35 Weeks!

Today marks 35 weeks. In my (probably wrong) mind, this also means 4 weeks to go, since I went into labor at 39 weeks, 1 day with Mia. This also marks the gestational age at which my niece was born, and my self-imposed deadline for having everything ready.

We're basically there. Things are set up, clothes are clean. Bags are not packed, but we will do that this weekend. Also to do this weekend, buy a few replacement nipples for our newborn bottles (just in case), replace our broken thermometer (blame Roscoe for this one), and get some nursing supplies. And also, on Monday, I can order my breast pump covered by insurance!!

I've settled on some maternity leave and back to work plans. If things go well, without labor or birth complications, or after care complications, I'll take 6 weeks away from the office, with some unavoidable work from home time. I'm OK with this, and I really do wish I could fully take time off, but it's just not the nature of my job. The overall flexibility of my job comes from being the only person with those responsibilities in this office also means that I cannot completely absent myself for a long period of time. There are certain things that I and only I can do, so that's how it goes. Hopefully nothing too crazy happens during this time period, and I can stick with answering emails and only having to check in with the office once in a while.

At the end of the 6 week period, I'll be able to bring baby to work with  me for an undetermined amount of time. In my head, I'm aiming for 6 months (which is also my breastfeeding goal this time around). My mom will be with us for a few weeks still, so I'll be able to leave the baby with her during the day for as long as she's around. If you haven't been following along with me for very long, I actually did this with Mia until she was about 10 months old. I plan on having her fully registered with daycare for drop ins, if I have meetings or court scheduled.

I'm feeling huge (though only up 8 lbs as of last Friday) and pretty much done, but I keep telling myself that the closer to my due date she stays put, the easier things will be post-partum. 39 weeks this time around would be great -- though a huge part of me wants to start stuffing my face with spicy foods as soon as I hit week 37. But I won't. Especially because my Mom's arrival is scheduled for Nov 24 (38 weeks, 4 days) and I would like Mia not to have to sleep at someone else's house during our stay at the hospital.

The last time, I had an induction scheduled for the weekend before my due date. I'm not 100% sure why I went with that option with Mia, but as a first timer, I had very little idea what I was doing. This time, I do not plan to schedule an induction, especially since I know that I can go into labor on my own. I ended up going into labor 3 days before my planned induction, the night following my 39-week membrane sweep. No two pregnancies are the same and yadda yadda, but hopefully, that's what happens again this time.

Shopping and Pumpkin Patches

The weekend was one of those weekends where things that seemed important before waking up on Saturday morning just stopped being so. Even though no floors were cleaned and no loads of laundry were done (something I am sure I will regret come Tuesday morning), it was just a really lovely weekend of quiet and togetherness.

I have a (short) list of essential baby items to purchase, something I fully intended on taking care of this weekend, but completely ran out of steam by the time I got to our first of three stops of the day. So, I only came out of my Saturday of planned shopping with completely non-essential baby items. Both of which are so pretty, I don't even care.

Vera Bradley Paisley Meets Plaid Messenger Diaper Bag

Vera Bradley Tutti Frutti Baby Shoes

Las Vegas finally decided to stop being so darn warm over the weekend, and while we didn't need jackets or scarves, it was nice enough to open windows and doors, and just let the cool-ish breeze go through the house. The freshness of spring that you get in your house on the east coast when opening your windows after a long winter of being shut in is what we experience around here during the fall. While I remember this happening much sooner in previous years, waiting until the end of October for temperatures to dip below 85 seems a bit ridiculous. But nonetheless, it is here and it is wonderful.

We were able to get ourselves to the neighborhood pumpkin patch as a celebration of fall. And while we had no turning leaves in the background, we were able to be outside for over an hour without creating a single drop of sweat, which really is incredibly pleasant at 8 months pregnant. Really, really pleasant.

MILP Roundup #366

This Round Up will cover the posts from October 19 through October 26!

Alice gets awesome pictures of her two superheros at the Pumpkin Patch. And how did you get away with only spending $9 on those rides? We spent $15 and only have ONE!

But I do has a few firsts: a solo trip with her husband since becoming a Mom to three, blogging from an airplane, and a new partnership.

A pretty slow week over at Full of the Dickens... just a new incredibly adorable baby, NO BIG DEAL!

Over at Magic Cookie, she gets a workout buddy for a few days as Bill runs his first 5k!

Cowgirl in the City has been busy making a beautiful quilt, following one of my favorite themes involving Paris and Croissants.

Kate over at BJJ, Law and Living learns that car keys have an expiration. It turns out, it's 152,021 miles.

Lag Liv celebrates weddings and birthdays and flights and leaps from rock to rock.

Portia over at Fumbling for Truth has a few words to say about a $37 million condo on the market. If you're interested in making a purchase, she'll get her license for you. (This is actually the kind of thing that makes me incredibly angry as well, so rant on!)

The Reluctant Grown Up celebrates 8 years of wedded bliss with another busy week, full of delicious food, concerts, and anticipation towards a weekend away!

The Queen of Hats writes about gender inequality in a different setting - gaming. That's RPGs (which means Role Playing Games, I looked it up.)

PYY over at Perspectives from a Hard Boiled Egg closed in on her 3rd week with Junior, who is gaining weight thanks to some triple feedings. The things we do for these kids, seriously. They have no idea.

Daisy over at Daisy, Just Daisy, shares some Gracie-isms, past the one year mark.

The weekly Mothers in the Legal Profession Roundup is hosted on a rotating basis at Butterflyfish, Grace, BJJ, Law, and Living, Mommy and the Sin City, Magic Cookie, The Reluctant Grownup, and Perspectives from a Hard Boiled Egg.

