Never again

Good God Almighty.

Bless you parents who let your children come into your bed at night. All I know is you must have kids who go right to sleep and lay perfectly still when they invade your sanctuary of sleep. I am not so lucky. My son thinks that "Daddy's bed" is a place of interactive fun. He rubs our faces, whispers in an attempt to engage us in conversation, sucks LOUDLY on his "bankalee", snuggles right up against our cheeks and generally disrupts any thought we might have had that it is the middle of the night and that we should be sleeping.

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Never again. Sorry bud, but mommy is selfish and doesn't even like daddy up in my grill when I am trying to sleep. I like to cuddle for 5 whole minutes when I first climb into bed and then I roll over and enter the zone of me. I don't want anyone else in it.

I unwillingly unselfishly gave up my sleeping space for the first 3 months of your life when you wouldn't sleep anywhere but on me. Your sister will be arriving soon and I will work with all of my might to get her to sleep solo.

The funny thing is, you are just like me, but you just don't realize it yet. After that hour of interruption last night, when you were restlessly going back and forth between torturing daddy and I, you fell right to sleep when daddy finally wised up and returned you to the confines of your crib. I think Daddy is FINALLY on the same page with me. I don't think he'll ever argue this point with me again!

Love you.Mean it.Stay in your own bed.Trust me. You'll thank me later.

31

16,293,600 minutes

271, 560 hours

11,315 days

1,612 weeks

372 months

31 years

(Nah, Natey isn't my clone or anything! Ha!)

Today is the first anniversary of my 30th birthday. That's right. I've decided I'll stay 30 and just celebrate that annually. My dad picked his 39th birthday to do that with. Me, I think 30 is a fine number to stick with. I may change my mind. I've been known to do that from time to time.

All I know is 31 is not a bad age to be.

I can honestly say that I am the happiest I've ever been.

I'm not saying that things are the easiest they've ever been,

but somehow the small stuff doesn't hold as much weight anymore.

I have my family that is about to be a party of 4 in 3 short weeks.

Unless she chooses to come sooner and I am soooo ok with that by the way.

I have genuine friends that take care of my heart.

I hope I do the same for them.

I may whine or complain at times, but deep down I know that I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Here's to the 31 years I've been in existence.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

His cup diaper runneth over

I have never met a kid who generates more urine than my son. In his defense he is also the thirstiest kid I have ever laid eyes on, that does not have diabetes. Yes, I had him checked, I was THAT concerned. The boy is potty trained for the most part. He wears big boy undies and goes pee in the toilet all day. He only wears a diaper for his nap and to sleep at night. The problem is he pees through his diaper EVERY night. I'm serious, 5 out of 7 nights a week, he wakes up with wet pjs...and sheets...and blankets....that all have to be laundered. I have tried cutting his liquids off at 6 (he goes to sleep at 8). I have tried overnight diapers, even in a size 6. He pees at least 2-3 times between when he finishes dinner and when he goes to bed, so what gives?

Last night I put him down at 7:45pm. He had just peed after his bath. At 8:30 I hear him calling me. "Mommy, I NEED you!" I knew nothing good could come of this. I go into his room to discover him standing in his crib, pants and diaper removed and thrown on the floor. His shirt was wet and he had peed in his bed. WTH??? When I asked him why he had taken his diaper off he said, "There was too much mess in dare mommy". Um, I picked up the diaper. It was dry. My guess was, he had to pee and thought he could do it himself, but then realized he doesn't know how to escape from the confines of the crib, and it just happened. I changed him, let him go potty in the toilet some more, diapered him and put him back to bed at 9pm. He woke up at 5am having peed through his diaper.

I'm at a loss. I feel it is torture to tell a thirsty kid that he can't have any water. I also feel it is torture to have to wash his dang bedding and jams a million times a week and to be woken up at 5 am with my toddler crying because his clothes are wet, so what's a mom to do? What are some viable options? The only 2 things I can think of are calling up NASA and getting my hands on some of those adult-cross-country-don't-even-have-to-stop diapers or this ...

