STILL no Baby, Part II

Today is April 30th. My due date. And am I in the Hospital? Do I even remotely FEEL like I need to go the Hospital?

NO.

BLEAH.

We even took another looooong walk yesterday, and by the end I thought I was going to DIE. But did anything happen? Nope.

Starting to get a tad disheartened, here. I swear I'm going to give birth to a 13-pound baby. This baby is HUGE! Or rather, I'M HUGE!! (So the baby should be pretty huge, right?)

I googled "What to do to get yourself in labor" and I found some very interesting things. Some of them I won't repeat here, and some of them were what I like to call "Voodoo Remedies" that I'd be scared to try.

The safest one is probably Castor Oil-- one woman I know swears by it. She says it's the grossest stuff ever and the last time she took it she shat her insides out a few hours later, but hey, she went into labor!

Tempting, but I'd be lying if I said the "shat my insides out" part isn't a bit of a deterrent...

Of course it is NOT helping that my mom said my sister was TWO weeks overdue, just because she decided she "liked it in there." That is NOT what you say to someone who is so totally over the pregnancy thing.

Okay, I just crossed Castor Oil off my grocery list. WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING???

Maybe the baby will come tomorrow.

Still No Baby...

But hey, the Lawn Service came and mowed for the first time yesterday! Our backyard looks like a backyard again!

Of course it's a rather plain backyard right now...no playset or sport court or anything, but it's a new house, so I prefer to think of the backyard as a "blank canvas." I just can't wait until the trees get leaves--then it will look TONS better! We have guys coming next week to remove the mulch from all our flower beds and put edging and stone in them instead--that's our splurge for this year. NEXT year will be all the fun stuff! They told us they would need 16 TONS of rock--I just hope they don't drive on my new driveway with that truck! I'm assuming they'll park on the road and wheelbarrow it up or something...they're not stupid.

OKAY--I took a mile walk with the family yesterday, and by the end I was having such hard contractions I felt like I had a belly of cement. But that was it. Nothing when I got home. (Of course it didn't help having every family we pass make SOME sort of comment on the size of my belly. Yes, I realize I look like two houses stuck together, but I can't help it.) It was GORGEOUS yesterday, sunny, mid-70's and we had all the windows open, rode bikes (well, the kids did, I observed) and then went to the store and came back and played Baseball. We were going to grill, but a new Mexican restaurant opened up down the road, so we went there instead, and ate way too much, and I had the BEST Flan, ever. I really miss Hacienda Colorado, though. Their tortillas are to DIE FOR. There is no equal, anywhere.

It was a great Saturday, and today should be even prettier. 80 DEGREES! I love it when Wisconsin finally decides to warm up! I hope everyone else is enjoying great weather!

Felix Felicis...

...feels like I drank some yesterday! (Only HP fans would understand!) In other words, yesterday was a pretty lucky day.

It sure didn't seem that way. It started out wet and rainy, and continued to be wet and rainy, and the rain literally didn't let up. So I hung around the house. I knew I needed to go to Walmart, because we were out of a few things, but I didn't want to go out in the pouring rain.

THEN, at about 1:30 the rain stopped. Just like that. So I grabbed the opportunity and ran to the store.

Well, I got what I needed, and got a feeling I should swing by the Electronics department (which I casually do every time I go anyway, in the hope that they might have a Nintendo Wii in stock, but they never do, because you can't get them anywhere, apparently, even online, unless you spend insane amounts of money) and so I did, and lo and behold, guess what I found???

A small pile of Nintendo Wiis!!! They had just gotten six in THAT morning, and I immediately called Hubby up and told him what I'd found. (Just so you know, he's been wanting one for a long time for "the kids" but I have a feeling he'd play it too, if given the chance...) So I snatched up a Wii and a couple of games to go with it (pricey little suckers!) and while I was in line, another mom (I'm assuming) gasped and asked me "Where did you find that???" and soon she was behind me in line, clutching her own Wii.

Thing Two's birthday is May 10th, so we figured we'd "unveil" the Wii then.
Oh, and as soon as I got into the car with my purchases, the rain started PELTING down again. But not on me. How Lucky is that? :-)

I figure Nintendo finally made enough Wiis to keep up with supply and demand, and really I didn't get that lucky. But I'd like to think I did!

Now if I could get even luckier and have this baby this weekend...

If Ye are Prepared...

...you won't freeze your ARSE off at your kids' Soccer games!!!

It was super cold last night. 45 degrees and overcast, but the WIND, people, the windchill put it down to the low 30's, I'm sure of it. I bundled up the kids in their down coats (which I had formerly relegated to the closet in the hopes that we wouldn't need to dig them out for a long while) and made Thing Three put on lots of clothing under his soccer gear.

