32 weeks

 

I wonder if everyone else is having as much trouble logging on to OD this week as I am?  Hopefully the glitch will be fixed soon.

 

So I’m 32 weeks pregnant now!  I had a quick doctor’s appointment yesterday and everything was good.  My blood pressure was pretty low (102 over something) but I haven’t been getting dizzy at least.  My weight is…I’ll just use the word hefty, lol.  I’m still actually 12lbs away from the weight I had Emily at, so we’ll see.  I have no doubt I’ll get there as I’m gaining weight steadily, yet I’m not eating all that much and what I do eat is healthy.  Not to mention I am finally starting to feel hungry during the day, so that will bump it up.  Not worried about it.  My little guy is still hanging out sideways.  His head is technically more down than up, so as he gets bigger maybe he’ll get stuck head down at some point..not that it matters.  I am officially tiger striped. =/  I was so hoping to avoid it and get away with the few little sideways stretchmarks I got next to my belly button with Emily, but I’ve got a few big ones going up and down on the lower part of my stomach now.  *shrug*  I’m disappointed, but there’s no point in dwelling on what you can’t change.  The bio oil seems to keep them from turning red, so they literally just look like light colored scars at least.  Hopefully they won’t be too noticeable in a year or so.

 

The past few weeks have not been so great.  First there was the nanny fiasco, then this week just didn’t pan out the way I had hoped.  I forgot to mention that last weekend when we were at my mom’s, I noticed one of Emily’s two-year molars was half way in!  That would explain the crappy sleep the week before.  And not last night, but the night before, I only got three hours of sleep because she woke up at 1:55am and I could never fall back asleep.  Bryan bounced her for a while and she finally went back down, but around 4:30am she was up again, and I was still up, so I just went and rocked her on the ball until she fell back asleep.

 

It’s funny, I keep talking about how I want to try to make sure Caden doesn’t get in an awful sleeping habit like we have with Emily, only wanting to be bounced to sleep and hysterical with any other method, but I think when we’re past this whole ball bouncing phase and it’s over that I will be happy we did it.  She is just such a sweet girl and she is truly so thankful that we bounce her.  I know that sounds strange..but she actually thanks us, lol!  She’ll say “bounce ball!” over and over, and then when you finally get all situated and lay her down, she says “thank you, dada” or “thank you, mama” and will pet your face or head and snuggle and kiss you.  It’s just a huge comfort to her.  I know she will have to grow up and will leave this stage..but until then I’m going to enjoy my late-night baby snuggles, because she’s only going to be two once.

 

I was telling Bryan yesterday that I *think* the last few weeks of my maternity leave I am going to try and transition Emily to a toddler bed.  Any advice on this one?  She’ll be four months away from being 3, so that’s probably around the right time, right?  Actually, now that I think about it, we’re going to Hawaii the first week of February, so I would technically only have one week at home after that to help the transition before going back to work.  I don’t want to do it before then because there’s going to be enough changes just getting used to Caden being there.  I don’t know if coming back from vacation and having a completely different sleeping arrangement would be a good idea or a bad idea.  Not only that…but I have to figure out how to communicate with her that the ball is gone.  I was thinking we could make a big deal about how she’s a big girl, because I think in theory she will really like that she can crawl into her bed and she won’t be upset that that’s changed, but maybe she can help me deflate the ball and put it downstairs or something?  I don’t think that will upset her until night time comes and she will cry to be bounced.  See, she has no problem laying in bed and reading books and getting ready for bedtime, but when the light goes out, in her mind she HAS to be bounced.  Even if I lay next to her, which I plan on until she falls asleep, I know she is going to cry and cry to be bounced.  *sigh*  I’m hoping it will be easier when she’s older and we can communicate about it better.  

 

I think we need to get rid of the whole bouncing thing before my maternity leave ends though.  Just logistically, if you have two children and one you have to bounce in the dark in her room to go to sleep..where does the other kid go if it’s only one parent or caretaker there?  Can’t just leave Caden in the living room by himself, lol.  And if he’s not asleep he’s not going to hang out in her room silently in the dark while this happens.  There will always be two of us there for Emily’s nap and bedtime up until my maternity leave ends, but then it’s too complicated with only one person doing it all after that.  So, it has to

be done, I’m just trying to think of the most gentle, gradual, least hysteria inducing way, lol.

 

Emily has been in such a good mood lately!  Like I’ve said, she’s always pretty happy, but she’s been exceptionally so lately.  Yesterday at the doctor’s office she was just hamming it up with everybody, saying hello and bye-bye and giving huge smiles and faces.  Kids are so funny.  I had to go leave the urine sample before the appointment started and I told her I was going pee-pee and I would be right back.  Bryan said after I left and she noticed I was gone, she was saying loudly “Mama go poo-poo!”  HA!  Thanks, kid. =)  The receptionist apparently got a kick out of it.

 

She calls everything that’s gross “kitty poo-poo” now, lol.  She’s not allowed to touch the litter boxes downstairs (obviously) and I’ve always just said something like “Eww, yucky kitty poop!” and she’s always stayed away.  So when she sees something like gum on the ground or even a snail that she doesn’t want to touch she makes a face and says in this disgusted voice “kitty poo-poo” and walks away from it, lol!  She has been a little parrot lately.  She will try to repeat anything you ask her to and she’ll just walk around copying what you say sometimes, lol.  Such a big girl.

