My Curly Headed Boys

The lack of posts lately is a result of my frantic nesting stage. I've spent the last week in crazy lady mode as I reorganize the house, steam clean the carpets, reorganize the house again, etc. As a result, I've neglected to update on the well-being of my boys.

George~

The hay fever is back. The effects of the shot lasted about 3 weeks but he is back to scratching his face to a bloody mess. This is bad news for our bank account, as the cold weather should have put a temporary halt to the itching. Georgie will have to endure shots every month for the rest of his life...fabulous. Good thing we love him so much.

A few weeks ago, George's cousin Penne came to visit. They had a blast together.

Hank~

He recently suffered a serious injury: a broken toe. While chasing George, one of his gangly toes got stuck on the edge of the door. While its difficult to imagine, this seems to be Hank's most painful injury of all-time, or at least I've gathered that based on the amount of discussion on the pain. Exhibit A:

Fortunately, I can somewhat relate to the pain, as my feet are swollen to the size of bricks.

Baby Iroz~

He gave us a nice little scare last week. During an visit to the ER, the FNN (or whatever its called) test came back positive, indicating I could deliver within the next 2 weeks. Based on my pain level, this seemed realistic. We get to monitor the pain and if it comes back, we'll have to give him steroids to make sure his little lungs develop faster in case I do deliver. (Hence the accelerated nesting stage!)

His crib is all set and ready to go---I love it! Its the only portion of the nursery thats ready to go, but I imagine its also the most important, right? This picture is for Ruth :) Finished nursery pictures to come later.... (Bedding contains little blue and grey cars)

We are so excited to meet our little boy, but hopefully he can hang in there a little longer!

Ok...back to cleaning :)

1 Down...

3 more 2.5 hr sessions to go.

We survived our first prenatal prep course. Hank complained the entire way there and I threatened everything I could think of if he didn't behave by the time we arrived. He couldn't imagine why we needed to "spend hours learning about breathing techniques", so I assured him we wouldn't even go over them (assuming that would be taught in a later class).




A special thank you to the instructor for putting the outline of the course on the board upon arrival. Luckily, mature Hank arrived by the time the class started and didn't leave (as previously promised) as we went over breathing techniques.


As it turned out, I was on my worst behavior. Everything about the situation was making me giggle-- the placenta and umbilical cord that snapped onto the baby doll, the overly anxious couples freely sharing way too much information, and practicing he-he-he-hoeing with Hank--this is where I really lost control. As we were practicing breathing techniques, Hank became super serious and I couldn't look at him as he coached me through the ridiculous noises. Giggling in the front row quickly proved completely unacceptable as no one else seemed to find humor in the situation at all.


The book we received tonight had a section for us to list "friends made at birthing class."


Needless to say, ours is blank.

How I Really Feel...

I always feel like when people don't update their blogs for a while, something must be wrong. Let me assure you, nothing is wrong. Well, besides everything normal that comes along with being pregnant, but I vowed (if you can believe it) not to only post about that type of stuff.....sooooo, every time I consider updating, the only things that come to mind are "I feel fat....tired....helpless...etc" so I sign out of my blog and focus on reading other peoples! :)

Just a warning, this time I'm not going to sign out, I'm actually going to update and it is going to be boring.

Pregnancy is such a sacrifice that I wasn't prepared for. I'm not sure if I needed to wait until my 30's to reach optimal maturity or if now is just as good of time as any for me. Either way, it seems like people don't exactly tell you how bad it can be until you're there. Its like the entire world has made a pact not to tell "potential mothers" about the hells of pregnancy until its too late. Once they realize you're "one of them," ie. pregnancy test positive, then they release the secret.

Then you hear the truth: "oh yeah, it really is that bad" or "I had that, it lasted the entire 9 months,"etc....

A few things I wasn't prepared for, in no order of severity since they all are lame.

- Never sleeping again. Couldn't someone have politely encouraged me to sleep a little extra because it may be the last time for the rest of my life? I anticipated the no sleep once the baby came, but not 9 months before then.

- Severe back pain caused by what feels like my ribs breaking off my spine. I like to refer to this pain as the ogre that is sitting on my back. He comes a few times a day, especially at night, to make sure I appreciate the ability to walk, lay down, breathe, laugh and cough without crying out in agony. Lesson learned: I appreciate/d it. The ogre can go away now....

- Puffing up like a cooked marshmallow. By the end of the day, my entire body is completely swollen, making any clothing besides a Muumuu completely uncomfortable. Where is that beauty from our trip to Hawaii in elementary school, mom?!? I need it or better yet, its winter equivalent asap.

- The fiery dragon that is heartburn. I've never had heartburn (until now) for which I am grateful since I know many constantly suffer from it. Its absolutely miserable. Feeling ravenously hungry while vomiting acid is disgusting, inconvenient, and downright annoying.

- Becoming my own furnace. This will certainly come in handy in the next few months as it won't be necessary to turn on the heater in our apartment, but for the time being, I will just continue to carry around a personal fan--its not embarrassing at all.

To those "potential mothers" out there, I just want you to know that pregnancy is not just 9 months of looking big, there's much more to it and its not pleasant. I like to think though that the reason no one tells you how bad it can be is because the ultimate result far outweighs the inconvenient symptoms. In a strange way, I am grateful for the months of preparation I've been given to learn to become selfless, as I'm pretty certain it will come in handy very soon. :)