Then I suffered a momentary lapse of sanity as we were running out the door, and grabbed my THIN coat, and put it on over my even thinner maternity shirt. (One of the three that still fit the Belly).

When we got to the playing field, it was damp and chill, and the wind was relentless. And I had no gloves, a pathetically thin coat (that I couldn't button because I have a HOUSE growing out from underneath it) and what's worse...no blankets whatsoever. In the hurry to get soccer balls, water and folding chairs in the car, I forgot blankets.
We set up our chairs, and luckily the kids were in their winter coats and had brought an extra soccer ball to kick around on the other field while Thing Three played--but I was MISERABLE. I sat there, with the icy wind whipping around (and through!) me, for an entire hour.

So, I learned my lesson. We are keeping a heavy blanket in the car from now on, for emergencies.

But of course the forecast for the next soccer game is 70 degrees. Go figure.

Right now it's pouring fishhooks and hammer handles. We do need the rain, but the cold I can do without. Next week should be perfect! Of course next week I'll be hopefully having this baby (I'm starting to get the "tell me again when you're due?" questions--am I that alarmingly big?) and Hubby can play with the kids outside, because he is dropping everything and taking a week off with me. He even promised no Blackberry, no cell phone, NADA. Just us and the kids, and the newest little one. That will be so nice. :-)

We're ready for Baby!

WHOOPS...

So Monday night I walked into the office and Hubby was on the computer.
"Whatcha doing?" I asked.
"Ordering flowers for Melinda for Wednesday," he replied.
"Oh, is it Secretary's Day?" I asked.
Hubby turned and looked at me.

"No, but Wednesday is "Administrative Professionals' Day."

"Oh. Whoops. It used to be Secretary's Day, right?"

"Yes."

I found this very interesting. Nothing is what it used to be. Our society is so worried about offending people, I believe we have officially "PC'd" ourselves to death.

I guess I just remember the days (not so long ago!) when Waste Management People were simply "Garbage Men" and "short" people weren't "vertically challenged" yet. And "Handicapped" wasn't an offensive word. It really meant "disabled."

I read a very upsetting story a while back about a Mormon high school student who was getting teased by several students about Polygamy. Her response was "Our church hasn't done that for over a hundred years, that's so gay!" and SHE got suspended (yes, suspended) for using the word"Gay" --yet the kids who were ignorantly and wrongfully taunting her about her religion suffered NO CONSEQUENCES WHATSOEVER. Where is the justice in that?

And yes, I feel bad now and am loathe to admit I used to say "That's so Gay!" in High school, without worrying about being suspended or having GLAAD all over my ass for it. It was the early 80's. "Gay" didn't mean what it means today. It meant "silly" or "overly happy."

I believe in respecting people. I would never intentionally insult someone. Yet, I am almost afraid of saying "the wrong thing" these days. I think our society needs to relax, a little. Yes, there are some ignorant people out there, who will always be bigoted and unwilling to change and use the current "acceptable" Terminology, but for those of us who WANT to be Politically Correct, will you guys stop changing everything every minute already? There should be some sort of Statute of Limitations (but in reverse effect) where if we change a term to something more "PC" we should KEEP that term for at least ten years or so, so people like me don't get funny looks when we call "Administrative Professionals" "SECRETARIES."

Wait, first they were Secretaries, THEN they were "Administrative Assistants," and NOW they are "Administrative Professionals." I can't keep up.

Okay, rant over, but I think you get my drift. Am I being a completely oversensitive woman...er...person? I guess I am, because it makes my blood boil when someone calls me a "Housewife."

I am a Homemaker, thank you very much. Or wait, that was last year. Now isn't it "Stay-home-Mom?"

I can't keep up.

Harry Potter and a Soccer Rant...

You know how when you're sooooo tired, and so exhausted, that you sleep like the dead and nothing can wake you up, sometimes? That was me, last night. Months of Pregnancy sleeplessness have finally caught up to me. I only got up once, at 4am to go to the bathroom, but from 10:30 pm until then, I was COMPLETELY OUT COLD. I didn't even dream. And what was weird, I wasn't uncomfortable. It was the best night's sleep, EVER.

But after I got up, I went back to bed, and had strange dreams. One of them involved Harry Potter, or rather, Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort. I had to somehow dispose of him, and the only way I could think of to do it was to chop him up and distribute his parts everywhere: in my daughter's room behind her stuffed animals, in my son's room inside his toybox, and inside my jewelry box in my room.
Talk about a strange dream. Can you tell I'm anxious for Book Seven to come out?

