It's been one crazy month. And by that I mean wonderful, highly productive, and exhausting. There are plenty of stories, but my laptop battery is going to die (and I shouldn't be up at 4:30 anyway), so I'm just going to make a retrospective list of items checked off my To Do list. Woohoo!
~Cleared out garage so a car can fit in it again
~Cleared two bookshelves and a desk out of the office so it can become the new nursery
~Bought and assembled a desk (for upstairs), a nightstand, cabinet, and dresser from Ikea for the baby's room. Pictures coming to a computer near you soon.
~Bought and assembled a used crib that is now all ready for guest babies to use, as our own munchkin will likely sleep in the cosleeper bassinet with us for the first few months like SP did. But it looks great!
~Rearranged living and dining rooms. Much better layout for hanging out, playing, and still feeling like adults after small fry go to sleep.
~Resisted impulse to find out sex of the baby at the ultrasound : )
~Visited with friends, toured Pike Place Market and hiked more than halfway up Rattlesnake Mountain
~Got a broken filling fixed
~Volunteered and found great deals at consignment (JBF) sale this weekend... and made about $60 on stuff I sold there.
~Ate delicious food cooked by my wonderful brother-in-law.
~Went to see the Olympic flame in Vancouver!
Almost all of this was accomplished because my wonderful mom came out to visit (and babysit) so I could have large blocks of non-toddler time in which to finish big projects. She was also a constant source of encouragement and helped with rearranging whenever Sebastian was sleeping. She even painted the new nursery!
Still plenty of closets to rearrange, the nursery to decorate, and boxes in the garage to sort out no matter how neatly stacked they are. But all of this was WAY more than I expected February to bring. Thanks, Mom!!
Now I just need to get some sleep before we have more grandparent visits in March!
Fancy technology
Technology is amazing. Now we can see our little munchkin before he or she is born, each chamber of the heart, each bone in the tiny arms, each finger and toe wiggling around. We have three-dimensional pictures, a DVD of the whole ultrasound, and we can share the photos with all of you in a matter of minutes hours days (when I finally sat down to my computer and solved all of the glitches that aforementioned amazing technology also included).
Yet the technology is really nothing compared to the little miracle I'm growing right now. I know the techs and doctors see these things all the time, especially at a place called Eastside Maternal/Fetal medicine, so they could be casual about it, but we could not.
At the first glance of this profile, we both gasped.
It doesn't matter that this is our second time experiencing this. It is a thrill every time. And we smiled just as much when each person looking at the screen proclaimed that this little one has long fingers (just like the three of us!).
At the end, we got to have the comparison between the 2D version and the 3D. We like this pair, showing how this munchkin is already proclaiming what a hard job it is to be a baby.
The most common question asked throughout the second half of pregnancy seems to be, "What are you having?" And the answer is... (scroll down)...
A baby!
As to whether the baby is a boy or a girl, we'll find out in July and let you know. : )
Yet the technology is really nothing compared to the little miracle I'm growing right now. I know the techs and doctors see these things all the time, especially at a place called Eastside Maternal/Fetal medicine, so they could be casual about it, but we could not.
At the first glance of this profile, we both gasped.
It doesn't matter that this is our second time experiencing this. It is a thrill every time. And we smiled just as much when each person looking at the screen proclaimed that this little one has long fingers (just like the three of us!).
At the end, we got to have the comparison between the 2D version and the 3D. We like this pair, showing how this munchkin is already proclaiming what a hard job it is to be a baby.
The most common question asked throughout the second half of pregnancy seems to be, "What are you having?" And the answer is... (scroll down)...
A baby!
As to whether the baby is a boy or a girl, we'll find out in July and let you know. : )
Piranhas
Childhood fears. Every kid is going to have them. You figure that there are lots of normal ones, like fears of strangers, the dark, monsters under the bed, that sort of thing. You also think that as a parent you are more or less prepared for those with strategies like easing into leaving your child with babysitters, having nightlights, and doing the under-bed sweep before bedtime (not to mention watching "Monsters, Inc.").
