12

Every time I try to sit down and blog, Lincoln throws a fit. The way I see it, he is my "employer" and I owe it to him to tend to him and entertain him, so....blogging takes a back seat.

The title of this post is a reference to my pant size. Halellujah! I haven't been a 12 since I got married. And by golly, I vow to keep losing more weight. Yes, I did just spill the beans to the internet about my pant size. No shame here! (All the shame is in regards to my previous pant size. Sigh.)

I will post a picture of Lincoln this week. I can't believe he is already 7 months old. Where did the time go??

Oh, and he is finally sleeping in his own room. It was a painless transition. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was sick of rooming with us. He has adored his fancy-schmancy mattress since day one. He is sleeping for long stretches, too. My sole complaint is that he won't sleep in there for naps, or if it is light outside. I am debating spending the money on blackout curtains, per his pediatrician's recommendation. My concern is he will then be accustomed to only sleeping in the pitch black. I am constantly worried about starting bad habits. Sigh. (Again.)

Love to you all!

Busy, Busy!

Lincoln has his first cold. He was up all night congested so neither of us got much rest.

I have been working for my mom since last week. We have managed not to kill one another so I'd say that constitutes a success! I spent one day working alongside a man with Aspberger's and he was a delight! He sang along to every Christmas song on the radio, told me all about Jesus and fawned over Lincoln. I learned a lot from him!

I got our Christmas cards ordered but I still need to make my way to the post office to buy postage and get Lincoln's Santa picture taken. I will never forgive myself if I worked like a mad woman to get the cards ordered, only to send them out late.

We had a light dusting of snow the past two nights so I am limited on when I can bring Lincoln out. I ordered a canopy which helps prevent the wind taking his breath away, and I also have this fleece Sherpa thingy. Both drive him crazy and I feel bad since he already despises riding in his car seat but I'm not about to let him freeze. I'm watching the news as I type this and they're reporting that following this past winter's disastrous lack of preparation for snow clearing, two counties actually bought snow plows. Too bad we don't live in either of those counties, lol. Maybe they will be nice and loan them out? Ha!

Time to catch up on all of you guys in my Reader! Ciao!

What's Been Going On 'Round These Parts?

Not much to report on around here. We are still doing Kindermusik class and Lincoln seems to love it. He has had extreme acid reflux today so we are on outfit number two, bib number two, etc. I messed up his medicinal syringe somehow and ended up spraying him and me with Prevacid. Disgusting, lemme tell ya!

My aunt is in town visiting, which is nice. She has helped me tremendously with Lincoln and it is nice to get a little break. He slept in our bed last night because after the third attempt at putting him in his cradle, he simply wouldn't cooperate. I know, I know, "bed-sharing is the devil." Whatever. LOL.

If i haven't commented on your blog lately, I'm sorry. I've barely even been able to read. Lincoln is a lot more alert now and spends a lot more time awake so I have to entertain him. He has decided sleeping is for wussies. He has barely napped allllll week and whereas he has always been an excellent sleeper during the night, he suddenly doesn't care to rest.

Question for the moms out there who live in colder weather: how do you keep your baby warm at night without a blanket, but without over-heating them? Last night it was 47 degrees so I put on a fleece jumper (it was very thin but very soft and snuggly) and I put a onesie on underneath it. When he sleeps in bed with me I don't use blankets/linens for obvious reasons but he did have a little bit of sheet covering his feet. When I changed his diaper during the night his feet felt really warm. We didn't turn on the heat because indoors it was 67 degrees and the nurses said to keep the temperature between 68-72 for SIDS prevention. His cradle is on the side of the room where the windows are so there is a slight draft and I am not sure what to do if it gets colder or snows like it did last year....

Cultural Differences, A Conversation

I was getting my nails done by a friendly Vietnamese woman when this conversation happened (no really):

Lady: You want me to tell you how to lose all your baby weight?

Me: Well, I already did but sure, I could always stand to lose more!

Lady: You have to salt the weight off your body! Salt, salt, salt! (She then proceeds to go into an entire Eastern medicine schpeal.)

Me: I see. Well, maybe I can try it.