It's cold and cloudy today--mid forties, but it will get warmer towards the weekend and be 70 again. As long as it doesn't dip into the 30's! NO NO NO NO! We are NOT going backwards anymore, hopefully. The chilly front moved in last night, just as we were all at Thing Three's Soccer game--and of course all I had was a thin jacket.

Okay, it is ALWAYS so disheartening when your kid is playing his heart out in Soccer, and there's always ONE KID on the opposing team who is the Superstar--the kid no one can catch: the kid who scores about six goals in the first half. You know how frustrating that is? And it's always lame because this kid won't even pass the ball to others, he just gets it and it's a One Kid Show all of a sudden, and he runs like the wind towards the goal, (and of course his parents are standing smugly on the sidelines, not bothering to tell him that it's a TEAM sport, because they are just so proud that he's making everyone else look like bumbling amateurs.)

And for some reason his coach kept him in the game almost the entire time. Our team never had a chance. So we lost, like, 9 to 2 (every single goal was scored by Superstar Kid) but thankfully Thing Three was just glad to play (albeit a TAD frustrated) and he had a great attitude about it. I think the parents on our team were more annoyed than the kids.

Then we got home, and on the news, there was a story about a crazy parent at a soccer game in Milwaukee who went ballistic and the Police were called and had to Taser him. I mean, PEOPLE, its a GAME!!!

Not much to do today. We are just waiting for this baby. So I might treat myself to a trip to Target. Just to see what fun stuff they have. Happy Tuesday!

How I Feel Today...

OY, I feel ginormous. One more week and this baby comes OUT! (Or, at least he better!) We did a lot this weekend--lots of running around, but I was too tired to go on the "Family Sunday Walk."

I have to sleep sitting up now, it's just too uncomfortable unless I hit the "just right" spot on the bed where its indented in the shape of me. And since that spot seems elusive 89% of the time, I have taken to sleeping in the overstuffed chair across the room. Or rather, I get REALLY mad around 2am, and end up in the chair.

Okay, last night was funny. It was 80 degrees yesterday, and VERY windy. So, we had a small problem. We have crank-out windows, and the wind was threatening to blow them off the hinges more than once, so we had to crank them all closed. But then the house got stuffy. I decided to hit the air, and got a "lecture" from Hubby about how it wasn't hot enough outside to be turning it on yet, and we could get a good breeze going to cool the house down, if we opened the windows back up.

I then pointed outside where we saw the neighbors chasing their very expensive wicker patio furniture all over the place and collecting it from various places in the yard where it had blown over. I calmly explained to him that normally I would agree, but the winds were so strong we were going to have broken windows if we opened them. I also explained to him that since he had been hanging out in his Basement Haven all afternoon, where it was quite cool, he didn't realize how hot and stuffy the rest of the house was. Ergo, the air conditioning needed to be turned on.

He said we should try and "hang in there" until it cooled down at night. I said "sure, fine, whatever." Then I went and turned the air on anyway. :-)

I couldn't help but grinning in triumph when he crawled out of bed, hot and disgusted, in the wee hours of the morning and turned the Air down even LOWER. I knew he'd get hot eventually--I knew he'd cave. Men are so predictable! Ha!

Today is a busy day. Grocery shopping, cleaners, bank, post office, Brownies, Parent/teacher meeting after school, and then a hurried dinner and Soccer practice. Maybe if I keep myself REALLY busy the baby will come sooner rather than later?

One can only hope...

Will Spring...SPRING Already???

This is my new Desktop. It was Hubby's idea of a "card" for our anniversary yesterday. I love pale pink! So Spring-y. Speaking of which--it was mid sixties yesterday, and gorgeous. Will it stick around? Is there still hope for the Tulips? (Which happily, survived the Frost, by the way!)

We're supposed to get back into the 70's for Sunday, and then back into the chilly 50's for the rest of the week. Just as long as we don't get snow. Or Frost. Spring had better SPRING already!!!

I actually wore short sleeves yesterday. A Pale Pink Maternity shirt. Big Mistake. Let's just say... if anyone wanted to go deep-sea diving at NIGHT, they'd just have to lower me in and I'd glow the whole damn ocean up. I am WHITER than white! My poor arms havn't seen the sun in...well, I can't even remember, it's been that long.

I think my stark-white bedsheets might have more of a tan than me at this point...