 

Her rash is all gone and tonight will be the last night of putting the cream on, so back to cloth diapers this weekend.  Ironically the disposables aren’t holding up well at night at all!  She doesn’t pee that much at night, but she sleeps on her side and so they leak.  Never had a problem with that before and I’ve made sure every night that they were fitting right, but she’s just got two little wet spots on each side where the diaper meets her legs every morning.  *shrug*  The diapers are barely wet, so I don’t get it.  

 

She slept straight through last night, thank goodness.  Bryan and I were exhausted from the night before.  We had a massive thunder and lightening storm too, so I was sure she would wake up at some point.  I gave her Advil before bedtime, but I had the night before too and that obviously didn’t help.  I guess it’s a good thing she’s getting some of them now and we don’t have to deal with an infant AND a teething two-year-old as much.  She’s caught on that I want to see in her mouth for a reason though so she won’t let me see right now.  The far back right one is almost all the way through, but I don’t know if any others are coming in.  I didn’t see one on the other side the few times I’ve tried to look, but I have no idea about the top.  You would think the two-year molars would be the most painful because all the other teeth are in and it might crowd or move them a bit.  Her teeth are really straight.  Is that any indicator how her adult teeth will be?  Probably now.  I have no idea.  It’s surprising though because both Bryan and I had pretty crooked teeth before braces.  Well, my braces didn’t “stick”, so to speak, so my bottom teeth still are really crooked.  I hope she escapes it a little.

 

Let’s see, what else.  Oh.  I put an ad out for the temporary nanny position.  We have to find someone to start September 23, so we HAVE to find someone in the next two weeks.  I was a little less friendly sounding in this ad than the last one I put out.  I was just very straight forward in what we are looking for.  I mentioned that we would like cell phones to only be used for emergency purposes so the focus and attention would be on Emily, mentioned no smoking or living with smokers, that there are cameras in our home where we can check in on our daughter when we like and to not respond to the ad if they’re not comfortable with that, etc.  I think one of the mistakes I made with the last nanny was trying to be too friendly with her.  We would talk about things employers and employees wouldn’t talk about.  I gave her expensive baby soaps and shampoos and food that didn’t work for Emily to give to her sister who has a baby, she would tell me about a party she went to over the weekend, blah, blah, blah.  There was just a lot of too overly personal info flowing both ways I think and then she just started walking over us at some point and I was too caught up being nice to her, thinking that if I was this super nice person she would be nice to my daughter, when in fact I think it ultimately had the opposite effect.  

 

This time I am just going to be the employer.  The nice employer..but not a friend.  If I see something being done a way that we want done differently, I’m going to speak up this time and not just let it go.  Because if we’re paying someone, they should be able to adapt to simple stuff like that.  We are looking for a nanny, NOT a babysitter.  There is a difference.  

 

<span class="bumpedFont15" style="background-color:

rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);”>Anyways, I posted the ad early yesterday and I’ve gotten ONE response back..and it’s not even an option.  This is what it says (I’ll copy and paste so you get the full punctuation and grammar):

 

“Hi I’m Monica *.  I can help taking care of your kid.  I’m responsible,honest,punctual,careful, respectful and great person. I enjoy everything with kids(play,go to the park,doing crafts,etc.)I don’t smoke, I don’t use persfume,I not have problem that you have camaras, for check of your kid.”

 

I literally facepalmed when I read it.  I remember I had some doozies the last time we were looking, but to only have ONE response so far (I thought we had quite a few pretty quickly last time) and knowing not too many people will be interested as it’s temporary (a little over 5 weeks of work before my maternity leave), I’m starting to think we might have a real problem on our hands.  And I am NOT settling for someone less than our standards just because we have a time constraint.  I’m not doing this to Emily again.  I think I’m going to try a different method than just an ad on care.com.  I think there’s probably nanny agencies in the area I can contact and see about.  I need to get on this ASAP though.

 

Bryan and Emily are having great bonding time right now though.  He was mentioning how some people might not like his schedule because he’s not getting paid during his breaks, but we’ve never had a problem with it and the extra time they get is so special.  I think it really helps their relationship and that he’s getting to do something a lot of dads don’t get to.  I’m glad he seems to be enjoying it and Emily is definitely happy to get more daddy time.  Not to mention it’s just nice to come home from working all day and have someone else there to help.  I usually work all day, then come home and immediately turn into mommy-mode and do activities and go places without any transition.  Most days I get home and we’re out the door 10 minutes later going to the lake or the park or something.  It’s nice to come home and know she was active with Bryan all day before that, so I can just sit for a minute and he can tell me about her day.  If she’s clingy at dinner and wants me to hold her while I’m making it, he can help, etc.  It’s just nice.

 

I’m just blathering on.  I had a ton of stuff to write about and I’m not sure I actually wrote about any of it, lol.  My pregnancy brain is in full force, let me tell you.  I feel like a complete idiot most of the time and I’m afraid the things that come out of my mouth might not make sense at all.  OH, and get this.  The one time I have just forgot to pay the mortgage, like it just slipped my mind, was at the end of my pregnancy with Emily.  Can you guess what I did last week? =)  Yeah.  I paid it today, a day before the grace period was up.  How the hell do you forget something like that?!  I need to write everything anyone wants down or I will forget it by the next day, no matter how important it is.

 

IS IT THE END OF OCTOBER YET!? =D  

 

~Sheralyn