Halloween 2012

Rather than a summer 2013 wrap-up of all holidays over the past year, I thought I'd try to write a little bit about each holiday individually. Still months behind schedule but not quite so bad as last year.

This year Elias wanted to be a firefighter and we kicked off the Halloween shenanigans the second weekend in October at Disneyland (more about that trip in a separate post), getting in on a Friday afternoon in time for the special evening Halloween party at the park. We got his costume at Costco and in September, I believe it was, he was kind of in between sizes. By early October and even more so by Halloween, the costume was a bit too short. The suspenders had to be removed (and last year's big bad wolf suspenders used instead) and even so they turned out to be wedgie-inducing highwater firefighter pants. But the rest of the costume worked out well and Eli didn't seem to mind the ill-fitting pants! I made him an Oakland-specific shirt to go under the jacket, matching the neon strips, and a play firefighter's axe made from cardboard, felt, and a wooden dowel. Nobody got the axe, a couple of folks commenting on the scary, axe-murderer firefighter. Firefighters needed axes, you know, to cut down walls and such that have collapsed. Or something like that.

We made it to the same two pumpkin patches we went to last year, one with Eli's preschool class, the other with Neal on the weekend.

This year Eli was old enough to ride the cow train solo. He even posed for a picture in one of the retired cows.

Another tradition has been a Halloween parade and trick or treating in one of the nicer 'hoods of Oakland.

You can spot my baby belly in the back, circa 6 months and change. Later that weekend Eli supervised pumpkin carving.

Then made silly poses with finished jack-o-lanterns...

...and spared pumpkins (plus Xander, the cat):

We trick-or-treated with Eli's buddy Max. Eli's reflector strips showed up well in the flash photography.

We didn't have many trick-or-treaters back at home, or maybe we got back too late, something I felt a little bad about after the fact, especially since it meant we were left with way too much Halloween candy!

early smiles or gas?

And, to compare and contrast, some similarly early smiles, practice or otherwise, from big brother Elias around the same age, maybe a smidge older.

heavyweight

Well, we must be doing something right because Daphne's weight is back up. Way up. She's gained almost a pound in the past week and change, when I felt she wasn't getting enough, her weight up only 2 ounces over the previous five-day period, and that my milk supply was tanking. Today she weighed in at 10 lbs. 2.2 oz., well past her birth weight of 9 lbs. 5 oz. She's no longer needing to be woken up for most feedings, instead usually waking up or otherwise wanting to be fed every 1 1/2 to 2 hours during the day, with, usually, one longer stretch of 2-3 hours if I'm lucky enough to get a nap that doesn't happen in the car seat or on me (like right now). She nurses really well on the right side. She still struggles to get latched on to the left side, somewhat mysteriously, so I reserve that side for daytime feedings and usually resort to right-only at night when we're both particularly tired and frustrated or when I have to nurse in public, something that is still pretty awkward but that I've probably successfully done more with her than I ever did with Elias. I pump when she skips the left side for one to two feedings, so I've already got several bottles stored up, hoping to get Daddy to administer a bottle from time to time after the three-week mark (already looking forward to my next hair appointment when she'll be seven weeks - an hour of freedom!).

At night she's been blessing us the past three or four nights with one long stretch of four to five hours, beginning around 8 pm. It's funny that even when she seems tanked up and ready for a nap before then it's like she can't fully settle down until around the time Elias has gone to bed (needless to say 8-8:30 is now our bedtime, too). After that she's usually up one or two more times. Which would be nothing but awesome if it wasn't often a hassle to get her back to sleep and/or deal with various gastro-intestinal issues - gas, perhaps a mild case of reflux, multiple middle-of-the-night poopy diapers, and burping. A lot of it. We started gas drops a couple of nights ago but I can't say there's been a huge improvement in her incredibly noisy, restless sleep past that midnight or 1 am feeding. At her check-up today the doctor didn't hesitate to offer a prescription for baby Zantac but we'll wait it out at least a few more days. With Elias it was pretty clear what he was experiencing at this point was not "normal" but with Daphne, I'm just not certain this isn't typical newborn fussiness. If it wasn't affecting her sleep I'd totally ride it out until at least that classic six-week peak. But we'll see how the next week or so goes.

