A Time to Panic

Yesterday I'm sitting on the rocking chair in my bedroom about 40 minutes before we need to leave for church.

Me: William we need to fix your hair. Go into your room and get the squirt bottle and comb.

William: Ok!

I've been waiting longer than it should take and it's eerily quiet in his room.

Me: William, what are you doing? Hurry up!

William: I just getting some Vaseline, Mommy.

Pool Day!

We spent yesterday morning at the pool inside the gym our family belongs to. They have family swim every weekend but we've been so busy with family as of late we haven't be able to take advantage of it. Lucky for us we had the whole pool to ourselves this weekend. So here we are salvaging the last few days as a family of three.

Quick! Someone get the self tanner so all your eyes don't burn out!

Try Them! Try Them!

Last night I made chocolate chip cookies. I know it's right in the middle of Lent but a pregnant girl's gotta have what she's gotta have.

Normally I just pick up a package of Nestle Toll House Morsels at the grocery store and follow the recipe on the back of the package. Why mess with perfection, right? But then I thought, well maybe...

I don't think cookies are ever meant to be good for you. That's the whole point. They're a treat. But what if they didn't have to be so bad? So I experimented with the recipe a bit and they turned out wonderful. Maybe even better than the original.

Ok, so here's the deal. Follow the recipe on the back of the package exactly EXCEPT...

1. Instead of 2 1/4 cups of flour use 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats and 1 1/4 cups flour.

and...

2. Instead of 1 cup of butter use 1/2 cup of your favorite peanut butter and 1/2 cup butter.

I did find that I had to bake them one or two minutes longer but other than that they rocked the house. Let me know what you think!

Some Final Pregnancy Notes

I know staying away from the blogosphere this late in the game can send some mixed messages. Apparently ignoring a couple of phone calls from your mother-in-law can also cause a bit of a frenzy which may or may not cause her to call the local hospital so see if someone with my name has checked into the maternity ward.

Ok, so she didn't go that far but I wouldn't put it past her.

My prenatal appointment last week revealed that the baby has already "dropped" so it truly could be any day now. Although my gut is telling me I've still got at least another week and probably more like two or three. We'll see how far progressed I am at my next appointment on Tuesday.

Just like with William, I feel a little bitter sweet as I near the end of this pregnancy. I know that may sound weird to some women who just can't wait for it to be over. And it's true, there's a lot I'm ready to be done with. The sausages for fingers. The cankles. The constant bathroom breaks. The uncomfortable sleeping positions. The two maternity shirts left in my closet that still fit. The inability to tie my shoes or even put on socks.

But...

I do have easy pregnancies and for the majority of the time I enjoy being pregnant. I never tire of those flutters, kicks and hiccups. After William was born I would sometimes think I just felt the baby move. Then I would remember, oh yeah, the baby is right next to me. He's not in my belly anymore.

And then there's the whole issue of going from one child to two. It's still relatively easy for me to pick up at a moment's notice and run to Target or the grocery store. My daily jaunts outside the home are going to be extremely limited for awhile, if not impossible.

And then there's William. He won't be my baby anymore and that's still a hard pill to swallow. I know there's so much more fun times ahead of us now that he'll have a sibling. But it also means the end of unlimited one-on-one time whenever he or I needs it.

He's such a big boy now. Sleeping in his own big boy bed. Not too far away from being potty trained. And the stuff that comes out of his mouth. Sometimes I swear he's two going on ten.

And while he's been a big boy for some time now, this new baby just confirms the fact that our late-night rocking chair dates are probably no more.

But William and I will always have a special bond that I won't have with any of my other children. I think that every mother finds, as she has more children, that her relationship with each child is a bit different and unique in its own way. And that gives me comfort that I'm ready to start this child-rearing process all over again with a brand new life.

After all, the world isn't made up entirely of "only childs." I think, if we're able, siblings are one of the best gifts we can give our children.

Sister Bellies

Me at 35 weeks, her at 32.

Practicing

Don't ask about the attire. It's been a long week.

