Yackety Schmackety

Bad blogger!  Bad bad bad!

So, since I last updated… 

I survived my two weeks in St. Louis, learned a little, and had a LOT of fun. I ended up meeting two girls (one from Louisiana, one from Cincinnati- ironic no?) who were SO much fun, and there was a group of about six of us who like to drink beer and did so on a regular basis.  With no kids!  It was a good time.  We had a lot of laughs and have kept in touch since.

My husband was a ROCK STAR while I was gone!  He did so well with the boys, which I knew he would, but he went above and beyond.  They all survived and are better for it.

Thanksgiving was fine, if not a little chaotic.  We went to Illinois to Phil’s parents’ house and were joined by my brother-in-law and his wife and kids, then my parents, my brother, and his boy.  So there were LOTS of people there and a lot of noise, but it wasn’t too bad. The trip back was kind of no-fun, it was raining and Eli was crying a lot, but we made it back in one piece.

Work is going well.  I seem to have a good week followed by a bad week.  Last week=bad.  This week=good.   Hopefully before long the good weeks will outweigh the bad, and I’ll just have a bad day every once in awhile.

The boys are doing really well.  Simon is very excited about Santa coming, which is good bribery material for a short while.  He wants *everything* to do with Spiderman. We saw Santa at the mall last night and I’m sure Simon gave him an earful about exactly what Spiderman toy he wants. 

Eli, Eli, Eli.   What a sweet baby he is.  He is now six months old!  He had three teeth for the last month or so, until today, when I found THREE more!  AND, he’s crawling.  He’s been working on it for over a month and finally has it down.  He is so sweet, always trying to keep up with Simon.  Already. 

We are looking forward to Christmas…Phil’s parents will be joining us here at the house and I can’t wait!  I am so looking forward to enjoying Christmas at home!   Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that you are enjoying your holidays!  Until next time…

Just to let you know, we’ve created a set just for pictures of Eli on our Flickr site.  It’s private (to keep the hot panty weirdos away!) but if you would like the direct link, email me or comment here and I can send it to you.

Eli is wonderful- he’s such a good baby!  Simon is driving his mommy a little bit crazy, though.  Next week my mom will be in town, and after that he will be going back to school.  Actually, he was only supposed to go to school for half-days, but I’m thinking full days might be worth the extra 25 bucks for the week.  It’s a small price to pay for my sanity.

At the end of month we will be embarking on our big trip to the midwest.  We’ll be spending a week in Illinois, then a week in Ohio, then returning to IL before driving back here.  I hope it all goes smoothly as I am doing this by myself.  I may live to regret it.  If you’re reading this and in IL or OH, maybe we’ll get to see you!   

Elijah Case has arrived!  To make a long story short, he was born at 4:01 am on Sunday, May 27, 2007.  Weight 9lb 10oz, 20 3/4 in long.

Now for the long story, if you’re interested…

My due date was June 2.  Friday was my last day of work.   Phil’s parents were arriving Saturday afternoon.  On Saturday morning, I started freaking out because I thought (for some reason) that my water had broken.  We arranged for the neighbors to take Simon for a few hours and went to the hospital.  False alarm.  It was not my water after all, but they checked me and I was at 3cm dilated.  We went home, of course I was a little embarrassed, but at least I knew I was close.

Saturday afternoon, Phil’s parents arrived and we had a normal day…that evening I started having some contractions but nothing too terrible.  I went to bed around 10pm and hoped to make it through the night.  No such luck.

At about 100am or so, I started having more contractions, enough to wake me up.  Phil had not come to bed yet but as soon as he did I told him we might have to go back to the hospital.  I tried to tough them out a little longer, but the contractions were getting more regular and more painful.  At 230am, we decided to get up and moving. I think Phil was worried that he might have to try to carry me down the stairs if I got much worse, and then we’d both be in the hospital.  We made it downstairs, he tried to get me to wait to "time a few contractions", but on my second one, my water broke.  So we were off.  We arrived to the hospital about 305, I was 5cm then, and in no time they checked me again and I was 9cm.  Which, unfortunately for me, meant no drugs.  The nurses wouldn’t let me push until my doctor arrived, which he did at about 345, and Elijah came into the world at 401.  So it was a quick labor.  BUT, he weighed over 9.5 pounds, and I am still hurting!  Neither Phil nor I were big babies and no one in our immediate families has had big babies, so who knows where this kid came from.  Phil thinks it’s the delta food.

Anyway, Eli is a chunkster.  He has huge chubby cheeks and roly little thighs.  Simon was such a string bean when he was born, and Eli is not so much.  But he is an absolute sweetheart.  We came home on Tuesday and he has been a very good baby.  He’s nursing like a champ and only gets fussy when he’s hungry or having his diaper changed.