In other news, I've resumed preschool pick-up this week, which I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday since afternoon is when the cabin fever hits hardest, regardless of whether or not we got out in the morning. Daphne is still a little fussy in the car seat initially, something she'll hopefully get over soon since she'll be in it at least two times each day beginning next Monday. But she calms down once we're moving and was incredibly calm and cooperative once we got to Eli's preschool. It also helped that Elias was ready to leave, grabbing his lunch and running to the gate before I could even check him out. The real challenge will be next week when Neal goes back to work and I'm then responsible for both kids, drop off, pick up, and everything in between, for about ten hours each day. Wish me luck!

almost 2 weeks

Daphne will be 2 weeks tomorrow evening. Wow. I can't say I mind that time is going by a little quickly. Not that I don't want to savor these early months, especially since this is most definitely my final baby. But this stuff is hard! I forgot how crazy the newborn weeks are, especially breastfeeding, which, it turns out, even if it goes relatively well, is hard work. Despite latching on great within minutes of being born, I experienced insanely sore nipples (to the point of cracking and bleeding), using nipple shields off and on, which, once my milk came in I think inhibited milk flow and hence supply just a bit. A weight check on Monday revealed that Daphne is gaining but not quite at the rate we expect/want - up just two ounces since the previous Wednesday. She was refusing to nurse on one side and I was pretty lazy about pumping that side when she didn't. But after just a few days of pumping more regularly, nixing the shields, and drinking Mother's Milk tea (who knows if it works but it doesn't hurt to try), my supply seems fine and Daphne is up to 9 lbs 2 ounces - just three ounces shy of her birth weight - as of this past Wednesday. I can pump 2-3 ounces on the left side now in about ten minutes, compared to mere drops just a few days ago. And I can get her to latch on after several frustrating minutes. The other side is no problem. So it's getting better but I still feel like we're in the thick of the tough early weeks as far as nursing goes. She nurses about every two hours during the day and we've had to wake her for most of those feedings. Then she cluster feeds and is somewhat fussy beginning in late afternoon until an hour or two past Eli's bedtime. That's been tough. I feel completely tethered to the baby and like I'm missing a whole lot of Eli time but, again, I know this is just the way it is and things will level out over time. Nights are not too bad - she goes for a fairly long stretch of about 4 hours and then two stretches of 3, but most nights have been a little different so she's definitely not settling into any predictable pattern just yet.

Other than being a little frustrated with breastfeeding, the other thing that seems impossible is a morning shower. And that wouldn't bother me so much if Neal wasn't headed back to work in another week. I'll then be on my own with both kids after about 7:30/7:45 am, trying to figure out how to squeeze in getting Eli ready for school between half-hour, two hour apart, nursing sessions, and hoping for a morning nap after we get home from drop-off, not in the car. I have a feeling that I'll be doing a fair amount of nursing in the car in the preschool parking lot!

On a more positive note, Daphne is starting to stay awake a bit more during the day, with some nice, calm, "active alert" periods. We've enjoyed some floor time, time in the bouncy seat magically coinciding with meals, and just generally gazing into each other's eyes. Eli's been great with his baby sister. Occasionally he has to be reminded to not, for example, jump on the couch, scissors in hand, while I'm nursing her, and sometimes that bothers him. He wants to be as rambunctious as ever. But overall I think he's handling the transition pretty well.

Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks. A sleepy Daphne ready to head home from the hospital:

A sleepy Daphne at home:

For the first five or six days all she wanted to do was sleep during the day and her fussy/cluster feeding stretch noted above began around 11 pm. That was rough since we weren't exactly sleeping when the baby slept during the day. Eli commented a couple of times, "She thinks she's nocturnal!" Indeed. Then she had three nights where she wanted to sleep 5-6 hour stretches, hence the temporary supply issues. Babies, man! Anyway, speaking of big brother:

And, finally, eyes open!

 

Sometimes I think she looks just like Elias and other times, when her eyes are open, I think she looks quite different. It'll be fun to see how she changes over time.

Introducing Daphne

She's here! At last, Daphne Lynn arrived almost exactly one week ago, on Saturday, February 2nd, at 6:13 pm. 9 lbs., 5 oz., 22 inches long. It's been a whirlwind of a week, of course, and since I slept for the first hour or so of her current daytime nap (girl likes to sleep all day, party all night), I feel a little less guilty about sneaking in a quick blog post. Let's see how far I get... (edited today to add that, of course, this took me multiple sessions to finish).

