15 posts tagged “updates”
It's been a strange day. Nothing really weird has happened. It's just a little off.
I heard People Are Strange on the radio today and I realized how much I missed it.
Took Moonpie to the dr this morning for his 2 month well-check. He's 14 pounds!!! He's 23 inches. He's huge. Doing great. They gave him a round of shots though, that's not so great. After, we couldn't go home right away because people were working at the house and so we walked around Barnes and Noble for an hour or so. I finally bought The Omnivore's Dilemma, which my good friend M had recommended to me months ago. I read 8 pages so far. So far, so good. I'm already impressed and depressed by what he's saying.
And Moonpie is not himself exactly because he got those shots. He was really good at the pediatrician though. Good baby. I think that his little thighs are hurting him now and so it makes him cranky. He's sleeping a lot, albeit restlessly, and not eating as much this afternoon. The not eating part messes up my boobs. Hard to stay balanced.
Both of my parents have called today. I talked to my mom but my dad just left a message because I didn't have the phone by me and Moonpie was screaming in my face.
M called today but, again, he was screaming and I didn't get to answer. I want to call her back now but I don't dare take the chance since I think he's going to wake up again any minute. I do want to talk with her though. I miss her.
I started reading a co-authored paper that I'm trying to contribute to with my friends/colleagues A and C. I'm on page 7 I think. It's good so far. I'm trying to be helpful. They've done the real work so far. I'm taking a break because Moonpie keeps making big wild animal noises in his sleep and I keep having to get up and down to check on him and so I'm not concentrating well on what I'm reading. So I gave up for the minute. Gotta go get Monkey from daycare soon anyway. I should be able to power through tomorrow and finish it up.
I started reading Blue Angel the other night. I'm about 30 pages into it. It's good so far. The mister read it a while back and suggested it to me. Said I would like it. It's about academics in a small VT college. Very cynical. I think I know why he liked it so much.
For the past three or four days or so it's been overcast and sticky out. Wonderful weather. Reminds me of Florida. And this afternoon it's threatening to rain a bit. It's been doing that a lot...threatening. I'm ready for a downpour. That would be a great end to this off-kilter day.
- Got a new fence installed around the house. White picket in the front yard. White privacy on the side yard. The compound is almost complete.
- Worked on the book project for a little bit yesterday and today. Making headway on that. The clock is ticking.
- Finished reading and editing a student's paper today. Sent my comments and edits to her this afternoon. Off my desk for the moment.
- Had a really nice visit today with a girlfriend in town who I never get to see and with whom I never really have any one-on-one time. Got to see her awesome new house and have a nice lunch. She got to see the new baby. Nice time.
- Had the exterminator come out today and do the outside of the house. The extreme heat is making the critters come inside.
- Dealing with a student plagiarism issue (one of about 20 now) today. Trying to end it now.
- My online classes take their final exams tonight and tomorrow and the classes are over tomorrow. Yippie.
- Went to school earlier in the week to check in with the people, show off the baby, and get my mail.
- Earlier this week I sent my mom a gift in the mail for being so awesome.
- Had the mister show me how to do screenshots in Firefox tonight.
Still have much to do. I can't face that list right now. I want to stay positive.
They are very cute together. I think that the little guy likes to hear and see the big guy around. And, boy, does the big one make his presence known. He is loud. And cute. I got the chance to go swimming with him this morning by myself and had the best time in a long time. It was so fun. I've been missing out as I've been recovering from my surgery and on baby duty all the time. But this morning it was Mama and Monkey in the pool together--heaven!
Moonpie is getting really big. He's 7 weeks now and is somewhere about 13 pounds. He's wearing 3 month clothes. Big baby.
Things are going just fine here in babyland. It's not that it's easier the second time per se, it's that it's not as shocking I think. I'm getting some more sleep this time around. He is eating well and often. The most difficult thing I can report about the moonpie baby is that he wants me to hold him all the time and that he fights going to sleep. Neither of those things are major sins for a 3 week old baby. So sweet.
I taught my last class of the semester yesterday. It wasn't my best, that's for sure. I don't know if I made any sense at all. I am very out of it these days and can't really focus. But, now that it's over, I'm not going back. Done with work, done with school. I've made my arrangements for my GA to grade exams and compute final grades. So I'm not going back there again until way, way after this baby is born. It feels good. There are always things hanging over my head at work, but I'm feeling pretty good about leaving them behind for a while and not worrying. I've got to give myself space and time to focus on my new baby.
I say all of this but I am teaching an online class in about 5 weeks. I've got it pretty much ready to go I think. I've cut the content back somewhat, something I know the students wouldn't mind since they always complain that I assign too much for a quick summer course. I just have to remember to turn the course "on" so to speak when it is time. I think I can handle it.