Oh, in case you aren't fluent in Japanese it is a pee-sucker-upper for use in outer space (in a nut shell).

Help.me.please.before.I.completely.loose.my.mind!!!

Jack-o-lantern Spectacular

Last night we went to the Jack-o-lantern spectacular at Roger Williams Park Zoo. We went with my friend Joelle, her hubby (his parents and brother) and Natey's bestie, Tyler. We picked a Wednesday night, when no other special events were happening to try to avoid the crowds. Yeah, that kinda backfired! After a little hoopla getting extra tickets for the parents (we already had ours) we didn't get in to the park until after 7. The line just to get to the pumpkins was about 40 minutes more from there. Trying to keep my very active child entertained for that 40 minutes was very irritating for this irritable mommy, but we finally made it to the main event! My irritation melted away when I saw the awesomeness and artistry of these jack-o-lanterns! They were amazing. Each one was carved with a different scene and many were grouped in themes. They were carved and then contrast was made on them by shading with sharpie, so when the light shone through the images were detailed and extremely intricate! (Click on any collage to see them in more detail.)

Natey's favorite was the Spiderman pumpkin of course. I loved the one that depicted "Where the Wild Things Are".

The big picture shows a huge grouping of typical jack-o-lanterns. The big one weighed in at 1187 pounds if you can believe that!! They had an awesome grouping of Sesame Street pumpkins that Natey got excited about. He loves cookie monster!

One of my favorite sets was the Alice in Wonderland pumpkins. They were really cool and had so much detail!

They had some of the biggest pumpkins I have ever seen in person. The one Nate and Tyler sat on was over 1,000 pounds too! As you can tell, the boys had a great time, even if they were up way past their bedtime. Mommy finally came around and had fun too. I only had a minor melt-down before we got to the action. I swear, sometimes pregnant me is worse than any toddler. I'll have to, ahem, work on that.

36 Weeks

Woo hoo! I have made it to 36 weeks. I feel like I am 39 weeks with all of the aches and pains this girl has been causing! I have heartburn non-stop, sciatica that keeps me at the chiropractor 2 times a week, and I swear I could wet my pants at any given moment.

All that aside, I am loving it and am getting so excited for her arrival. Not excited enough to actually get her room (or Nate's for that matter) finished, but you know, that terrified kind of excited. I say that because this time I know what's coming. Last time I think not knowing what to expect was on my side since I did it with zero drugs. Yes people, I am one of those crazies that went all natural. I guess it couldn't have been THAT bad since I am opting to do it again, but I'm just a tad freaked out this time.

I am still keeping track of the weight gain and, so far, I am at 29 pounds. I am hoping this will keep me within my 35 pound goal (I gained 38 with Nate). Not that the half pint of Ben & Jerry's that I scarfed down yesterday is going to help with that, but I am trying to be good. It helps that I can't eat so much as a grape without getting heartburn these days, so the portions I have been eating are pretty reasonable!

Thanks for coming along on my journey with me. It has been fun to share it with everyone and have a lot of support and a few laughs too! Don't forget to get in on the guessing game of when baby girl will make her appearance. It is a fun competition as well as donating to a very worthy cause! You can click on the link to get to the game or check out the details in my sidebar!

What Not To Wear??

What's a 37 week pregnant girl to do for Halloween?? Do I go with the old cliche and dress up as a nun? Do I spray paint a box and cut out the front and go as a "bun in the oven"? There's not a whole lot of available options considering I'm not of the mindset of "Sexy {fill in the blank}" like the unmarried, minus children, sect! I mean seriously?? I am not going out in that!
I'm taking my 2 year old trick or treating (Or Trick or Trina (our cat) like Natey likes to say) and I could just bone out and not dress up, but where's the fun in that? I have thought of some semi- cop out costumes. I could just applique some orange felt onto a black shirt where my belly is and make a jack-o-lantern face or dress up like a cat and cut the belly out of my shirt and paint it like a fish bowl. I need some help here. I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a costume. I'm thinking 20 bucks here people. So give me your suggestions. I am not easily offended so don't hold back {Ahem, Nikki}.