Backing up a bit, I started experiencing some pre-labor symptoms earlier in the week, which surprised me a bit. I thought second babies were supposed to arrive much more quickly and bypass those days or even weeks of pre-labor symptoms. Nevertheless, I continued to make plans and attempt to get stuff done during my pre-baby "maternity leave". On Monday I spent most of the morning getting the car serviced and most of the afternoon at a prenatal check-up and non stress testing (NST) for the baby. All checked out so Daphne was given a few more days to hang out in utero. I was only measuring about 1 cm and 20-30% effaced on Monday but that didn't discourage me too much since things progressed slowly with Elias as well and yet, in the end, active labor went pretty quickly.

On Tuesday, I was still feeling pretty good - not too impatient and attempting to be productive. I'm not even sure I needed a daytime nap. Instead I prepped materials for Eli's annual school fundraiser and finished off the afternoon with a few other parents stuffing envelopes. That day I started having some spotting and cramping in addition to increased practice contractions primarily at night. My ob/gyn had given me two options for possible induction - Thursday, January 31st, or next Thursday, February 7th. I was hoping for something in between and, still confident I might go on my own before, booked the latter option.

As of Wednesday, Neal began working from home, just in case labor came on suddenly and progressed quickly (since it takes him about an hour to get home from work). What I did Wednesday through Friday is a bit of a blur already. I continued to tackle my "if I have time" to do list but I do remember by about Thursday feeling a bit of that impatient unmotivation kicking in, almost a little depressed that the baby was clearly so content to hang out in utero indefinitely. Every day I tried to make sure the house was generally clean and any critical errands were run (something that bothered me in the first days of Eli's life - with the house a mess, the fridge bare, etc.). I guess in hindsight that might have been that final burst of energy to sufficiently feather the nest! And as impatient as I began feeling, I do remember being just a little bit happy that on Thursday evening I was able to watch the series finale of 30 Rock. Earlier in the day I cleaned the bathroom while listening to a hypnobirthing MP3 a friend had sent. The baby had passed yet another NST that afternoon and that night the practice contractions heated up, resulting in a pretty poor night of sleep. I slept most of Friday morning but again got a little burst of energy in the afternoon during which I even managed an hour of prenatal yoga. After that I slept until Neal fetched Elias from preschool once he was done with work. Earlier on Friday L&D had called to offer an earlier induction date - this time for Tuesday, February 5th. I took it and booked yet another check-up and NST for Monday, but felt increasingly confident I wouldn't need to be induced.

Friday night the early labor-like contractions continued, very sporadically, very manageable and never closer than 15 minutes apart. That morning we did our usual Saturday morning thing. I even swept and mopped the kitchen and dining areas as I almost always do on Saturday mornings. I made sure to take a nice, long shower and plucked my eyebrows (as if I care now that they are already completely unplucked). Neal took Elias to the park and it was while they were there, around 11:30 that morning that the contractions became a bit strong and more regular, coming on every 7 to 8 minutes and lasting on average about a minute. I kept track while watching Income Property on HGTV. I kept texting updates to my friend Meredith, who had offered to watch Elias during our hospital stay, Eli in turn very excited about his first sleepover with her two boys. When Neal returned home with Elias I was pretty certain things were ramping up, and while not terribly hungry, managed to eat Eli's second half of PB&J sandwich and a few apple slices. Something about eating lunch seemed to really get things in gear. I started keeping track again in bed since standing up seemed to create shorter, slightly less intense but more frequent contractions and a ton of pressure and general period-like crampiness very low in my uterus. It was hard to rest in between which I felt was critical. Between 1:30 and 3 the contractions went from 7 to 8 minutes apart to 4 to 5 minutes apart. We called L&D triage around 2, at which point they told us to keep track for another hour and call again. A bit before 3 we called again but I was ready to head in, regardless of what they told me. I could tell the contractions were gettin' real, if you know what I mean. Our friend Jef came over to hang out with Elias while he finished his movie (Tinkerbell, by the way - going through a little bit of a fairy phase). Eli did really well when we left. I was completely unsure of how he'd react when we went to the hospital especially considering when that would be was a total mystery until it happened. He did seem a bit concerned, or confused maybe, about why I was clearly in pain and a little out of it, but I tried to pull myself together enough to give him a big hug and kiss and reassure him that this was all part of the process. As usual, the things I fret about he totally rolls with.

