York was a huge success and taking the train definitely relieved my stress from driving and gave me more time to relax. We had such a fabulous time strolling around all parts of NYC and spending some time in the snow filled streets (and slush filled gutters!).

For sure the hardest part was not drinking at the bar with everyone – I didn’t want to drink though, I just felt like an “outsider” to an extent. I filled up on ginger ale and just generally kept to myself since quite a few people were making it their job to get as shitty as possible before the shows. Going to shows sober has happened before, albeit on accident, but it’s definitely a different experience when you know someone “else” is experiencing the show also!! Even though the bebe doesn’t have “ears” yet he can still hear my voice and vibrations and I am encouraged, by research, to sing out-loud for the bebe to hear my voice and become accustomed to me and music that we like – it’s not a hard task to complete.

For some strange reason MSG sells SODA WATER!! I was in heaven!! After hours of drinking ginger ale, I needed a switch and SODA hit the spot!! And thankfully, I’m not at the Pee a 54204975 Times in an Hour point either! This was actually a high point for me, sadly enough.

I did get tired from all the walking but that is to be expected – not any more tired than I normally would be but I knew I couldn’t be pushing myself like I normally would. I did get grumpy at points and everyone was quick to chalk it up to Hormones but I think it was just The Bitch coming out – crowds can totally do that to me and to say that NYC was crowded would be an understatement. Matias was very caring and would show up with V8 juice for me so that I always had something to drink on hand. And everyone listened when I would say, “ok it’s time for me to eat” – that’s the thing, you KNOW when it’s time to eat and replenish your energy, especially after burning so much of it by walking around.

Matias & I were really happy to be able to spend so much time with my family – it was a great trip and we got to do so many things in such a short (!) amount of time.

2 DMB shows
1 Rockettes show
1 walk through Central Park in the snow
1 walk through Washington Square (I think) vendors
1 walk through Wall Street & Ground Zero
1 walk around Bryant Park and fabulous brunch at Bryant Park Grill
1 lunch at deli
1 dinner at Irish Pub
2 evenings at Mustang Sally’s
2 nights at Mustang Harry’s
1 walk past Macy*s Christmas windows (they sucked)
1 walk around Rockefeller Center
1 trip to Strawberry Fields
1 Mommy To Be tank-top (with PINK rhinestones!!) from Auntie Jean

And I THINK that is it!!! Of course, pictures to show for everything!!!

Cause Baby, you're amazing

Matias & I have started researching the effects of listening to music while pregnant which is rather important to both of us for obvious reasons...I found some great articles on the web (a rather fascinating one written by an Argentine who had a brother named Matias & Nicolas...!!) and started dreaming of singing and dancing (both GREAT things to do) for the bebe. They really stress singing out loud for the baby to feel the vibrations of the mother's (ME!) voice in the womb and the daddy (MATIAS!) to sing to the belly so that they can become familiar with his voice and not have him be a stranger when they finally meet :)

So yesterday (warning: HORMONAL Story coming), I was driving to the Cicero's house and my Closest I Love Song came on (Josh Kelly's Amazing) and I started singing out loud, like I'm want to do when in the car...and then I started crying. Cause I WAS SINGING TO MY BEBE. And the words, just started making me cry (not all of them) but the part that goes:

So come on let me see
I say baby you are amazing
I want to let you see
that you are everything and more to me
I will let you be I will I will

And the tears started. I still cannot get over that I'm singing to our bebe. Our bebe that doesnt have ears yet. But is swimming around in his womb :)

So now I have Michael Buble on and I'm chair dancing and singing along! Decorating the tree with Christmas Carols on tonight should be fun!!

I hope I just dont lose it on Friday night when we are the DMB show!! On a slightly related note, (HA! note, music..pun!) I am contemplating "stencilling" some DMB quotes on the nursery walls (esp. some Some Devil lyrics...).

Cause he loves me

From my dad (he rips out articles for me and sends them to me in the mail):

Danish, no Coffee - A survey of 88,482 Danish women, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that pregnant women who drank eight or more cups of coffee a day had a risk of stillbirth and miscarriage 59% higher than those who drank none.

WOW. Now I dont drink 8 cups of coffee a day but those results and the rate of that happening is just so upsetting. Why do people take these risks?!!? To risk a stillbirth!?!? or a miscarriage?!?!

But, thankfully, my bebe does NOT like coffee (even decaf) so I struggle with even 1/2 a cup once a WEEK. I've switched over fully to tea and we like that much better - I even drink it without milk and sometimes without sugar!!