But I was not at all prepared for bathtime several days ago.
Sebastian has been wearing some new socks because he outgrew his old ones. I washed them before he wore them, but you know how it goes. The red socks come off and there are little bits of red stuff still clinging to the toes. No big deal; they come off in the bath, right? Ha.
Into the bath Sebastian went, off came the red bits, and... commence terrified crying.
What?
Yep. He took one look at those fuzzies floating around and reacted to them as if I had dumped five piranhas into the bathtub with him. He shrieked, pointed, cried, "NO, NO, NO!!!" and attempted to get as far from them as humanly possible without leaping out of the tub - which he would have done were I not sitting in his path.
It turns out that getting fuzzies out of a bathtub is not as easy as it sounds, particularly if the only cups you have handy are those kind with the holes in the bottom so the water can drain out, entertaining the toddler. Fuzzies, you see, are small enough to come out of the holes, too! Not to mention the fact that I was trying to do this one-handed, as the other hand kept Sebastian from hurdling the tub.
The scene was one of those that is only funny in retrospect: shrieking child pointing at fuzzy piranhas, soaked mama trying to remove offending fuzzies from tub, and daddy trying to reason with toddler that we wouldn't have put anything in the tub with him that would hurt him. Sigh. Children of 19 months old do not understand logic, much to the daddy's dismay, but apparently they do believe that fuzzies will bite them.
Scene two: Bathtime cut short, calm toddler sitting in hooded towel saying, "No fuzzies in bathtub," and mama resolving to clean off toddler's feet before next bath.
And this is how parents end up doing those things - like picking fuzzies off their children's feet every night - that make other people think they are insane. I could, of course, keep this to myself since it happens in the evening when we are at home alone. But then you might think our family is normal, and we can't have that.
But I was not at all prepared for bathtime several days ago.
Sebastian has been wearing some new socks because he outgrew his old ones. I washed them before he wore them, but you know how it goes. The red socks come off and there are little bits of red stuff still clinging to the toes. No big deal; they come off in the bath, right? Ha.
Into the bath Sebastian went, off came the red bits, and... commence terrified crying.
What?
Yep. He took one look at those fuzzies floating around and reacted to them as if I had dumped five piranhas into the bathtub with him. He shrieked, pointed, cried, "NO, NO, NO!!!" and attempted to get as far from them as humanly possible without leaping out of the tub - which he would have done were I not sitting in his path.
It turns out that getting fuzzies out of a bathtub is not as easy as it sounds, particularly if the only cups you have handy are those kind with the holes in the bottom so the water can drain out, entertaining the toddler. Fuzzies, you see, are small enough to come out of the holes, too! Not to mention the fact that I was trying to do this one-handed, as the other hand kept Sebastian from hurdling the tub.
The scene was one of those that is only funny in retrospect: shrieking child pointing at fuzzy piranhas, soaked mama trying to remove offending fuzzies from tub, and daddy trying to reason with toddler that we wouldn't have put anything in the tub with him that would hurt him. Sigh. Children of 19 months old do not understand logic, much to the daddy's dismay, but apparently they do believe that fuzzies will bite them.
Scene two: Bathtime cut short, calm toddler sitting in hooded towel saying, "No fuzzies in bathtub," and mama resolving to clean off toddler's feet before next bath.
And this is how parents end up doing those things - like picking fuzzies off their children's feet every night - that make other people think they are insane. I could, of course, keep this to myself since it happens in the evening when we are at home alone. But then you might think our family is normal, and we can't have that.
Why I hate Fridays
I used to love Fridays.
And I still love Friday night. But Fridays themselves? HATE them.
By Friday, I have run out of steam. I am tired of changing diapers, making toddler-friendly meals that get rejected, thinking of new games and songs or answering requests for the same ones for the thousandth time, doing all the work it takes just to get out of the house for a 45-minute outing. When Friday arrives, I have lost patience, which is one of the worst things that can happen when you spend your day with a toddler.