We got in to L&D triage around 3:45. It was 4:10 before a doctor checked me - probably the main thing that bothered me about my birth experience. The amount of time it took and paperwork and logistics from one step to another was maddening. I know a lot of parents probably head in too early so I understand why they'd suggest I go back home when that first check showed I was only 3 cm dilated. The other option she gave me was to "walk the halls" - it wasn't a set number they were going for necessarily (although she did mention closer to 4 or 5 cm was typical) but she just wanted to see some progress - further dilation, water breaking, etc. After about a half-hour of pacing the triage area we were in and breathing through contractions (I couldn't even make it out of the room to actually walk down the hall, the contractions were so painful already), Neal timed a few and they were still only lasting a minute or so but coming on every 2 to 3 minutes. The triage nurse could tell things were intensifying and I insisted I be admitted since I wanted an epidural as soon as possible. While I was sort of on the fence about the possibility of an unmedicated birth with Elias, and ultimately got an epidural, I had no doubt I wanted one with this baby.

They began the process of admitting me and the doctor came in for a second check. 4 cm and I was insisting I be admitted. Oh, and by the way, tell the epidural team! As they helped me out of bed and into the wheelchair my water broke, which was sort of exciting but helped to intensify contractions even more. Getting out of the wheelchair and into an L&D bed was excruciatingly painful. And I know they always tell you to move around, change positions, etc., but the only way I was able to breathe through the contractions and relax in between was laying down, holding Neal's hand on one side and oddly, running the fingers of my other hand through my hair. My only technique was focusing on exhaling and counting the number of breaths. The early contractions only needed half a dozen to maybe ten deep breaths but the later contractions demanded twenty or more faster breaths. Even so there was something comforting about knowing each time it would be over in a number of breaths. I think that allowed me to get through most contractions without totally losing control (although there was a bit of that toward the end, too).

At any rate, when I got to the L&D room they began the paperwork (again with the paperwork!) for the epidural and started me on an IV since I was, mysteriously (I thought I was drinking plenty of water throughout the day) dehydrated. The nurse had a hard time with the IV and Neal later told me there was a fair amount of bleeding and she was busy cleaning it up off the floor instead of tending to the IV itself. They insisted I be better hydrated before getting the epidural (something about it affecting my blood pressure, I think), so they pumped me with a couple of bags of IV fluid and in the meantime offered me Fentenol. I had heard mixed things about Fentenol, not getting it with Elias (since I received the blessed epidural after only 20 minutes or so of Pitocin-induced contractions). But at that point I was willing to take just about anything to "take the edge off." And that it did. She told me as she was administering it that it would feel like I'd had a couple of drinks. After nine months of abstaining from alcohol, this description sounded amazing. It did seem to allow me to continue to breathe through the contractions, without feeling like I was hyperventilating or kind of losing control at the peak. I began feeling tingly all over, which one of the nurses explained was probably because I was hyperventilating. She encouraged me to slow down my breathing. I tried my best to oblige.

When the epidural team finally came in it just so happened that they lost the baby's heartbeat on the monitor after a couple of particularly strong contractions. They fussed with the monitor and my position - getting me to turn from my back to hands and knees - and I believe inserted an internal monitor. Baby had a heartbeat, thankfully, but it was slowing down considerably, under 100 beats per minute. Neal later told me that some sort of emergency button was then pushed and in a few seconds at least half a dozen extra people were suddenly in the room, telling Neal I might need full sedation for an emergency c-section during which he wouldn't be able to be present. Right around this time I started feeling that uncontrollable urge to push you hear about. I was in denial for a few seconds, incredulous that I was about to have this baby sans epidural. But when I heard her say all that, even in a bit of a fog, I knew I needed to speak up and attempt to push this baby out. Given the green light to push I did so a couple of times on my hands and knees and then they flipped me onto my back again. I'm not sure why - I think perhaps I was pushing the baby out too quickly or they couldn't attend to what turned out to be a loose bit of cord around the baby's neck. At any rate, it took I think just one or two more pushes on my back and baby Daphne was born. They immediately whisked her away to the warming bassinet, which understandably freaked me out. But even right away they insisted, when I kept asking, that she was okay. While she did have a weak cry and wasn't totally blue, it took them a couple of minutes to get her really breathing/crying - with a little bit of oxygen from a mask held above her face - and her color from purplish to nice and pink. Her initial apgar score was a 7 but the 5 minute re-test was a 9. Phew.