Random Ramblings

It is Thursday and I am 34 days away from my due date! I'd say this calls for a celebration, but what fun is a celebration with no booze. Yeah, I know.

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My birthday is coming up and it will be the second time I have been pregnant on that day. Not fair if you ask me. I am, however, going to have a Mexican Fiesta dinner party at my house to celebrate! I figured in a couple more weeks I will not be feeling up to going out to paint the town, so I will make people come to me! What's better than friends and fajitas, right? I know, margaritas, but you know where I stand on that!

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Natey was being a smarty pants yesterday and would not stop saying his go-to word, "poopy". I told him he need to stop being a smart alic and he replied, "But me not Alex mommy, me Nathan". Yes, I know who you are kid. Now stop saying poopy!!!

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I'm going to go to my first official blogging event on the 26th! I am so excited. It is in Boston and I will get to meet a new bloggy friend that will be attending too. My hubby, who does not understand the first thing about social networking, thinks this event it is like internet dating or something. Yup. That's right honey. I'm going to meet men. There is a whole group of blogging men that are super attracted to 37 week pregnant women, and by golly, I want to meet them all! Relax sweetie. There are not a lot of ways for working, 30 year old, soon to be mothers of 2 kids to meet other women {read:MOMMIES} that we have things in common with. I can not attend play groups since I work and I'm pretty sure hanging out in bars is not going to make me any worthy friends these days. So please dear, cut me some slack!

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The attack of the pregnancy brain is in full force these days. I literally can not remember ANYTHING!!!! I forget about chiropractor appointments that I looked at the night before, I leave laundry in the washer and remember when it is too late to lug it down to my BIL's dryer downstairs, I have to set appointments in my phone calendar just to remember to call people or mail a bill. It is getting bad. It is irritating the heck out of me. If you have any suggestions, write them down because if you tell me I will just forget right afterward!

Natey at 2 years and 4 months

Hi bubs! You are on your way to 2 1/2. I think that no matter how much work it is to keep up with you and your crazy ways, I would have had you for the entertainment value alone. Here is a little sample of what you're doing and saying lately.

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You are the king of comedy right now. You will replace words in songs or phrases with nonsensical things and wait for us to crack up. If we take too long, you just laugh instead. Your current fave is "Nokio". Apparently that is the funniest thing on the planet, whatever it may be!

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If I ask you what something is called and you're not sure you answer with, "Me not know what that is mommy". I love that you are starting to get that concept.

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When you are doing something you ought not to be and I ask you what you were into, you say "Nufthin" (nothing). You are too young to start the fibbing bud. You said "Damn it" and , when I asked you what you just said you replied, "Dang it" and then I repeated my question and you replied, "Nufthin". That shows me you KNOW it's wrong. Knock it off!

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You are doing pretty well still on the potty. I wish you would tell me when you have to go pee instead of having to make hourly trips to the bathroom. I think you are starting to get it, but don't want to stop whatever it is you are doing and take the time to go. You do tell me when you have to poop, so thanks for that!

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You are still the best eater I know. I pray your sister is as good as you! I made Thai Peanut pasta with chicken and bell peppers last night and you are it right up! I am glad your daddy has taught me to try new things so we can expose you at such a young age. I hope you stay open minded to new tastes and never get picky like I was at one point!

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Your last 2 molars have arrived. I was wondering why you were chewing on your fingers so much, but now I know! I can't believe you have all of your teeth (until they start falling out that is).

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Your new favorite movie is Bolt. I don't think you have watched anything else in 2 weeks. Whenever you get a little bit of TV time you ask for that movie. I don't know how you can watch the same thing over and over again, but you seem to love it!

You are my little cartoon. You make some of the funniest faces I have ever seen (or to you, ever SEEM)!

