Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Fame is OBSESSED.

I gave Fame whipped cream from the can once when he was a puppy. Ever since, he immediately becomes alert and enters the room as soon as he hears the "SSHHHHHHHH" sound of whipped cream being expelled from the can. And then he will sit there, licking his chops in anticipation, as if he's really eating or drinking something. He seriously sits there, lapping in the air, as fast as he does when he takes a drink from the water bowl.

Well, since Thanksgiving baking has been going on all day, I decided to reward myself with a piece of pumpkin pie before I went to bed. We didn't have any Cool Whip thawed, so I decided to just use some of the whipped cream we had in the fridge. I was upstairs alone, with the TV on. Fame was downstairs, having "guy time" with hubby. Hubby is down there, with the TV on blast, talking loudly to his buddies on Xbox.

I sat down at the table, poured myself some cider, and cut a piece of pie. I shook the whipped cream, uncapped it, inverted the can, pressed on the nozzle, and immediately heard what sounded like an elephant running up the stairs. I thought it was hubby, since when he ascends from his man cave, he runs up the stairs. I looked into the hallway, and there was no one there. As I was turning my head back towards my delectable dessert, I noticed a blocky black head in the vicinity of my left elbow. And there was Fame, sitting next to me, waiting patiently for some whipped cream, licking his chops. He heard that sound on a different level of the house, through two loud TVs and the raucous screaming and laughter of a video game freak engaged in battle on Xbox live.

So of course I had to give him some, 1. because he impressed me with his auditory prowess, and 2. because he's so damn cute!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Growth scan

I had an ultrasound today to see how well Marius is growing. According to the ultrasound, he's in the 50th percentile. Again, the ultrasonographer (the 3rd one I've met at this office) was not friendly and totally sucked the joy and excitement out of the ultrasound.

She never went into 3D or anything, and we barely got to even see anything on the screen. She measured his head, stomach, and femur. Looked at his heart and spine. She found his face to print a quick picture for us, but she never stayed on one part very long. The picture she printed was terrible - it was a blurry skull with eyesockets and a balled-up fist. I was so annoyed. I've been looking forward to this appointment for a month.

Today, I am 27w5d pregnant. Marius now weighs 2lbs, 7ozs. His head is measuring in the 29th weeek, and his femur is measuring right along with his gestational age.

The ultrasound photo isn't even worth scanning into the computer.

To top it all off, I asked the ultrasonographer if there were any 3D/4D imaging places around here that did photo packages. She said not to waste my money, because at this point, there's so little room in there that we wouldn't be able to see much. And she doesn't know of any, anyway. All of the websites I've seen for these 3D places say that this is the OPTIMAL time to have this type of imaging done. I was so pissed. I even asked Dr. Syeda when she came into the room, and she doesn't know of any, either.

I'm really starting to not like this practice. I'm tired of being excited about this pregnancy, just to have them kill it every time I walk in the door. It's so frustrating.

A gift for Marius!

I found a new sewing pattern that I wanted to try, so I decided a friend of mine (who is also due this winter) would be my guinea pig. In return, she decided to make something for me! Let me tell you, we were like kids on Christmas, just waiting for the parcels to arrive in the mail!

She got the parcel I sent her on Monday. Here's what I sent for her upcoming arrival:





It's a travel changing pad- it has one zippered pocket on the outside, and 2 on the inside. The soft fleece changing pad can be detached from the rest for easy laundering. I'll definitely use this pattern again! And I'm definitely making one for myself! lol

The mailman just came to the door with the parcel for me! I was so excited to rip it open, and was definitely not disappointed by what was inside!




I LOVE this pillow and blanket set! How cute!!! The pattern on the fleece is totally awesome and right up our alley!!! Thank you so much!!!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Our L&D tour

Holy cow - things are starting to feel a lot more real now!

Hubby and I went on our L&D tour at Albany Med yesterday, and let me tell you- it was A LOT more informative than I had imagined. I figured we'd just walk around the hospital and go home. NOPE!