Simon is doing a great job as a big brother.  He is having a blast right now because Phil’s parents are still in town, and he’s been helping daddy and papa do stuff around the house.  And he loves his new brother.  He likes to help and give him kisses and show him his toys.  Sometimes he’s a little over-helpful, but it’s still very sweet.  See?

So that’s the story.  Congrats if you made it this far!  There will be tons more pictures to come, I’m sure.  Thanks for looking! 

Less than four weeks to go, but who’s counting?!? Ha, I guess I should be! As soon as we get the crib put together, I will take some pictures of the baby’s nursery. I am so impressed with the way it’s turning out, if I do say so myself. The walls are rather bright but once everything else is ready, it should come together nicely. My hospital bag is packed but the carseat still needs to be installed. Other than that, I guess we’re ready. Or something. Oh yeah, and we don’t have a name yet either. We have narrowed it down to several options but due to responses such as "EW, DON’T NAME HIM THAT!" or pained laughter, we are not sharing them with the general public until he’s arrived. And then he will be too cute for anyone to care what his name is. But I’m STILL not naming him Woodrow.

Anyway, back to our (for now) family of 3. We had our good friend Amy, who lives in Birmingham, come to see us this past weekend. We had a really good visit. Friday night, we took her to one of the newer restaurants (if you want to call it that) in town, John’s Crawdad Hole. Eep. That’s TRUE Mississippi right there, folks. Dirt floor (or what appeared to be), picnic tables, canned drinks only (but you can bring your own cooler!), rolls of paper towels on the tables, and a bathroom sink right in the dining area. We ordered a few pounds of crawfish (not very good from my limited experience) and not enough boiled shrimp (that’s "boled" shrimp for you yankees)- they were REALLY good! So anyway, Simon finished his Happy Meal (needless to say, no kids’ menu here) and started running around the place, and the owner asked me if it would be okay for him to see the kitchen, and she asked him "I got some mudbugs, wanna see?". So he went back with her and came back with a LIVE crawfish in a plastic bag. It was all gnarly looking with just one claw that he kept waving at us like he was shaking his fist. Ew. Simon thought it was hilarious though, especially when the "mudbug" fell out of the bag and onto the floor. He got to hear his mommy scream like a little girl, how nice! I just kept thinking, how likely would this whole scenario be if we were up north?  Yeah, we have fun down here!

Well, that’s all from the big city for now.  I’ll hopefully be posting nursery pictures soon! 

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve written. Sorry for anyone who is still reading! Since my last entry, we had a really nice visit with my parents, who were kind enough to come and visit.  I’ve also been job-hunting and had an interview last week that went really well, but I don’t think they were thrilled that I would not be able to start until mid-July.  Oh well.  The job hunt continues, as always.

The baby boy is still cooking, as of tomorrow I only have six weeks left!  SIX WEEKS!  How did that happen!?!  Hopefully we are getting the nursery painted this weekend and some furniture moved around to get ready for his arrival.  I just can’t believe how quickly this has flown by.  I’m as big as a house and it’s kind of hard to move at times, but the swelling I had so bad while pregnant with Simon hasn’t started.  Yet.  Maybe I’ll avoid that.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed anyway.

Simon seems to be getting excited about his new baby brother’s arrival.  He keeps talking about how little his feet are going to be.  He even offered to help someone with a baby yesterday change their poopy diaper.  Think he’ll keep it up?  Ha, no.  While he seems to be excited for the most part, he has been acting out a little more than usual lately.  I think he knows his days of being an only child are quickly coming to an end.   He should get plenty of attention after the baby’s born though.  He’s going to have a grandparent around for at least the first 3 weeks. 

My maternity leave is going to FLY by, I’m a little nervous about that.  I’m only taking 8 weeks and planning a two week trip to Illinois and Ohio during that time.  I must be crazy.

Anyway, hope everyone out there still reading is doing well.  If I don’t get around to it before then, I might have a birth announcement in my next post!!! 

We had the 4-D ultrasound today, and here are some pictures of our little man!!!

My due date was originally June 2, at my 20 week ultrasound, the new adjusted due date was May 31, and the estimated size now puts him at May 21!  So who knows when he’ll be here.  It could be less than 2 months!  

The ultrasound was neat, but he was being kind of a stinker- his hand was always in front of his face, so we didn’t get any really great shots.  But he’s a cutie, of course. 

And no, we don’t have a name yet.  We’re tossing around a few, but nothing’s stuck yet.  You might just have to wait for that one! 