Fridays are the days when I am sure I have made some kind of horrible mistake in taking leave from my job to stay home full-time. They are the days when I am convinced that some other qualified person would do a much better job of taking care of Sebastian during the days than I can. Lately they are also the days when I have the panic-stricken I'm having another one??? thoughts.
On Fridays I overcommit to other projects in order to break out of the feeling that I am only a Mom, and then spend the rest of the week wondering why on earth I volunteered to teach a computer class at the library, or run the drama club at my school again. I entertain crazy thoughts of going back to work next fall, before I remember that I'll have a newborn, and I will be even more exhausted than I am now.
Weekends are wonderful, so when my husband comes in on Friday night, I breathe a sigh of relief and know I will have two days to recharge. But it's a long, long 10 hours that I'm alone with my bad temper, doubts, and fatigue.
As I tell Sebastian when I kiss his still-chubby cheeks: it's a good thing he's cute.
And I still love Friday night. But Fridays themselves? HATE them.
By Friday, I have run out of steam. I am tired of changing diapers, making toddler-friendly meals that get rejected, thinking of new games and songs or answering requests for the same ones for the thousandth time, doing all the work it takes just to get out of the house for a 45-minute outing. When Friday arrives, I have lost patience, which is one of the worst things that can happen when you spend your day with a toddler.
Fridays are the days when I am sure I have made some kind of horrible mistake in taking leave from my job to stay home full-time. They are the days when I am convinced that some other qualified person would do a much better job of taking care of Sebastian during the days than I can. Lately they are also the days when I have the panic-stricken I'm having another one??? thoughts.
On Fridays I overcommit to other projects in order to break out of the feeling that I am only a Mom, and then spend the rest of the week wondering why on earth I volunteered to teach a computer class at the library, or run the drama club at my school again. I entertain crazy thoughts of going back to work next fall, before I remember that I'll have a newborn, and I will be even more exhausted than I am now.
Weekends are wonderful, so when my husband comes in on Friday night, I breathe a sigh of relief and know I will have two days to recharge. But it's a long, long 10 hours that I'm alone with my bad temper, doubts, and fatigue.
As I tell Sebastian when I kiss his still-chubby cheeks: it's a good thing he's cute.
Goodbye, primary colors
In trying to do major reorganization of our house between now and when a new little person should arrive in July, I've been spending a lot of time just sitting and looking and thinking. Trying to figure out what is an eyesore, what is too crowded, what is inconvenient, and so on. It seemed wise to plan out at least some of the changes before I jump into buying new organizers or furniture, which is admittedly what I prefer to do.
In any case, I finally decided a few weeks ago that although babies and small children love brightly colored objects, I do NOT. I want them all to more or less disappear after little people go to bed at night so that I can just be an adult and not have various items visually shouting at me. If we had a basement or separate playroom, that would be one thing. But Sebastian's toys live either in his room or in our living room, and I decided that one small step I could make was to get rid of a brightly colored organizer that I had from my classroom (which I have also learned, by the way, should not include a bunch of brightly colored objects because it irritates me there just as much as at home), and replace it with one that is more neutral.
Out with the old:
In any case, I finally decided a few weeks ago that although babies and small children love brightly colored objects, I do NOT. I want them all to more or less disappear after little people go to bed at night so that I can just be an adult and not have various items visually shouting at me. If we had a basement or separate playroom, that would be one thing. But Sebastian's toys live either in his room or in our living room, and I decided that one small step I could make was to get rid of a brightly colored organizer that I had from my classroom (which I have also learned, by the way, should not include a bunch of brightly colored objects because it irritates me there just as much as at home), and replace it with one that is more neutral.
Out with the old:
In with the new:
I know, the books are still pretty bright, but the rest of it is so much better. I really am not even sure the pictures do justice to what a difference it is making. This isn't the final resting place for this, but we still haven't taken down our Christmas tree and put the living room back how it belongs. I know, it's February, but we're working on cleaning out our garage and my husband maintains that it's silly to put something that large back in when we're still busy clearing things out.