It is funny to me how many students came out of the woodwork asking me for time, meetings, help in these last couple of weeks. They are oblivious of course. I've tried to be helpful but still, I know I'm not at my best.
Last Dr appt this morning before the excitement starts next week. Should be fine.
I am so ready. I want my body back. I want my hands and feet to return to normal. Stop hurting. I want to be able to hug the monkey closely again without the big watermelon belly in the way. Let's do this.
Things are good. It's been a while since I've written anything here. My belly is huge. The baby is measuring about 2-3 weeks larger than he should be. I had an ultrasound almost 3 weeks ago now and he was already 6 pounds 7 ounces, which is big enough for him to come out now, although gestationally-speaking he needs to stay in at least 2-3 more weeks to be sure that his lungs are fully developed. So it looks like I'm going to have a big baby. The monkey was 8, 2 so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
The doctor and I set a date to induce--May 14th and 15th. This is one week earlier than my due date. I'm not overly thrilled about being induced, but have pretty much come to terms with it. There is a logic to this that has to do with trying to schedule the birth so that this particular doctor will be available (otherwise I might not be allowed to attempt a vbac) and also because I tend to have big babies it might be easier to push out a baby one week earlier than full term. So there you have it.
The monkey has been even more beautiful than ever lately. And so sweet. And such a rascal. He's two, what else would I expect? The mister has been really wonderful with him. I should acknowledge that here in this bizarre semi-public forum. For over a month now he's been taking monkey out in the mornings on weekends to get him out of the house and give me a break. Of course it's not as if I sit around while they're gone. I generally clean or do laundry during that time. But still, it's good to have them out on the town going to Einstein's for bagels, the park, the Springs Preserve, the Children's Museum. Wherever. And then they come back and eat lunch and monkey goes down for a nap. And so that's when I try to take a nap too. The mister has really been putting in the monkey hours and I really appreciate it.
Some of my girlfriends are planning a little brunch outing for me for next Sunday. That will be nice. Some of them I never get so see so it will be good to get together. No shower this time. I'm not up for it and I don't need it. But brunch/breakfast would be sweet. And it's always good to celebrate a new baby in some way. (Jonell, you're on that list!)
My mom comes in about 2 weeks. I'm starting to feel like I need her here now. Baby comes in 4 weeks or so and I'm not organized yet. Still working in fact. And ready to not be working any more. There are several projects that need to be dealt with before I take baby leave this summer, but I barely have the energy (physical or mental) to deal with them. There is only so much I can do I guess. I have all kinds of faith in my mom to help get things straight (in baby land at least). I am very lucky to be able to rely on her so much. She is very good to us.
Baby feels like he is dropping dramatically this last week. Lots of pressure. And lots of weight on my thighs from my big belly when I sit down. I have to sit like a fat old man--legs wide apart--to be able to accommodate my big belly and not feel squished.
Guess that's it on the updates.
I know. It's been a while. Things are fine here. We're just going along. My doula came over on Sunday and we had a really nice chat. It was good to sit and talk with her and have her meet the two men in my life. Thinking about calling a midwife this week just to consult about how to get this baby out of me. Going forward with the vbac but there are some weird things about doing it that concern me. I'm unclear about the logistics of it all. Anyway, just stuff to figure out before the middle of May.
This is Spring Break now. I'm trying to get a ton of stuff done. We'll see what actually gets accomplished.
Had a good yoga class yesterday. I'm the biggest preggo girl in there. The farthest along and the fattest. Feeling huge these days. Just gigantic.
My honey bought me a tiny little purple ipod shuffle. It came in the mail today. I guess I said something about not wanting to deal with cds in the care anymore, one too many times and he decided to help me do something about it. Very sweet. Totally unnecessary. He deserves much credit.
Trying to write a chapter for a book I'm working on. The book is on death and dying. The chapter is on mass death. Lovely. How would you like to write about epidemics, natural disasters, war, and terrorism. I'm struggling. It's not fun. Over winter break I wrote a draft of a chapter about children and death. That was uplifting as well. I don't mind dealing with and writing about death in general, but the particular topics I've been assigned to deal with are real downers--and not particularly easy to write about I might add.
Gonna go get the little monkey soon. I guess that's it for now.
have been really, really insane. It started when the mister went off to the Big Apple. He came home in one piece and had a good time. The following week I had a feminist conference here in LV. Friends/colleagues from out of town came and Thurs through Sat night were all about the conference. It was a lot of being "on" and a lot of being in meetings. Overall a good experience, but very tiring anyway. (If I weren't five months pregnant it wouldn't have been such a big deal--I tire easily these days). While all of this has been happening our department has been trying to hire three new people, and I have been chairing the search committees for two of those positions. So the core people who do everything in the department have been going to job talks, taking people to dinner, meeting with candidates in committees. I've been one of them. It's been exhausting. We finally just finished up the hiring. Got three good people (we hope). I had to miss two yoga classes during this time because of the job candidates. Bummer. I really need my yoga through all of this stress.