Finally, while they continued to work on getting the placenta out and dealing with a second degree tear (I know, I spare no details for this blog), they placed her on my chest. My initial reaction was that she didn't look at all like Elias but as we've gotten to stare at her for hours on end this week sometimes I think she looks exactly like him, especially while sleeping. Which is crazy because it feels like we're raising him all over again! That said, when her eyes are open she does have some distinct differences. While Eli tends to resemble my side of the family from the nose up, and has Neal's mouth almost exactly, Daphne I think will look a little more like Neal in the eyes and possibly nose (although they all have adorable button noses at this stage, don't they?) and more like me in the mouth and chin area. She's got a decent head of very dark hair, which will likely shed/fade, I'd imagine, and typical blue/gray eyes, but much darker than I remember Eli's being. So perhaps she'll have my hazel eyes over her Daddy's blues. But, really, it's much too early to say, just fun to guess how she'll change and grow.

Anyway, my opportunity to shower for the day is almost up so I'll close this for now and write more about week one (that flew by!) later, as well as - eventually - getting around to updating this blog on all news Elias! In the meantime, here's a picture of Daphne taken Sunday morning, just hours old.

40 weeks, take two

Well, this certainly feels familiar since I experienced it not once but twice, sort of, with Elias, 4 1/2 years ago. Today is d-day for baby G version 2.0 but she shows absolutely no signs of arriving on time. I had a prenatal check-up yesterday but since I had Elias in tow (currently recovering from a nasty cold that morphed into a minor ear infection) I decided to forego the standard internal exam. I've had two so far and the most progress I'd made as of one week and one day ago was some "softening" of the cervix compared to two weeks before. And honestly, those internal checks are kind of pointless. I could be 2 or 3 cm dilated and still have a week to go, or I could be completely closed up and go into labor tomorrow. I'll know when she's on her way, that's for sure.

So, we wait. And honestly, the whole thing about the second baby being different from the first appears to begin in the womb since I'm nowhere near as anxious and impatient as I was at this point with Elias. It took me until about mid-day last Thursday to wrap up work, after which I submitted Eli's application for Kindergarten in the fall (more on that impossible fact later) - both resulting in huge sighs of relief. We then enjoyed a four-day weekend together, beginning with what I thought might be our final "mommy day" just the two of us on Friday, with Elias edgier than usual much of the weekend thanks to that nasty cough I mentioned above. So I've really only had one day to tackle that endless, "if we have time" list of things to do and enjoy relative peace and quiet before I have a newborn to take care of. Don't get me wrong, I'm anxious to meet her and I have my moments of impatient unmotivation, just wanting to go into labor already, but for the most part, I'm content to wait things out another week or so. I have another check-up and NST scheduled for Monday. Obviously if anything looks awry I'll be induced right away, but at this point my ob/gyn is leaving that up to me. I'll have to have a chat with Neal and just generally see how I'm feeling after the weekend. Either way, it's safe to say we'll have some baby news to share within the next two weeks!

In the meantime, here is one of only a handful of "belly pics" I took this pregnancy, compared to monthly photo ops with Elias. I believe I was 39 weeks 2 days in this one, taken in Eli's room last weekend.

In other pregnancy news, the third trimester, coinciding as it did with the holidays, absolutely flew by! I actually have felt better overall, sleeping better and with more energy during the days, this month than I did during December. In November I worked like mad to prepare for a craft show and tackle a few items off of the home improvement to do list before hosting family for Thanksgiving, during which I came down with a nasty case of pregnancy-induced (I'm hoping) carpal tunnel syndrome. After that weekend, just when I thought I was beginning to taper work, I had four or five past clients return for wedding invites and day-of stationery. It's hard to say no, especially to repeat customers but finally, by about mid-December, I had deactivated all of my custom listings and was no longer taking on new work, even if the request was from someone I'd worked with before. After about a week home with Elias for winter break (one of two weeks total), and no work but absolutely no improvement in my hands (even with icing both wrists at night, wearing wrist splints to bed, etc.), and getting reassurance from my regular doc, my ob/gyn, and the ortho doc, I received cortisone injections. They took about a week to really kick in (on day one the pain actually got worse but I was expecting that) and the tingling/numbness hasn't ever fully gone away, but the improvement I have experienced has been well worth it, allowing me to wrap up the 8 orders I had as of the New Year and sleep without constant pain in my hands and wrists. Hopefully this late stage pregnancy symptom will clear up post-partum.