In Lieu Of: Green Edition

William was much too crabby (still sickie) yesterday to get a snapshot of our festive green attire so instead you'll have to settle for an earlier picture of his spankin' new green sunnies.

Wasted Sunshine

I didn't blog yesterday. And you're probably thinking it's because we were too busy playing outside in the 67-degree weather, right?

Wrong.

Instead we were doing our best to earn the Frequent Patient Discount at our clinic.

William has croup. Have you ever had a child with croup? If you're not sure then that means no because boy oh boy do you know when a kid has croup. Barking like seal was he.

He started to get pretty bad on Sunday night. A sweating fever. Lethargic. And that horrible, horrible, dry, unproductive cough. We knew it was bad when he nearly fell asleep on the pew he was sprawled out on at mass. Some children do that weekly. But it is highly unusual for our child to go through an entire mass without at least one reprimandable act.

Monday morning posed a bit of a dilemma for me. I had a 10:30 prenatal appointment and I really didn't want to skip it but wasn't sure how I would manage with a nearly comatose child in tow. I had some things I needed to bring up to my midwife and waiting on that this far along in my pregnancy means just waiting until next week since my appointments are so close together now.

Brian agreed that it would be alright for him to take a sick day so that I could run to the clinic by myself. More on that appointment later.

When I returned home Brian was on a conference call in the kitchen. William was on the couch watching a movie, wheezing up a storm and asking to go to bed. A two-year-old asking to go to bed. I told you he was sick.

I carried him upstairs and he was asleep in .0001 of a second. I got on the phone with the pediatric triage nurse who agreed with me that it was indeed croup (a virus that just needs to run its course) and that I should probably bring him in because the wheezing in between coughing fits could mean something more. Miracle of miracles there was one appointment left that day. I snatched it up and said I would see them for the second time that day at 3:30.

After his three and half hour nap William woke up a brand new person. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now. As soon as you call the doctor and play the panic-stricken parent and beg and plead for an appointment your child will subsequently make a full 180-degree recovery.

Ok so maybe it wasn't a full recovery but even the most nervous parent would probably tell you his condition didn't necessitate a trip to the doctor.

We went anyway.

Yes, it's croup. No, he doesn't need the nebulizer. Maybe he needs this steroid prescription if you feel it's getting worse.

And that's how you take the warmest day since October and waste it indoors.

When the Cat's Away...The Mice Have Nothing to Say

Do you ever find that the more time you have on your hands the less you actually get done? That happened to me last week.

Brian's sister is in town from New York and staying at Brian's moms house -- an hour's drive from our home. On Wednesday she asked if William could spend the night for a couple of days to keep her two-year-old son company. The two two-year-olds are at the age where they play excellent together. It's easier to have two of them in your care than just one bored toddler. So off William went from Wednesday through Friday.

But because it was such short notice I didn't have a lot planned for my idle toddler-free time. I purchased a few needed baby items to cross off my list, picked out and purchased a new pair of eyeglasses and went grocery shopping all by my lonesome. But mostly I enjoyed going to the gym without having to first stop at the kids club, eating meals at odd hours of the day and indulging in Ellen and Oprah without a single interruption.

All this kid free stuff meant I didn't have much for blog fodder so thus my week off. But being eight months pregnant I should have known that time away from the web might mean baby time. Sorry to disappoint. Nothing's shakin' in that territory.

After time spent with other kids and probably not enough sleep, William was right on cue as I could have predicted and is under the weather today. It's a beautiful 50-some degrees today but William will be hunkerin' down inside as Brian and I play nurse. Back to the parental grind.

Birthday Bash

On Saturday I turned 28. To celebrate Brian's whole family went out to dinner for his mom's 60th birthday. Yes, that's right. On my birthday we went out to dinner to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday, which was a couple of weeks ago. Do I get the daughter-in-law of the year award? Or how about a gold star at the very least?

It wasn't as bad as I'm putting it out to be. It was actually a lot of fun. Brian has five siblings and once you add in spouses/significant others we turn in to quite the rowdy bunch.

