Slacker Mom

I’ve gone from SuperMom to SlackerMom. I’ve been taking things easy and really have been a general bum. I haven’t been returning most emails  because I rarely get online and I hadn’t done any real house cleaning since my inlaws left on Saturday. (Don’t worry ya’ll, I got caught up this afternoon.)That is SO unlike me. I’m a germaphobic person and have never gone a whole 7 days without sweeping and mopping the entire house at least twice. However, I’ve just been so relaxed holding Aidan, playing blocks with Caity and enjoying my husband’s vacation time. It’s like winning the lottery- we don’t have to go anywhere, do anything, just bum around because we’re rich. (in this case, we’re rich in love, not money by any means!)

 Anyhow, I’ve had some nags from a few lovely women I know that I’m falling down on my picture taking responsibilities so I’ve posted  quite a few on my photobucket.site. I’ll put a couple on here to appease the masses.

Caitlyn is slowly warming up to Aidan. Now she knows she has to kiss both Daddy *and* baby brother before we go upstairs for nite-nite. Man… When did I become such a mom? My vocabulary has gone from “Derek, Aidan, sleep and Damnit, leave that alone!”  to “Daddy, baby brother, nite-nite and No-no, don’t touch!”

 Also, I’m beginning to return to my pre-pregnant figure. Here’s a hint you preggo lady-friends of mine: Even after nine months of feeling like a cow, you don’t get to go immediately back to cute and petite. For almost 4 weeks after birth, your uterus goes from super swollen to  it’s original size of a pear.  Your hips spread  in preparation for  the baby’s birth down the canal (even if you have a c-section, your body prepares you for it.) and even after birth, your hips may never return to their previous size. So one week after birth,  I still look like I’m five months pregnant (or like I’m just chubby.)

So make sure your husband knows to tell you how phenomenal and thin you look because it’ll be the nicest ego boost.  (The bonus is, you get to have breast-feeding boobs, whether you choose to feed or not.) Okay, I know, the family is rolling their eyes, wishing I hadn’t gone there. I blame my preggo Michy friend. She needs to know the perks  and downfalls of post-preggo.

Anyhow, the 80′s music has absolutely no relevance to today’s post, I’m just enjoying being a nerd. The last thing that made me fall out of my chair laughing is the picture of this poor kitty:

Amanda’s Back

Hey gang, I’m alive. This will be short because nights are long. The son of mine is great but he’s been having trouble eating. He’s very much like his daddy and sleeps all the time, so much so that he doesn’t wake up to eat. We have another doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon to make sure his weight loss isn’t too rapid. Meanwhile, Caitlyn is VERY jealous and most of the time won’t have anything to do with me. Today when she came down from her nap, she came running over to my lap and tried to crawl up onto it, only to discover there was a baby brother in *her* place. Needless to say, her bottom lip stuck out and her arms folded. I got the most disgruntled look ever and with that, she wouldn’t speak to me for the next two hours. I did get hugs and kisses before she went to bed. It’s a learning process for us all, and we’re blessed to have the family here to help us out with the transition. I wouldn’t change a thing. THANK YOU DEBBIE(and family!) I LOVE YOU!

More to come later!

 This next part is for womens eye’s only.

Meanwhile, I must say that while child birth is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, an epidural is God’s gift to the laboring woman. Pregnant girlfriends of mine:  Would you rather pay a million dollars for a candy bar, or one dollar for the whole damned candy store? Yeah, that’s an epidural. You have to sit really still for twenty minutes while they put it in and you have to be in hard enough labor before they’ll administer it to you, but once they do, you completely have no idea you’re still pushing out a kid. After mine kicked in, I could still move my legs and wiggle my toes and all that. I could hardly feel any pressure during the contractions and the birth was literally pain free. I know it sounds gross, but I felt like I was about to have a bowel movement which I knew was a sign that thte baby was coming. I called the nurse and told her what I felt, she took one peek under the sheet, saw the baby’s head was showing and screamed for my midwife. I was in such an elated pain free state, I was able to sit up and watch the whole thing happen. (which was gross but awesome all at the same time.) I didn’t even realize how quickly it had happened and how easy it was until I was watching them stitch me up. (which I also couldn’t feel.) So if you’re teasing with the idea of going natural, let me say that the newest epidurals are WAY different than when our mother’s were having us and I was able to walk just minutes after it was over with. There are almost no side effects or risks and since I wasn’t stressed out (because I couldn’t feel anything) the baby’s heart rate stayed healthy and I caused less damage to my body by staying so relaxed.  I will never have another child without an epidural.