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You want to be Batman for Halloween. I'm miffed, but allowing it. Mostly because it would break your heart and also since your cousin Lily is going to be a bat, I think it might be cute.

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Some of the things you have been saying that make me laugh are:

"That's amazin!" or "That's awesome"

"Ohhhh"

"Baby sister's still cookin in dare"

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You want to "cheers" everything. Pancakes, sausages, your cups and even asked daddy to cheers pee pees while you were both going potty. I almost died laughing at that one. We don't cheers those, daddy said. You seemed ok with that. Ha!

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You are my little genius and I love that you are so fascinated with the world around you. Please don't loose that sense of wonder and I promise to try not to get too annoyed with all of the times you ask me "Why????".

When Will I POP??

We always have a friendly wager regarding the date and time babies will be born in this family. Call it their competitive nature. Last time, Aaron's little cousin guessed the right day and was only off by 2 hours on the time! My friend Joelle took this friendly wager one step further and touched my heart at the same time. You see, my due date has a very special significance to me and my family. Both my grandpa and my mom passed away on November 18th just one year apart. Weird, I know. When I was told that was the day I was due, I knew I was having a girl. It was just a strange feeling I got, and I sort of felt like it was my mom's gift to me to make that day less painful. My mother suffered for 15 years with Multiple Sclerosis and her body finally couldn't handle all of the medications any more. I was only 23 years old at the time. My mom didn't get to see me get married and never got to hold my babies. I miss her every day and was just pleased as punch to see Joelle wanted to honor her memory by creating a baby pool for baby girl!

She created a chart with the days surrounding my due date and divided them into am and pm. Each person at my sprinkle that wanted to guess, put $2 in the kitty and wrote their name in a time slot. The money collected will be split 1/3 to the winner and 2/3 will be donated to the MS Society in honor of my mother. After I posted about my Sprinkle the other day and talked about the baby pool, Rachel had the idea that I should open it up to all of you! I thought that would be an awesome idea!! What a fun way to have a little raffle of sorts and raise money for a great cause all at the same time!

So here's the gist...

1. You click on the link to go to my Guessing Page (game name is WhenWillKamPop) and make your guess on the date and whether baby girl will be born in the am or pm. Make sure you don't pick the same time slot as someone else has already. (Read the instruction on the guessing site before you pick!)


2. You come back to my blog and click on the donate Paypal button (In this post or in the sidebar). It is $2 per guess and you can guess as many slots as you'd like.










3. The contest will be open until I have the baby and then the time and day will be posted and the person who guessed correctly will win and so will the MS society!!

If we raise $50 dollars or more, I can get a matching gift through my work, so start guessing!!!

A Sprinkle for baby

On Sunday I started out having a very bad day, but luckily I had something wonderful to look forward to when my mood was at it's darkest. My dear friend Joelle threw me a "Sprinkle" for baby girl. What is a sprinkle you ask? Well, read the invite (if you have super good vision) or else I can just tell you! Since I have all of the big stuff still from Natey, we didn't need to have a traditional shower where people give you tons of stuff. Every baby deserves to have their own party though, so she threw me a sprinkle instead where guests were encouraged to give things we might not have for baby girl such as diapers, wipes, and super-cute-ruffly-pink-polka dotted-frilly {ahem, sorry got excited for a minute} clothes.

It was such a sweet idea and Joelle and her mom pulled off the best celebration of baby girl this mommy could have asked for. There was tons of yummy food, a delicious cake (What? You count that as food? Nope, cake is it's own food group to me!), games that did not involve measuring my roundness, opening presents and spending time with my friends and family. When I first looked at the cake, we all had a laugh at how disproportionately long the arms seemed. It wasn't until we checked out the invitation again that we noticed the baker had just copied what he saw and the girl on the invite was Elastigirl too!