The Bears are losing the Super Bowl. This sucks. Damn Indiana.

Not too much going on around here these days.  We’re all recuperating from a nasty stomach bug that has apparently run through Greenville like an epidemic.  Not fun.

Baby updates…he’s kicking like a maniac, which is great.  Unfortunately, I still continue to fight with my insurance company, and it looks like I am going to have to change doctors and hospitals.  This is crap.  I have the worst insurance company ever.

Simon updates…he’s now officially three and a half and, now that he’s recovered from the stomach bug, eating us out of house and home.  His teachers are raving over him knowing all of his letters, even out of order, and counting to 30.  Smartypants.

Anyway, I’d better get back to watching the Bears lose.  Wah. 

The poll I posted last week ended with 23 votes, 14 for girl, 9 for boy. 

61% of you were…

WRONG!  

We had the ultrasound today, and there was no doubt whatsoever that this child is a boy.  A very ACTIVE boy.  Good gracious.  He was quite the active little peanut, flipping around and going nuts.   At my doctor’s appointment afterwards, he kicked while the doctor had the doppler on my stomach- I think it scared my doctor a little bit.

Anyway, all of his parts are in order, he looks healthy (maybe a few days bigger than what we originally thought).  My due date was initially June 2, I just figure it will be sometime around Memorial Day.   

Yes, names have been discussed, but nothing definite yet.  We might tell, we might not.  (what the hell am I talking about, I can’t keep a secret to save my life).

So that’s the news on the streets.  We are excited that he’s healthy, now I just have to swap Stew out for a female cat so I’m not totally outnumbered… 

I have my ultrasound (THE ultrasound) this Wednesday at 3.  So, provided the child is cooperative, I will be able to post some news then.  I can’t wait!

Some of you know I was going to have a 4-D ultrasound as well.  As it turns out, that equipment is located at another facility and I won’t have time to do both on Wednesday.  But, I’d rather wait on the 4-D ultrasound anyway, so I will be able to schedule it independently and will probably do so in another 8-10 weeks.  Maybe then I won’t fear that my child will look like an alien.

As of today I am officially 20 weeks.  I can’t believe I’m here already- halfway there.  I feel pretty good, the baby is starting to kick me often and the heartburn that I had so badly with Simon is starting too.  It’s not too bad yet, and Tums help.  And are very tasty.  I have only gained 2 lbs as of my last appointment, which is great news.  I gained 50 lbs (YIKES!) with Simon so this is a nice change.  Granted, I was a lot thinner when I got pregnant with him.

Some people have asked me what I think I’m having.  Really, I have no idea.  There are some vast differences between this pregnancy and my first, but I can easily blame those on the fact that it’s my second, I now have a 3.5 year old to tend to in addition to taking care of myself, and I weigh more now than I did with my first pregnancy.  But I have some tendency to say it’s a girl.  Hey, my Aunt Patti says girl (she does the whole astrology thing to figure it out) and Simon says girl (and he’s a smart kid!).  But, then again, I swore I was having a girl last time, and there’s no question that Simon is a boy.  So I have no idea. 

For fun, I’ve created a poll here - we’ll see how good you are at predicting.  Wait for the answer on Wednesday!

Alas, Christmas is over.  We had a great Christmas!  My brother in-law, his wife, and my two nephews were here from last Saturday until Monday, and my in-laws were here from last Sunday until this morning.  Our house is a wreck, I have to de-Christmas everything (ugh) and thank god that my cleaning lady is coming Tuesday.

Simon was spoiled (no surprise) this Christmas.  He was showered with Thomas engines and toys, a PlayDoh creativity center, and lots of Cars stuff.  

As for ‘our’ Christmas, we received our lovely bedroom set last Thursday, and, *finally* Phil has purchased his beloved new TV.  It arrives next Friday and I’m sure I will be taking pictures of his new "baby".  We are moving our old TV (still the same one from our garage in Saint Joe) to the sun room, where the treadmill now resides, so maybe we’ll get some renewed motivation to actually use it.  Or not.

This week might bring a bit of excitement.  I’m not 100% sure yet, but I think I might be having my ultrasound to determine if there’s a girl or a boy "bun" cooking.  I’m hoping that if I do have the ultrasound, the child is cooperative and shows his/her business for the camera.  Just this time. 

I have an official Christmas hangover and can’t think of anything else to write about, but I will share this funny from our resident comedian.  Phil went to the bathroom a few nights ago and Simon ran in and said he needed to go too.  Simon said "You wait daddy, I’m going potty first.  Don’t poop on me."  Maybe this is a problem he encounters at daycare?