Lady: So....you... (Gestures to her breast to indicate breast feeding.)

Me: Yes, I breastfeed my baby.

Lady: Oh. Then you will have saggy breasts!

Me: It's OK, I will just buy a new pair!

Lady: Oh no, no. You do like my people! You go to the Walmart and get birth control. It should be $9. It will make your breasts look better. Much better! And it will make sure you never have more than two kids. My people! I swear it! That's what we do!

Random

Here are some tidbits floating in my mind today:

1. Tonight we have our final baby class at the hospital. We have taken quite a few, including Daddy Bootcamp (for Rob), Safety & CPR, and Breastfeeding 101. Tonight is Baby Care, where presumably they will tell us how to prevent dropping him and doing anything else stoopid. The cafeteria at the hospital is locally famous for having delicious food so we are thrilled to be having dinner there again. I know stereotypes abound about hospital food but their is stuff is genuinely delectable. People come from neighboring businesses just to eat there! On the night your baby is delivered they bring you steak and lobster. I, of course, will be on a liquid diet for two days but Rob is sure excited about it. He had a delicious cheese steak at last week's class and I enjoyed strawberry shortcake, LOL.

2. I was telling the ultrasound tech how nervous we are that the baby will be small due to the Heparin. During my weekly ultrasounds they don't measure for his weight because doing so week to week would be pointless. She knows how scared we are so she secretly measured to determine a guess of his weight and had the nurse give it to me. She is estimating him to be 6 pounds, 4 ounces. So tiny! This made me super sad. He doesn't get the benefit of 2 extra weeks in utero, where typically they put on the most weight, so I am bound and determined to do whatever I can to fatten him up.

3. I feel like a bag of bricks. The iron pills were helping for a while but I am hitting the wall quicker each day! I'm sure some of this has to do with being 9 months (tomorrow) and living in 105+ degree heat, but having never been pregnant before I have nothing to compare it to.

4. I realllllly need to stop procrastinating on doing the nursery. An inventory is desperately needed. I have an emotional hang-up on not having the right rug so I can put the furniture in the positions I want so I can start filling drawers. Silly, I know! My nesting instinct sucks! Ha!

5. In other news, I am starting to get super nervous. I can't believe God is going to loan me a baby. I'm so happy I can hardly stand it but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being terrified, too. I remember a few years ago I saw my friend Carrie before she delivered her daughter. She had that gorgeous pregnancy glow and she was cool, calm and collected. I always hoped I'd be the same. Instead I am sweaty and nervous. Ha!

6. I am nervous to have out-of-town guests so quickly after delivering. I won't be in a position to play tour guide and I feel badly since Rob's brother, in particular, is viewing the trip as a summer vacation. I am also scared to try to learn to mother and nurse with an audience. People keep telling me I will lose all sense of modesty, and in many ways I have lightened up, but I am still nervous about my body being on display.

Miscellany

I had an ultrasound this morning and another non-stress test. The ultrasound stunk. It was a new tech and the most stressful of my ultrasounds to date. The baby is OK, but he was sleeping and the entire time, the only photos she gave me were terrible and it was just "blech." My NST was done an hour late but I wasn't mad because it meant the woman before me was having difficulty. If you've never had a NST, you have to click a button when you feel your baby move and it registers it on the machine in relation to the baby's heartbeat. The nurse told me the woman was having a hard time determining when she felt movement. I can understand her frustration, as the machine is extremely loud and my baby doesn't like to cooperate when he is on "display."

In other news, my linea negra is now obvious to me. Rob says he has been able to see it for weeks but it is my opinion that my line is blessedly light-colored.

If you've been following our insurance saga, it is mostly resolved. The insurance company switched everything from Rob's name to mine and credited me for my deductible. LOL, it only took took a few thousand dollars to meet a $1,200 deductible. Sigh. The system is broken but we know that. From here on out I should be paying 20% for stuff. Hallelujah!

As I type this I got an email from Chili's advertising their new sangria. I really, really love sangria. I don't drink it often but it is delicious. Sigh. I intend to nurse so it is not like I will be drinking any time soon post-birth, anyway. But it will be more than worth it!