Joelle also decided we needed a friendly wager to liven things up. She made up a chart and people paid to make guesses as to when baby girl will arrive. The winner gets 1/3 of the money and the other 2/3 is going to be donated to the M.S. Society on behalf of my mom. I thought this idea was so sweet and I love that Joelle thought of my mom, as baby girl's due date is the day she passed away.

The sprinkle was at Joelle's mom's house and I couldn't resist taking a pic in the mirror of her gorgeous bathroom. The hubbs is going to wish I hadn't been inspired by this bathroom! Baby girl's room is definitely getting wainscoting now! So here I am at 33 weeks, 4 days, in all of my round glory!

I'm trucking along at 34 weeks now and tempted to start counting down the days. I have never been the most patient person, so this waiting game is going to start to get to me soon! I'm feeling pretty good at this point and am 4 pounds lighter than I was at this point with Natey, so I am happy about that! I'll keep you posted as these last 6 weeks (hopefully) zip on by!

A Letter to Scum

Dear Low Lifes,

I just wanted to say thanks for breaking into my car last night. As we slept you were clumsily smashing my driver's side window to steal the GPS that was suction cupped to my windshield. I say clumsily because, really, how hard can it be to break a window? You managed to dent my car in 3 places and scratch the side in your effort to gain entry. I want to tell you just how much I appreciated spending my morning vacuuming the glass out of the car instead of going to Target as we had planned. I hope the money you get for selling my TomTom is enough to provide you with your next fix.

I guess you did me a couple of favors that I should thank you for. First, I had been meaning to clean and vacuum out my car for a while so thanks for providing me with the motivation. Who knows how long I would have waited if my car wasn't filled with glass! Also, thanks for being so high or so stupid that you failed to open my glove box. If you had, you might have noticed that the spare key for my husband's truck, parked right next to mine, was located inside. Thank you for not stealing anything else that was in my car. I would be lost without my car charger and diaper bag.

Guess what idiots? Your effort and my irritation could have been minimized. The door was unlocked.

Random Ramblings

Thursday. Ack! Where has this week gone? Oh wait, I know. I have been so busy I haven't been able to blink! Here's a quick recap so you all know I am still alive and kicking!

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My Aunt came for a visit over the weekend. She is Chad's mom, made famous by his lovely wife Heather and darling boy, Aidan, aka The Pod! We had such a nice visit. We went to the Farmer's market. We made her two yummy dinners, one of stuffed shells (recipe coming soon to a blog near you) and one Mario Batali dish of Chicken Canzanese. We did a little shopping to find a new dresser so I would have some where to put my clothes since baby girl is stealing my dresser. We mostly hung out and talked, which is something I really miss being so far away from my family. I can't wait to go out to visit them all next July for my cousin's wedding. Nate will be 3, baby girl will be 8 months, Aidanpod will be 2 and Heather's new baby will be about 3 months old. It will be so much fun to hang out and play with all the kiddos!

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I have not been sleeping AT ALL! I can't turn my brain off and have been going to sleep at midnight. Waking up at 5 something (thanks a lot micro-bladder), getting myself and a toddler ready then working a full day is really getting to me. Oh, and did I mention that when I get home there is still dinner to make, messes to clean up, Natey to chase around and get into bed and then I have to sew for the Open Market that we still have 2 Saturdays left in October? I'm, in a word, pooped.

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I have been in a 3 day Project management class this week and, while it is very interesting, is a lot to absorb in 3 days. Hopefully it will help me in my career development as I want to take the formal lead on projects and, with the skills I am getting in this class, I feel better prepared for the task.

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Baby Mama is just about done with all my pics and I can't wait to get my CD's so I can get prints made! I have grand plans for the naked wall above my fireplace as well as some pics that I want to hang in Natey and Baby girl's rooms. Speaking of those two rooms, I just made a list of the things that still need to be done and I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment! Nate's room is almost done, so I think I will try tackle that shorter list first. Then I can start on her room!

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I'm 33 weeks and counting now folks! I am starting to be able to see the finish line since I can officially say I am due "next month"!!!