They told us all about the paperwork we'd have to fill out, how long the stay would be, what you can & can't do in the different rooms you're in, etc. It was crazy. I'm so glad we went.

Since hubby is gonna be away when I deliver, I was really concerned with being able to communicate with him while in the hospital and being able to video tape so he doesn't totally miss out. I mean, laptops are permitted in the hospital, and there's WiFi in the rooms, so I'm hoping I go into labor when he has access to his laptop or a Skype phone, but labor doesn't wait for anyone! lol If he can be on his laptop or a Skype phone at the time I deliver, great! If not, I wanted to be able to video tape so he doesn't totally miss out. However, the hospital's policy is that you can take video up until the time the mother starts pushing, and then AFTER the baby is born. So what they're really saying is you can't get the one moment it's absolutely necessary to record on tape. Thanks, Albany Med! The lady said it's because they've had too many videographers pass out and end up in the ER. What a line of BS. I'm bringing my tripod to the hospital. Our lil camcorder can be operated by remote control. I'll just tuck it in the corner where they don't notice and conveniently cover the little red light on the front. (Insert evil grin here.) Or perhaps I'll record thru my webcam, and just keep it minimized on the screen so they don't see it. Either way, hubby is going to somehow witness the birth of his son and hear that very first cry. You cannot thwart me, Albany Medical Center!

So, as for visitors and guests at the hospital- in the delivery room (for a vaginal delivery), you're allowed to have your partner and up to 2 other people. If it's a c-section, you get your partner, and that's it. In post-partum, you can have your partner and up to 2 additional guests at your bedside at a time. No kids under 12 at all, which totally sucks because I want Anthony to be able to visit :(

Since hubby isn't gonna be there, my mom can be my "partner". I really wanted my grandmother in the delivery room with us, too. I mean, she's done this 12 times, so she's gotta know SOMETHING about this whole thing, right? But, I mean, if we have to rush over there, or if it's like in the wee hours of the morning, I do NOT want my grandfather getting up early and trying to rush grandma to the hospital to be with me. In the winter. No way.

So I'm pretty sure it's gonna be my Mom, Lexie, and Nikki. And Lexie and Nikki are the only 2 people I know who can take decent photos, so I need them for moral support as well as overkill on the photo documentation. There's no such thing as too many picures. But too FEW pictures, or missing an important shot is just unacceptable! lol

Touring those labor and post-partum rooms really made everything feel so real. Like, I'M going to be in one of those rooms in less than 3 months! MY baby is going to be in one of those little plastic tubs they call a "crib" there. Like, whoa. That's crazy. We walked past the nursery and I almost got choked up. There were only 2 babies in there when we walked past, and one was in the back. The nurse that was in there turned one that was in front by the window so we could see her, and she was so little and cute!

Funny thing about the stop at the nursery... Our tour group consisted of about 7 couples/families. One couple had their other child with them, and she was probably about 8 years old. Now, hubby was the ONLY black person on the tour. The baby in the nursery happened to be black. As soon as the girl could see the baby in the nursery, she immediately turned and looked at hubby. Kids are too funny. It was as if she expected him to have something to do with that baby. lol

Anyway, the tour was good. I'm glad we went.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

27w2d - belly pics!

Here are a couple pics hubby took of me today. For some reason, I don't look too happy in the first one, and in the second, I have a really quizical look on my face because the sun was shining in my eyes! hahaha Oh well. Here they are:



Friday, November 13, 2009

Hellloooooo 3rd trimester!!!!

27 weeks today! Woo hoo!!! In the home stretch!

Went for my glucose tolerance test today. Yuck! The drink was labeled "fruit punch", and it seriously tasted like undiluted soda fountain fruit punch syrup. It made my throat sore. I reeallllly hope I pass this one, because I don't want to do this again, especially for 3 hours.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

6.5 months???