Otherwise, for all the complaining I've done (realizing how easy my pregnancy with Elias was) I keep reminding myself that there are symptoms and then there are complications. So far, so good, knock on wood. If baby G part deux takes much longer to wrap up, one of the things on my list is to update this blog! So stay tuned for a Disneyland wrap-up and holiday shenanigans, or baby news, whichever comes first!

pregnancy #2 bucket list - 3rd trimester edition

I have so many things to catch this blog up on - that "transportation extravaganza" through San Francisco in August, our first trip to Disneyland last month, and of course, Halloween shenanigans - but before I do that (and I'm not totally dragging my heels here - Neal just uploaded pics this past weekend), I thought it might be fun (or possibly anxiety-producing) to check on my pregnancy #2 bucket list that I posted over a year ago, way before I was even pregnant again. With less than three months to go, let's see how I'm doing, shall we?

1. find a primary care doc and have a good old-fashioned physical 

Check! Twice! Well, kinda. I finally picked a PCP in January or so and had a complete physical then, with everything checking out. I recently picked yet another PCP with Kaiser but honestly, since I'm seeing my ob/gyn at least once a month and have already had a flu shot, I doubt I'll need to see my new doc until I'm post-partum.

2. lose a wee bit more weight

Check! But a lot of good it did me. Thanks to marathon training and post-marathon weight shed, I was possibly close to 10 pounds lighter heading into this pregnancy than I was when I became pregnant with Elias. That said, I think I've made up for it as I'm right about where I was, weight-wise, this time in my pregnancy with Elias. And I'm feeling it. Things started off pretty well, especially with the possibly gestational diabetes diet, but adjusting to Neal's schedule changes in August and into September proved to be a not so great turning point for my prenatal exercise routine. My day solo with Elias before and after school is longer and yet I feel like I have less time to work, work out, etc. while he's away. And getting up at 5:30 to sneak that workout in as I was doing before getting pregnant hasn't been an option for awhile. I need all the sleep I can get. Hopefully losing the baby weight won't be too much harder than it was with Elias.

3. hair

Ugh, hair. I guess I'm kind of rocking "the true 'mom hair' eternal ponytail", as I pointed out in my last post, but I also seem to be cutting it shorter and shorter with each stylist visit. I'm sure most women enjoy this rare perk of pregnancy - fuller hair - but it's kinda driving me crazy as I spend 15-20 minutes fussing with it every morning, whether I aim to "do my hair" that morning or not. That may not sound like much time to most women but ideally, on weekdays, I'd like to shower, put some sort of product in it, scrunch it to make the waves work for me, and call it a day. At this point I figure I have two more appointments to get it right before baby #2 arrives. Wish me luck!

4. get a pedicure

Check! A few times!

5. cut out coffee, splenda, limit artificial stuff like Fresca, etc.

Hmm. Yeah, not so much. I cut out coffee and Splenda for awhile and have pretty successfully limited my Fresca habit but after a few weeks of feeling unbelievably groggy and mildly cranky during the first trimester, I reintroduced a cup of half-caff to my morning routine. And I use Splenda. I guess I'm banking on research so far being correct in that a little Splenda (and caffeine) is harmless because it seems to go hand-in-hand with my coffee habit.

6. have professional family photos taken

Kinda. Turns out we did get some decent pics out of an extended family photo shoot in southern California last Labor Day weekend, shortly after I wrote my original post. It'd be nice to have something more recent, but with a kid who continues to shy away from non-candid photography and not feeling so photogenic myself these days, I think that'll have to do until we're a party of 4.

7. cats!