Aidan David Williams was born today at 12 noon.  He weighed 8lbs, 2 oz and measured 19.1 inches.  Mother & son are doing great.

 Amanda’s Mom here.  I got a call at 4:23am today.  Amanda’s water broke and she was on her way to the hospital. I will post when all is done and Aidan is here.  Keep them in your prayers.

Pissing me off already

So after church, I came home to the inlaws and had a contraction. We went out to eat and I was having them regularly every 12 minutes apart. We walked across the street to the furniture shop to just peruse. They were coming at 9 minutes apart. We went browsing in the Target store and they were 7-8 minutes apart and coming pretty hard and strong.  This all took place over a three hours period and I was trying SO hard not to get too excite. Then we got in the car to drive back tot he other side of town where the hospital was (and where we live.) and the whole 12 minute car trip…. NOTHING. They just… stopped…..

This kid is already getting on my nerves.

Turn your head and cough

There was no coughing involved.. That woman stuck her fingers in violating places and I could not BREATHE to cough, even if I wanted to. The sad part is, *I* asked her to do it to me! So as you can probably guess, I had my membranes stripped today.

  For those of you preggo friends who  might not have had this done before, it’s about ten seconds of punch-you-in-the-gut pain but the results are GOOD and there’s no residual pain except a small amount of soreness and hopefully, a baby. I swear that’s the reason Caity came as early as she did. I had my membranes stripped, walked three miles, ate spicy mexican food and ran the stairs for 15 minute intervals over a six hour period.
 So far, I’ve already walked one mile, I’ll do another tonight, and instead of just going up and down the stairs one time when I need something, I’ll do it twice before getting what I need. I can already feel things wiggling around in there and I don’t mean the baby.
 I’ve told the my beloved inlaws to be ready because this weekend, I want Aidan O-U-T. (I’m really excited and blessed to have family coming.) When/If he comes, I’ll have someone post on xanga for me to keep you all updated. Pictures as soon as possible. Keep us in your prayers!

39 Weeks (6 days or less)

Your baby’s waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to
help control his body temperature after birth, but it’s likely he already
measures about 20 inches and weighs  over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon.
(Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are
sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

JUSTICE!!!
MWAHAHAHA! Those funeral protestors just ATE IT! Check out the full story at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,307058,00.html

  Okay, so the people who protested the funeral of the Marine killed in combat while serving his country in Iraq were being sued by the young man’s father. The jury reached the verdict today that the church  owed the man’s family 11 MILLION dollars in damages.
Foxnews.com said: In his closing arguments during the punitive
damages phase, plaintiff attorney Craig Trebilcock described church
members as bullies who “seek out those among us who are at the weakest
point in our lives. That’s why they’ve gotten
away with it until this point,” the attorney said, adding that grieving
families were too weak to fight back “until this man.”
That got me really excited. All too often in this country, justice is not only blind, she’s also deaf and dumb. It kills me to think that these people are so convinced they’re doing the Lord’s work.  Why in the world can’t they put all that good energy to helping the poor or clothing the naked? Why can’t they do the works of the Bible? I don’t remember any verses about defiling the dead. In fact, I *do* recall a verse in Old Testament that says to pray for the dead.  I *don’t* recall ANY verses saying “God hates fags”. I *do* recall Jesus dining with sinners and telling them how much He loved them and wanted them to repent and come to Him of their own free will.

Here’s the craziest part:
The defense said it planned to appeal and one of
the church’s leaders, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said the members would
continue their pickets of military funerals.  Church founder Fred Phelps held a sign reading
“God is your enemy,” while his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper stood on
an American flag while carrying a sign that read “God hates fag
enablers.” Members of the group sang “God Hates America,”‘ to the tune
of “God Bless America.”

Oh dear Lord. If anyone is headed up to Maryland anytime soon, I’ll head up there with you. Somebody needs to protect the military families at their children’s funerals.


Still no baby and all that jazz. Nine days till the actual due date. Update on Friday of the Baby Dr. appointment.

Happy Halloween!

Tonight, the kids  in our neighborhood did their Trick-or-treating a night early since the base firefighters walked around with them and helped parents keep an eye on them. It was really cute so we decided to  put Caity in her kitty PJ’s and paint her face. We only took her to one house to get some pictures. (It was really cold outside, I didn’t want her getting sick.)