OK, so I know the technical "pregnancy is 10 months" thing- a month is roughly 4 weeks; 40 weeks divided by 4 is 10. But I haven't been counting that way. I've been pregnant since May 8, so I just counted May 8-June 8 as 1 month, June 8-July 8 as 2 months, etc, making November 8 the 6-month mark, and February 8 the 9-month mark. I'm due February 12.

But all the girls I know are counting in 4 week increments for a total of 10 months, so according to that system, I'm really 6.5 months! And next week I'll be 6.75 months. Crazy!!! Either way, I still have the same amount of time to wait 'til my lil man graces us with his presence.


On another note, hubby gets free food at Applebees tomorrow for Veterans Day because he's military! w00t w00t! In no way will I complain that we save 50% on our bill!

I get to go for my glucose tolerance test on Friday. Oh joy. I better pass the 1-hour test, because I realllly don't want to have to sit through the 3-hour. I'll be very cranky if I do! My next OB appointment is next Wednesday (11/18), and we can't wait! We're so excited to see Marius again!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

6 months!

Taa daa! I have been pregnant since May 8, so today marks 6 months for me! Woo hoo!!

Here's what's been going on over here....

So, our household used to consist of me and my mom, and my aunt and her 2 kids that moved in with us when I was 4. They robbed me of my own space- her daughter got my bedroom, her son got my playroom, and I ended up sharing a room with my mom til I was 12 and we moved to this house. Everything has always been about those two. Their mother won't say shit to them about anything. They could leave dirty dishes around, etc, and you wouldn't hear a word from her, but as soon as I left a glass in the living room, she would point it out and tell me to put it in the sink. You know, that kind of person. Well, her son is 29 years old, and has moved in and out several times (always living with- or should I say living off of some girlfriend or other), and now he's finally getting his own place. Her daughter is 32, and left the nest for the first time a little over a year ago.

When the daughter left, she decided what she was taking with her and what she wasn't. She took select items as not to clutter up her apartment. So now, our downstairs family room is completely filled with the boxes of shit that she didn't take with her. They've been down there for over a year. Her mother has not made her come and get them, or put them in storage, or try to go through them to see if there's anything she could get rid of. Nothing. Ever. They've just been sitting there.

Hubby and I have been staying here. He was in basic training this summer, and he's leaving again in January for another 17 weeks, and we're going to be buying a house sometime after he comes back next spring. It only makes sense that we stay here for right now and save ourselves $600+/month, and then I also won't be in an apartment alone when Marius comes.

There's a spare room right next to our room. When my cousin moved back home from his last girlfriend's house, he went into that room, even though my mom and aunt were still in the process of remodeling that room as a guest room. However, his sister's room downstairs was so full of crap that she left behind that he had no choice but to sleep in that room until the room downstairs could be cleaned out. The shit from his sister's bedroom downstairs was added to the rest of the shit in the family room downstairs. He moved down there, but the spare room next to us just became one big clusterfuck of clutter. It was an unfinished project, plus shit that he brought home. It was already a storage place for some of mine and hubby's stuff, because our bedroom barely fits our bed and 2 small dressers, and the closets in this house are tiny.

So now, in addition to this shit in the room, there is my cousin's bookcase, display case (he collects NASCAR die-cast cars and other memorabilia. Grow the fuck up, seriously) and a dresser. Months go by, and a family member who rents out an apartment in her house evicts her tenant for not paying rent in 10+ months, so it is decided that he is going to move in there. Great! Wonderful! GOOD RIDDANCE!!!

Well, yesterday, me and my mom were under the impression that he was going to move his shit from the spare room. AKA his bookcase, dresser, display case, and all the shit that's on them and in them, plus some other odds & ends of his in that room. He even called his friend to come over and help him move the heavy stuff.

