Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Waiting and Wondering

YIKES!! Though I knew it, it was wild to see how close we are getting to baby's arrival! I'm two thirds of the way there and nowhere near being ready. Well, ready for her, but her room and things aren't ready. I only have about 120 diapers and I've been told that those will last me the first two weeks, MAYBE.


Believe it or not, not everything is scary right now. I'm actually looking forward to quite a few things. Such as:

1. Dressing her up in all her cute outfits--my favorite is a light pink bubble. It just might be her
baby dedication outfit.

2. Painting her little toenails and fingernails--probably wait on that until next spring since her
little tootsies won't be showing that much during the winter months.

3. Just holding her and playing with her. Hearing her laugh. I can't wait for those first smiles--
even if they are caused by gas.

4. Watching her sleep. Watching her and her daddy sleep while he's holding her in his lap. Oh,
special picture moments.

5. Seeing what she's going to look like. Are her eyes going to be blue or brown? Hair: brown or
red? Curly or straight? Olive complexion or pink? Boxers or briefs? (Couldn't resist)

6. Watching her respond to new people, especially our really good friends and family. What will
she think of her grandpa's beard? or her PawPaw's goatee, or cookie duster as our Pastor
calls it. How will she respond to Granny and YaYa? Or her aunts and uncles? I hope she
will be a happy baby who takes well to all kinds of people.

I can go on and on and on and on. And I'm sure I will as the date gets closer. I anticipate a crazy
existence, a world turned upside down, but an AMAZING amount of Joy that will outweigh anything else. Why God is choosing to bless us with her, I don't know, but look forward to finding out. Its wonderful to know that she was designed to fit perfectly into our family and I can't wait to meet her.

Monday, May 29, 2006

the "olden" days

My mother-in-law and I were talking about delivery and pain meds. She asked me if
I was going to have a "saddle block" ? If you know what this term means or
think you know what it means, please reply. I have a good idea of what
she's talking about, but I thought it was such a funny term. I'd like to
see what the rest of the world thinks of it.

Ghost stories around the campfire aren't this scary

I was warned in all my pregnancy books that people will begin to tell you all different kinds of stories about their own delivery experiences. And so, it has begun. And so, I AM SCARED OUT OF MY MIND!!! Well, not so much, but there are things that I think I can handle and then your best friends tell you things that happened to them that you would have never imagined could occur. I am referring to a certain thing called an "episiotomy". I've heard of these and they sound quite simple, yet quite frightening at the same time. For those of you who may not know what said word is, it is a cut made to allow for more room for the baby to come out. I think that is all I need to say. Cutting and I do not go together. Knives terrify me. I don't know why...some people are scared of snakes, some are scared of mice, some are scared of spiders, or drowning or heights...but with me it is being cut. Paper cuts are the worst!!!! I can handle being kicked really hard, well not right now with a baby and all, but don't talk about cutting in my presence please.

ANYWAY, here is the horror story of horror stories. Baby decides to be not quite breach and not quite the right position. The doctor sees that you are going to need an episiotomy to make room for baby and performs one. But Baby says "Ha! You think that little cut is going to give me enough extra room? Have you never seen a baby head before? They're quite large, especially mine. And how about baby shoulders? I'm a quarterback. Ready or not here I come!" And they're delivered and they rip you from front to back. And you have to have 60 bagazillion stitches to put you back together. THAT FRIGHTENS ME< OKAY!???!

If anyone is reading this blog and had a less frightening delivery experience, would you please reply and encourage me here? Or if you have had THIS experience, will you please tell me how you made it through? I love the people who shared their experiences with me, but I think because I heard them both in the same weekend it has really freaked me out a little bit. I'd like to hear a couple of easy delivery stories, no c-sections please, to calm me down a little. Thank you.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

the green-eyed monster

I must confess I've felt a bit jealous of the other girls I know who are
mommies-to-be. We've all hit the sixth month mark, so that means we're
feeling baby move often throughout the day. This is an incredible feeling,
mind you, but the other girls can actually see the movements on the outside!
And if they rest their hands on their tummies, baby will kick and they can
feel that on the outside, too. On Mother's Day, I felt a little movement,
but nothing since then. I want to have "alien baby belly" ! I want to look
down and see my shirt moving by some unseen force. I want my
kindergarteners to ask "Why is your tummy wiggling, Mrs.Brown?" I keep
telling myself I have too much fat between my skin and my womb and that's
why I haven't seen her move yet. I guess, while I wait, I can be thankful I
don't have one of those odd outie belly buttons. No offense, ladies, but
that is a part of pregnancy I can do without. In the meantime, I will keep
laying on the couch in the evenings and attempt the remote control test--lay
it on my tummy and watch for baby to kick it.

Monday, May 8, 2006

A rose by any other NAME

HA!! Bet you thought I was going to reveal the name to you! You'll have to keep waiting. In the meantime, I've had many more suggestions for names from my students at school. Some have been pretty, some VERY common, and then there are " the others". I'll start with my favorite sweet girl name. Sam, a kindergartener, raised his hand, saying he needed to ask me a question. If you know kindergarteners, their definition of the word question is "to tell you something they think is very important." So, Sam said this "I have a name for your baby, Mrs.Brown...Olivia." Okay, I liked that one. IN fact, I liked it better than all the other names I've heard so far from the kids. Some fifth grade girls keep trying to get me to name her after them. "Christina, Chasity, or Kelsie". Sorry, not gonna happen, girls. Then, some other kindergarteners suggested "Melissa Rose". Nice, but no cigar. Then came the others. One day, Desmond, a fifth grade boy who KNOWS the baby is a girl, or so I thought he did, suggested this Christopher!" I confess, when I was little I had a girl doll whom I named "Christopher Lynn". But I've grown up a Little since then and realize that is not a good, girl's name. So today, I had a revelation. And it came in the form of Sarah, a blond haired, blue eyed kindergartener whose parents are from Croatia and Bosnia. We are very seriously considering this name because it is the best I've heard yet. And here it is.....................................................................................................
CATERPILLAR
(yes, we studied our bug/butterfly unit recently. So what?)
I think we'll spell it with a "K" and call her "Kat" for short. What do you think?

Saturday, May 6, 2006

Let the festivities begin

I feel like I've just had Christmas in May!! My school gave me my first baby shower this week. It was a joint shower with my friend, Victoria, who is due at the beginning of August. We had a ball! Baby girl got lots and lots of outfits, some toys, a book, some blankets and burp cloths, photo albums, bibs, and a couple of decor pieces that go with her bedding. After the shower, I took everything home to show to Geron. We went to the nursery so I could put things away as I showed them to him. Well, I think Geron understood that the clothing and bibs and such were not for him, but he had a hard time with the Woozit. He asked me to toss it to him and he played with it for the LONGEST time. I think I will need some people to come wrestle it away from him when Baby Girl finally arrives. Either that, or we'll just have to buy him one of his very own.

I'm discovering something new with this shower stuff, too. Its fun to receive presents, but it is even more fun to receive and open presents for someone else. (I'm not referring to the present of Victoria's that I tore into--Hey, it was handed to ME!) In some ways I feel like the same as I did when I was little and got new clothes for my dolls. In other ways, this is all becoming more real to me. THere is actually a baby on her way to our house and people want to celebrate that with us. Its a great feeling!

Monday, May 1, 2006

upgrading

so does anyone out there want to buy my 40-hour series2 Tivo. I'll even throw in the network adapter to hook it up to a home network. I've had it a little over a year, had no problems and still have the box and documentation.

Lydia says i can upgrade to the new one they just released, if I can sell the old one.