I am currently reading Philippa Gregory's "The Virgin's Lover"--about the relationship of Elizabeth I and Lord Dudley. You know--I'm not "loving it" like I did "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Queen's Fool." It hasn't "drawn me in" yet, in fact, it reads more like historical non-fiction that Alison Weir might write. (She is amazing, but she's factual, you don't "get inside" the character's heads). So I'm slightly disappointed in this book. It's not Philippa's best writing--because Amy Dudley, in my opinion, isn't a very likeable or sympathetic character. Unless you've had your husband leave you alone for months on end at a time to be at the side of the Queen of England. :-)

Maybe it's early on in the book. I am going to tromp through it, and see if maybe it's just a slow starter.

--Went to the Dr. yesterday. No change from last time. I think I might be having this baby in MAY, if things don't hurry up. Hubby say's it's all the Bed Rest I was on. Well, DUH. So what do I have to do now? Go for a five-mile walk to get things going? Hmmmmm....

The maid service is coming in an hour--I need to go make sure the kids' rooms are ready to vacuum. I'm not going to lie--it has been a LOAD off, having someone else clean this house. And they are FAST. It only takes two people three hours, and voila--the house is sparkling. I've probably gushed over this before, so you'll have to forgive me. It's just so NICE!!!

I am going to venture out to Half Price Books today, and then Hobby Lobby. I need to find some wall art for the Baby's room. Unfortunately the wall art set that came with his crib bedding has been discontinued, and NO, you CAN'T get it on Ebay. Not even Ebay.UK or Ebay.Canada! So I get to improvise. But that's the fun part.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Happy Anniversary!

Going on 12 years now--Hubby and I are celebrating our anniversary today! (Well, not really actively celebrating, because frankly, I feel like a beached whale and I don't want to move very much.) We're having a niiice dinner tonight and we're exchanging cards. We've already spent so much money on this imminent baby arrival, I made him promise not to get me anything. He usually goes all out, and lately, we've been going "all out" for the baby.
I mean, we had to start from SCRATCH this time: new crib, changing table, bedding, bassinette, stroller, carseat, pack-n-play, toys, play gyms, clothes, everything, because we had given or thrown away all our stuff. A six-and-a-half year gap between babies is pretty steep, you know?

So, hopefully the baby will be our present. Of course I told Hubby that I was eyeballing some 1200-thread-count sheets that if he wants to get me, he sure can...

ANYWAY, yes, I'm a hopeless case, I got dragged into American Idol once again this year (I usually only get interested when they narrow it down to under two digits) and can I say THANK HEAVEN they got rid of Sanjaya?? Hubby and I actually cheered when he got booted last night. That poor kid. He was all sweetness, but hairstyle can only get you so far when you suck as a singer. Especially when you butcher a Bonnie Raitt song like he did. OY. Buh-bye, Sanjaya. Rest in Peace. Now we can focus on the REAL talent!

Speaking of talent, I've developed a smashing new talent called PROCRASTINATION. I need to get going on some things! Have a good day, all!

Okay, then...

That was the weirdest flu I've ever had. It came on fast, and left just as quickly after a day and a half. I woke up feeling just peachy, at around 5am this morning. So I guess it was the Writhe-In-Agony-For-36-Hours-and-Want-to-Die Flu, and then FLOOP! Nothing. I am a little weak, but no aches and pains, and no, well...nothing.

Weird. But greatly welcomed! And I'm still going to make Hubby take the kids to Soccer tonight!

Okay, so I have a small rant about pregnant models in catalogs. I was thumbing through a couple of them and EVERY SINGLE pregnant woman in the maternity section looked absolutely FABULOUS. Can anyone shed some light on this? Either these women are really NOT pregnant (and have a "fake" belly on) or they are genetically blessed as to still resemble STICK INSECTS even while they have a big old baby in there.

Where are the swollen ankles? Where are the spider veins? Where is the "I only have a few weeks to go" Double Chin? Why do their arms still look like I should be playing my violin with them? WHAT IS THE DEAL???

Yes, I am one of those people who swell up not-so-prettily in my last weeks of pregnancy. So I guess I am a tad sensitive when I see women who are VERY pregnant and are basically what I like to call "Sticks With Bumps." And you just KNOW they walk out of the hospital in the same jeans they wore pre-pregnancy, minus the bump, and a week later they're back to normal.

Lucky be-otches. I'll be back to normal...hmmm...sometime around...Christmas, I think. (or rather hope!) But at least I get the Personal Trainer this time around--she's got all sorts of things planned for "Baby Boot Camp" (which frankly sounds terrifying but I know will be good for me) and so hopefully little Thing Four will be able to distinguish between "Mommy" and a Cruise Ship...in time.

Time to do some massive laundry! Oh, and Hubby informed me yesterday that they have a pool at work going, betting on when I'm going to go into labor.

Nice, huh?