The first thing they move is the dresser. Good start, right? Well, that's the ONLY THING THEY MOVE!!! He decides he's not taking the bookcase. He doesn't even take his PS2 or stereo or anything OFF the bookcase. He doesn't want to take the display case. Mind you, I've been itching to get into that room, because it's gonna be Marius' room while we stay here. I hate waiting on other people, and finally, FINALLY I thought I was going to get the chance to start getting some of my son's clothes and stuff out of my closet and out from under my bed and put them in a dresser that I planned on moving from my room to the spare room once a certain someone's shit was moved out of it.

He took a dresser. A fucking dresser. A 3 ft wide by 2 ft deep dresser. I got 6 sq feet of floor space. And then he went hunting. All day. What the fuck? How is that acceptable? If he could pack up the dresser and put it in his brand-new truck that his MOTHER just financed for him (technially his MOTHER'S truck), why couldn't he pack up his stereo, PS2, and miscellaneous shit?!? And his mother was just like, "Well, he doesn't want to start off with his apartment all cluttered." Tough $hit! So he gets to clutter this place up too, just like his sister did who moved out over a YEAR ago! If he doesn't want the stuff in his apartment, that's fine, but it's HIS stuff, and he should be responsible for finding an alternate place to put it.

So he moved a dresser. Then went hunting. All day. I'm so fucking sick of these people. I know damn well that if I was moving out and even left ONE BOX of stuff behind, especially in a "common area", his mother would have a hissy fit and be up one side of me and down the other. But her kids can do whatever they want, and it's ok. This is the same woman who shook her head and mouthed the word "No" when my mom mentioned that it would make more sense for me to stay here with the baby while hubby went away in January. But it's OK for her kids to stay here til they're freakin' 30 and leave all their shit here when they go. I can't stay here temporarily with a baby. Shit, the last thing I want to do is be in my mom's house with a baby, but it's not because I NEED to be. It's because my mom offered, since if hubby and I had an apartment, she'd be over there like 24/7 to help when the baby is born anyway. And this is only temporary until hubby gets back and we can start house hunting.

There is something seriously wrong here.

I did get some stuff done yesterday. I was using my low changing dresser from when I was a baby in my room, but I wanted to get it over into the spare room to use for Marius. There's a taller, narrower dresser in the spare room that I wanted to put in our room instead. I did manage to get that done. Now that Marius has a dresser, I can go thru all the clothes I have for him and sort them. I'm gonna pull all the newborn and 0-3mo clothes out and put them in the dresser, then rearrange the underbed stoage bins according to size, so when he grows out of the 0-3 I can just pull out the 3-6mo bin and swap the clothes out. Got all my clothes transferred to the dresser I brought in my room, and went thru a lot of shit. I have 3 trash bags full of clothes to send to the Salvation Army or wherever, and I'm not even done going through all my clothes yet. All in all, after all the stress, it was still a productive day and I was asleep by 8:00.

Friday, November 6, 2009

A blanket for Marius

Yup. I'm nesting, alright! lol

Today I made this Air Force blanket for Marius. It's a little crude, but it's the first blanket I've ever made, and it's homemade with love!





I figure, babies and little kids can never have too many blankets! Kids are messy!

26 weeks

Holy crap. Where has time gone??? I looked at my little pregnancy ticker last night and thought "Wow! The little guy is almost 2/3 of the way across!" One more week and I'll consider myself in the 3rd trimester. (40 weeks divided by 3 is 13.333333, so 2 trimesters are 26.6666666 weeks long. I'll say the 3rd one starts at 27. lol)

Not too much to report here. As of this morning, I am 2 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight. I am 62" tall, and 46" around at the biggest part of my belly. I'm gonna say by the time I deliver, my circumference will be close to (or more than) my height. I can't wait to see how funny that looks. Oh wait, I've seen how funny that looks (ahem LEXIE! lol).

I'm anxiously awaiting my apppointment on the 18th. Can't wait to see Marius again! They're gonna measure him and stuff. I wonder how big he is now... I hope we can get a good 3D face shot so we can see his features!