We passed out candy to the kids who came to the door and Caitlyn the kitty waved and told everyone “bye bye!” She also had her first super-sticky sucker. She’s now learned the word “candy”….. greeeeaaaaaat….

And you can view the other pictures here if your heart so desires. No baby Aidan yet, but plenty of inconsistant contractions. There’s only 9 days till his actual due date anyway….  I thought for sure he’d be here by now because Caity was ten days early and all the false labor crap. I’m gonna talk to the doctor on Friday about my “Get-him-the-hell-outta-me” options. I probably could be more patient, but I really don’t want to be at this point. If the kid wants to come out on his own, he has three days before I learn of other ways to evict him. =)

Early Morning

Whomever thought of naming a”false” labor pain after it’s scientific contributor was a very mean spirited person. Right now, I’m cursing Braxton-Hicks and not because he jilted me in a poker game.  As I tried to lay down for bed last night, contractions started. I tried not to get excited but still managed to excite myself into staying awake until almost 1:30 am when they quit. Okay, no problem,I tell myself.  I’ll just sleep till caity wakes me up tomorrow and take a nap when she does….. Wrong. I woke up at 5am feeling like I’d slept for 20 years, I was wide awake and could NOT go back to sleep. I thought women were supposed to suffer from lack of sleep AFTER the baby was born? I thought for sure I was going to go into labor, but now- 2.5 hours later I’ve only had 4 Braxton Hicks contractions and I’m too awake to dream of sleep again. This has happened so many times in the past few weeks and the last time I was preggo.  The only way you know they aren’t real contractions is that they have no set rhythm to them. They are sporadic and  don’t come at regular intervals. So it’s like a million little chances to get your hopes up for no friggin reason. I only bother to post it here because so many of you gals out there are with child yourself.  The last few weeks of pregnancy are so uncomfortable just sitting in your own skin…… It’s no wonder women have continually swallowed spoonfulls of nasty castor oil to bring out the baby. (I’m going to go look for some today.) If he’s not born by Friday, I’m taking the castor-oil plunge.

I know I said I was going to let him come naturally because it’d be easier on my body during labor, but lack of sleep  has quickly changed my mind. (In-laws, are you reading this? Ready for a trip over here? I’m gonna try and make a boy for ya!)I told God I was going to be patient and wait for whenever He was ready for Aidan to come, but geez, I hope it’s within the next few days.

I really think I’ll feel better rested when Aidan’s here. Dear Lord, I hope so!

Makes Me Sick

 A father in Baltimore held a funeral for his son who died while serving in Iraq. Whether  you agree or disagree with the work our military personnel do in Iraq, would you disturb their funeral? Would you organize your church  group to  hold protest signs saying you were thankful the soldier was dead, that soldiers “deaths are punishment for our country’s tolerance of homosexuality”? Would you hold signs of sticks figures engaged in sodomy outside this young man’s funeral? Because if this is something you *would* participate in outside a funeral.... I don’t want to be friends anymore.

 My church’s pro-life group went on a Sunday to an abortion clinic, they were closed and the church organization sat several feet off their property limits.  They held no signs, just rosaries and prayer books. They didn’t scream obscenities or rude slogans, they simply prayed quietly while sitting on the grass, then left. At this demonstration, the police came and harassed them into leaving, saying they were being disturbing to the business. (which I remind you was closed that day.)

So why was this protest allowed? Why wasn’t that considered disturbing to anyone?

Why are picket signs and obscenities allowed and prayers and peaceful sitting not allowed?  Oh that’s right, because when you’re peacefully protesting something with prayer, it violates the first amendment, but disturbing the dead and taking away their dignity at their burial site is considered a constitutional right.

 I guarantee you, if my husband were to pass away while serving his duties on deployment and people showed up protesting his funeral, I would go INSANE.If you have the right to disturb my family member’s peaceful funeral and you feel that your cause is so worthy that you have to disrespect the dead, then your cause is worthy enough to be punched in the face until my knuckles are bloody.

 Whether you agree with the country’s position in the war or not, a funeral is NOT the place to make your cause. It’s a place for grieving and closure.  Fortunately the father of this soldier is suing the pants off of the church  that encouraged it’s members to participate in this  monstrous display. I’m glad he’s not laying down  and taking the abuse.  I offer him and his family my prayers and support.