But I digress. One other point I want to make about the organizer is that the new one holds less. This is a wonderful thing for me, because it forced me to get rid of a bunch of toys or books that were either repeats, too young for SP (those went into a closet to be pulled out again in the summer or fall for the new Rasler), or were just mediocre.
That's right: My decluttering is leading me to rid myself of as much mediocrity in my life as possible.
What a relief.
Cousins
So as of right now, Sebastian is obviously an only child. He had a time last year when he had a best friend who was with him 5 days a week, but since I took leave from work, he's back to being Numero Uno. He is also more the quiet, observant type when we're out and about, so overall he doesn't spend a lot of time actually playing with other children. In the past he has shied away from hugs and refused to share toys in typical toddler style. But all that changed this weekend, when we got to take another trip to visit his auntie and his cousin X in B.C.
Now his cousin is a much more outgoing fellow, three months older than Sebastian, who always wants to hug him, say hi to him, and show him his toys. Sebastian has agreed to hold his hand once, and to be in the same room with him, at least, but I wasn't expecting the reaction we got when my sister and I encouraged the boys to say hi and give hugs when they got together on Friday night. A mutual hug! They both walked to each other and leaned their little heads in. Heartwarming is an unbearably cheesy word, but really it was.
The only downside to all this family love was that Sebastian felt comfortable enough to stick up for himself if X wanted to play with the toy he had chosen and tried to grab it away. Normally Sebastian's reaction is to either stand and look stunned, or look at me, point, and wail. Not this time. He wailed all right, along with giving X a shove that said he meant business. Oh boy. The next day and a half were spent trying to explain that we do not push people and teaching him to say, "No thanks" or "It's my turn." That's right, we actually encouraged Sebastian to say a thing like "my turn." We know, you're shaking your head and laughing, but at least that's better than shoving, right?
So sharing is hard, especially if you have a great little truck that everyone wants to push or ride. And in the world of parallel play, it's difficult to convince the boys that they can do something together, but by the last day, they did it! We got a great video of them taking turns as one of them rode the truck and the other pushed it - around and around and around the kitchen island. Priceless. Sadly I don't have time right now to upload the video, so you'll have to take my word for the fact that it was pretty cute.
Since I grew up seeing my cousins a lot and having the best times with them, I am overjoyed to see the love and friendship grow between Sebastian and his cousin, too. Though I do wonder how long it will be before we have to break up the wrestling matches.
Now his cousin is a much more outgoing fellow, three months older than Sebastian, who always wants to hug him, say hi to him, and show him his toys. Sebastian has agreed to hold his hand once, and to be in the same room with him, at least, but I wasn't expecting the reaction we got when my sister and I encouraged the boys to say hi and give hugs when they got together on Friday night. A mutual hug! They both walked to each other and leaned their little heads in. Heartwarming is an unbearably cheesy word, but really it was.
The only downside to all this family love was that Sebastian felt comfortable enough to stick up for himself if X wanted to play with the toy he had chosen and tried to grab it away. Normally Sebastian's reaction is to either stand and look stunned, or look at me, point, and wail. Not this time. He wailed all right, along with giving X a shove that said he meant business. Oh boy. The next day and a half were spent trying to explain that we do not push people and teaching him to say, "No thanks" or "It's my turn." That's right, we actually encouraged Sebastian to say a thing like "my turn." We know, you're shaking your head and laughing, but at least that's better than shoving, right?
So sharing is hard, especially if you have a great little truck that everyone wants to push or ride. And in the world of parallel play, it's difficult to convince the boys that they can do something together, but by the last day, they did it! We got a great video of them taking turns as one of them rode the truck and the other pushed it - around and around and around the kitchen island. Priceless. Sadly I don't have time right now to upload the video, so you'll have to take my word for the fact that it was pretty cute.
Since I grew up seeing my cousins a lot and having the best times with them, I am overjoyed to see the love and friendship grow between Sebastian and his cousin, too. Though I do wonder how long it will be before we have to break up the wrestling matches.
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