My mom was just here for 10 days. She arrived just as the feminist conference ended. That was really good. It is always good to have her here. She loves hanging out with monkey and she cooks real food for us while she's here and we really appreciate it. But at the same time that she was here the job candidates were still going on and I still had work stuff to do. AND, we had a horrible wind storm one Wednesday night that knocked out our power at about 6:30 pm. Everyone else had their back on by 10 that night except us and our next door neighbor. We didn't get the power turned back on until Friday morning at 7 am. It was cold. It was insane. I couldn't believe it. My mother was a trooper. It felt like we were in Baghdad instead of a quarter of a mile from the luminous and famous LV Strip. It was really amazing and really, really frustrating.
AND, during all of this our 2001 Ford Focus' engine decided to blow up and they wanted $6,000 to fix it. SO, we had to get a new car. Again, all while my mom was here. She was very helpful though as usual. We got another Saturn just like the one we already had. The mister had been beginning to think that we needed to get a new car since we've got another baby coming and the Focus is really small for two car seats. But we weren't counting on doing it right away. Still, we had to go ahead and take care of it. So now we've got two cars to accommodate two babies.
Okay, enough complaining. Let's just sum up by saying that it's been a rough month and I'm looking forward to March in the hope that things will be calmer.
Pennsylvania was fun. We had a great time at my brother's house in Pittsburgh. Monkey loved hanging out with his cousins and it was such a baby-friendly place to hang out it was very low stress for us. A really nice time overall. And it's always good to get to spend time with my brother and his wife. Good people.
Work is busy. I'm having many moments of panic from time to time. So many projects going on. I have to try to get a handle. I applied for some jobs this fall and apparently didn't get any of them. Oh well. Next year. Maybe this isn't a good year to be on the market anyway since I'm trying to finish up a book, four articles, write a grant proposal, mentor four students, and HAVE A BABY all at the same time. Maybe the timing is just a little off.
Baby stuff is good. Monkey stuff is good. He's so funny. He's stringing together words now into two word sentences and babbling all the time. He knows the word kite and I have no idea how. He's pretty amazing to watch.
My mom is coming to town on Sunday and staying for 10 days. I'm really looking forward to it. She's got a lot of work to do once she's here! It'll be good.
Well, I guess first with an apology. I've been completely neglecting my little vox blog for the past month or so and if you've noticed, then I'm sorry. I can offer few good excuses other than just being busy and at times overwhelmed. Thanks for noticing though. I appreciate it.
There's just been a lot going on. Everyone finally got over the colds and coughs and cruds that had been plaguing our little family for the past two months. That was pretty exhausting.
Work has been a lot for me lately. Drama, deadlines, boredom, loneliness, frustration, weirdness, brain pain, challenges, all have been going on and seem that they will continue to do so. I've got what I guess is a "difficult" or maybe challenging relationship with my immediate supervisor. It's not hostile or anything, just annoying and pestering. At heart he's a nice person, he's just got a style that makes me crazy. And he seems to push me on purpose. And I'm working with him on a big project, which means that I have to be around and communicate with him a lot and that's not easy. I've met a couple of work deadlines in the past month but still have several looming over my head. And with my closest friend/colleagues no longer in my department, it makes it kind of sad and boring to be there. Wah. It's not THAT bad, just not as fun as it used to be I suppose. The mister and I have been going out to lunch more often than before, and so that has actually been a nice byproduct of being kind of lonely at work.
And, well, the big news, the important news, the exciting news is that it looks like we're going to have another baby! I haven't been to the doctor yet, but all the signs are there and the over the counter tests were positive. So that is VERY good news. We were initially shocked but also very happy about it. We didn't expect it to happen so easily the second time since it took three years the first time. I can't get in to see the OB for another week or so, so it'll be good to finally get in there and get the confirmation and more. Start the prenatal regimen. Part of the reason why I've been neglecting vox is that I am actually pretty nauseated this time around and so in addition to the usual first trimester exhaustion, I kind of want to puke all the time--even though I don't actually puke. Eating a little something helps me feel better. This is in stark contrast to my first pregnancy with the monkeymono when I never felt nauseous, just hungry all the time. Different baby already!
So, I guess that's the update. I think that about covers it. I'll try not to lapse again so badly. I'll likely post some recent monkey fotos soon. Can't get enough of those.
I hope you're well!
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