If you would like your blog to be included in this Roundup, pleases email any of the above mentioned hostesses! Magic Cookie's got it next.

Sprinkles and Hospitals and In Laws

Our little baby sprinkle was this past weekend, and it was just perfectly appropriate. Not too many people, simple and useful gifts, funny games, and casual delicious food. Our friends hosted at their place, planned on having everyone out by 5. Mia was (unexpectedly) the only kid there, but she caused plenty of drama. Towards the end of the party, she was twirling around some balloons, with a cookie and too-small sandals on, tripped, perfectly slamming her face onto the corner of a non-baby friendly coffee table.

We have not a single decent picture of the three of us from the Sprinkle, so this will have to do!

She bled profusely, and we were scurried off to our first visit to the ER. Of course my first born would take the celebration of a second child to remind us all of her presence by causing such a ruckus. But honestly, she was so brave and answered all the doctors' and nurses' questions with such specificity, it really surprised me. Thankfully, she only needed a bit of skin glue and today has a bit of a bruised and swollen cheek.

At the ER

The next day

We also had a house guest over the weekend, my father in law, whom I haven't quite forgiven stayed with us from Thursday to Saturday. I knew that being 8+ months pregnant (34 weeks as of Wednesday!), my patience wasn't going to be great, so I kept out of the way. I went to work as usual on Friday, I did a craft fair all day Saturday, and B planned to take his dad out to watch the football games elsewhere on Sunday morning before our Sprinkle. We planned it well, and B's patience was worn a bit thinner than mine by Monday night. 

Mia is not a huge fan of his, and while I'm not sure the visit turned everything around for her, things did go better than I expected. He tends to yell and speak loudly in general, so she interprets it as meanness. There wasn't much of that this time around, thankfully, but I did notice that he has the tendency to correct her at every opportunity, rather than letting one of her parents do it (or choose not to do it, in certain cases), so she doesn't have the most positive association with him. 

A WEEK, and it's not even Friday yet.

It may only be wednesday, but we've already had plenty going on to cover the activity level of at least one week.

First, our master bathroom floor was starting to get wet beneath the tiles. Anytime anyone would sit on the toilet, the tiles underneath would wobble. We've sort of realized it for a while, and realized that we'd probably put it off for long enough. Sure enough, we got a contractor in and as soon as he pulled up a couple pieces of tile, it turned out that the toilet had been leaking into the floor every single time it was flushed, so our entire subfloor was soaked through. He diagnosed that this had been happening for years and years, and the only reason we didn't realize it sooner was thanks to a layer of vinyl that was keeping everything contained. Meanwhile, that nice layer of vinyl protected a huge mold culture, allowing it to thrive nicely in the dark for... ever.

Work started on Saturday, and, as seems to be the case in all construction, has not been going smoothly. Delays, materials, etc. Whatever, it sucks to have something out of order and to have someone you're depending on 100% with seemingly little control over the schedule. Our contractor did at least show up this morning (only an hour after he said he would) and has at least started to lay down the new tile. He promises to be done this afternoon, which... I'm not holding my breath, but it would be awfully nice since B's father is arriving tomorrow and I do not want to have everyone sharing the same bathroom.

This is all  happening at the same time as Mia's diagnosis with the daycare plague number 10934987, this time Hand Foot Mouth. It sounds disgusting (and every time I've told anyone that she has hand food mouth, they think I'm talking about Hoof and Mouth, which... are not the same thing), but so far she just has a fever on and off and some painful sores on the underside of her lip. It's probably pretty painful, but she doesn't seem to be complaining too much, and is enjoying her unlimited TV time. She's isn't welcome back at daycare until the sores are better -- which, is hopefully tomorrow, because B and I have already taken 2 days each, since she's been out since Friday.

To top it all off, I've got what could be considered the most embarrassing and unpleasant symptom of pregnancy ever. I will not say what it is -- though you can probably guess -- to maintain a semblance of dignity here. It is listed as "resolving after delivery" but I can assure you that things will not go well if it does not resolve itself before the 7 weeks I have left. 33 weeks today. No cute bump picture because... BLARG.

On the need to be a Princess

Every morning, for the past couple of weeks, it's been the same requirements from Mia in picking her outfits. "I wanna be a princess." Evidently, "being a princess" means wearing a skirt or dress. The poofier the better, of course.

In the midst of my nesting fervor, I've already packed up the majority of her summer clothes, and while the highs are still in the 90s, the mornings have been quite chilly and I've been steering her in the direction of shirts with sleeves, rather than the whispy little tanks and summer dresses she may prefer to fit her "princess" requirements.

Usually, by about Wednesday, she runs out of "princess" items, and has to resort to shorts or pants. I insist to her: "Mia, Princesses can wear pants too!". Well, apparently not. Mia came home from daycare yesterday and informed me that Charlie (an older girl) told her that she was NOT a princess because she was not wearing a dress. I told her that Charlie was wrong, and that she didn't make the rules. Anyone can be a princess, no matter what they are wearing. Even boys can be princess if they want to be!

Really? Are we dealing with this kind of peer pressure in the 3 year old classroom? I knew that raising daughters would mean facing body image issues, self-esteem, judgment from other girls, etc. But I didn't realize we'd be getting a glimpse into those adolescent issues this early on.

This morning, she asked her father to dress her. Undoubtedly because B lets her wear whatever she wants. She's no dummy. She found a tutu and a pink t-shirt. Both were weather appropriate, and while I can't imagine it's comfortable to run around a playground at daycare in that outfit, it's her choice.

B dropped her off at school this morning, and reported that as soon as she entered her classroom, she went straight up to Charlie and said: "I'm a princess today." I'm still pretty baffled by the whole situation, but B said it was very much of a warning. Don't give me any shit today, I'm a Princess. At least she's standing up for herself.