Nope. We've still got 'em. And they still drive me crazy. One is pretty mellow. She's crazy in a typically crazy cat way but less vocal. It's actually sort of charming, if you're into cats. And she's the healthy one. The only possible caveat with her is that she sleeps in our room, usually on our bed, with us. I'm not sure how this will translate to the baby sleeping in our room for the first few months. Xander, on the other hand, is as neurotic as they come, with a handful of mysterious physical ailments to boot. Most recently there's been a fair amount of digestive issues, from both ends, dare I  get a little graphic here. I'm going to be dealing with a lot of bodily fluids again pretty soon without having to clean up after a geriatric cat. And the meowing. He meows incessantly, for mysterious reasons. And the shedding. I was vacuuming sometimes every other day before I finally plunked down a hundred bucks or so to have them both groomed (they're both medium to long-haired). Much better. We may just have to budget for that sort of thing 2 to 3 times per year. It's cheaper than therapy, right?

8. finish room makeovers and other house stuff

We've actually made some progress on this one! Our room will probably have to wait until later, although I have picked out a paint color and still hope to have Neal (and a helper of some sort, ideally) rearrange the furniture before the baby's born. But the bathrooms are coming along. We hired a handyman and his crew to re-tile both bathroom floors (desperately needed in one, despite being remodeled just 5 to 7 years before we bought the house), plus the entryway, and replaced everything but the toilet in the 1/2 bath that connects to our room (yay, Ikea!). We're working with what we have in the main bathroom, replacing only the light fixture in there, adding an exhaust fan in a couple of weeks, and generally embracing a "transitional" style, mixing our more contemporary tastes with the fairly traditional cabinets, etc. I repainted the wainscoting this past weekend and it took me about four days to feel recovered from that (spending two hours on tedious paint work immediately after cleaning the entire house is officially too much...my back, it was not happy). So I'm not sure how realistic this goal is, but with a paint color finally picked out, I'm hoping to repaint both bathrooms before Thanksgiving.

9. go through all Eli's baby stuff 

Not even close. This is on the post-Thanksgiving to do list. You know, the one that overlaps with holiday shenanigans and the period when Eli's school will be closed for two weeks. No problem!

10. go on vacation!

Check! I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to swing it after Neal's unemployment and, now that he has a job, wanting to save every hour of vacation time for when baby #2 arrives, but we decided to go for it and snuck away to Disneyland for three days last month. Exhausting, but fun, and I'm so glad we were able to do that with Elias and as a family of three before we're unofficially on house arrest again for awhile. More on that trip in the next one or two posts.

11. buy a minivan 

Check! This was actually the only thing crossed off the list when I originally posted it, having recently ditched our 15 year old, 180,000+ miles Mazda Protege for a Mazda 5. Other than kinda crappy gas mileage (I think it averages out at around 20-21 mpg, translating to us spending sometimes four times what we were spending on gas before, partly due to gas prices increasing over the past couple of years, partly due to our fuel efficiency going down considerably with this change), I still really like it. When baby #2 arrives in January, we'll still have an optional third row for Grandma Joanne or whoever else might visit. Or, of course, that extra cargo space for strollers, groceries, etc. No complaints there and so far, we continue to be a one-car family, which is something of a lifelong goal for me.

Overall, not too shabby, eh? In other pregnancy related news, I'm 29 weeks today, one week into the third trimester. I passed the glucose drink test last month with flying colors, meaning I'm offically off the hook for gestational diabetes. That was fun. And pointless. Yes, I learned a lot about nutrition and stuff but has that kept me from over-indulging during this pregnancy? Unfortunately, no. I'm a little obsessed with food, actually, and can't seem to stop baking stuff. I just baked some oatmeal sunflower seed chocolate chip bars today, actually, justifying this by pretending like they're granola bars, something I make almost every week for Eli's school lunch and my own snacking needs (not exactly low calorie but pretty healthy, full of things like oats, nut butter, nuts, chia seeds, flax meal, etc.). These things, on the other hand - they're called cookie bars, for crying out loud. And yet...

But, anyway, I happily hopped off the GD wagon (and then ate my way through Disneyland the next weekend!). Everything else continues to look good although I have received one friendly reminder about the rate of my weight gain in September. I gained 10 pounds in 5 weeks but as of my last appointment I was back to about 1 pound per week over the four weeks prior, and suspect things will continue to slow down slightly since, despite all this baking, I'm already at that point where a kid's meal makes me feel unbelievably, miserably full. My stomach is in my chest it seems. So that has helped as well as curbing post-4yo-bedtime snacking most evenings. And all that painting! That's gotta burn a few calories, right?