But prior to dinner all I asked for was a fun morning with my hubby and favorite toddler. They delivered.

William woke me up singing, "Happy birthday to YOU, mommy!"

I love that toddlers love other people's birthdays as much as their own. He was desperate for me to open up all my presents the minute I wandered downstairs.

After breakfast we went to our favorite local doughnut shop and bought coffee and "special treats." Then we walked down the block a bit to a toy store and let William run around and play with the displays. Free entertainment at it's best.

Later in the day we dropped William off at our friends' house. They were gracious enough to watch him while we dined. (Thanks Cruzes!) Dinner with the Nash family was excellent and when it was time for dessert they brought out TWO dishes of crème brûleé with candles; one for my mother-in-law and one for me.

Brian and I doing our best to dramatize a second attempt to blow out my birthday candle after the camera missed the first time.

After dinner we headed back to Brian's brothers house so all the kids could go to bed. Daylight Savings Time might have put a damper on our sleep (especially those of us with kids) but that didn't stop us from going late into the night to battle it out on Wii.

All in all it was a wonderful birthday weekend and I didn't even mind having to share the spotlight. In fact, it turned out to be a much grander celebration because of it.

Friday Fun

William is very into dinosaurs right now. It must be another component of those mysterious boy genes.

He's gone through a lot of stages in his short life so I don't want to become one of those moms that goes out and buys a toy or gadget to suit his latest flavor of the week. But that said I also don't want to hamper his curiosity or his pretend play.

No worries. That's nothing a few Popsicle sticks and a printer can't take care of. Voilà! Now he's got his very own set of dinosaurs to walk around.

Seriously, is there anything you can't use a Popsicle stick for?

Two Things

Yesterday after nap William and I ventured outside for about an hour for the first time in a long time. The temperature was a bearable 39 degrees. But it was foggy and humid without any wind so it actually felt a lot more pleasant than the mercury suggested. During our adventure I learned two things.

1. Going outside with a 2-year-old is a lot different than going outside with a 1-year-old.

Yes, William's second birthday was celebrated in November and yes, it's been that long since we've spent an extended amount of time outside. Sad, isn't it?

First, I learned that the minute you will decide to forgo snowpants for a pair of nylon wind pants is the minute that your two-year-old will decide to climb the tallest snowbank and subsequently get his legs stuck thigh-high in wet snow.

Second, a two-year-old does not know what it means to stay to the side of the road. In fact, he may actually believe that walking in the middle of the road is close enough to the side of the road.

And lastly, a two-year-old can run a lot faster than a one-year-old. And a two-year-old can run even faster than a lady who is 8-months pregnant.

2. I am old.

Okay, maybe I'm not that old but I've definitely become my mother or some version of her.

We do not live on a busy street. We don't even live on a through street. In fact, the only reason cars would ever have a need to drive around our boulevard is to get to and from one of the homes. But that didn't stop the residents from driving like madmen while William and I were on our walking adventure.

In the time it took us to circle the block (which is a long time with a curious toddler in tow) there were about ten cars that drove past us. In all only one --ONE! -- had the decency to slow down when she saw us.

I noticed that most of the fast and furious drivers were teenagers. Figures. I found myself cursing under my breath as each car sped ridiculously past us.

It was only ten years ago that I was one of those teenagers behind the wheel. But I'm sure I would have slowed down. Right?

See? I'm old. Hand me a couple of kids and I can't even remember what I was like when I was 18.

The Barefoot Contessa

Brian trying to prepare a grocery list for a birthday dinner he's making for me tomorrow night: Do we have shallots?

Me: No.

Brian: Do we have garlic?

Me: Yes, but we're running low so you may want to grab another head.

Brian: Do we have enough butter? This is an Ina recipe after all.

Me: We have seven pounds. So just barely enough.

Now You Know

Yesterday William and I had the privilege of having daddy at home with us all day. Brian was working like a madman all last week so his boss gave him a bit of a reprieve and he took yesterday off.

First daddy came with us to school (Early Childhood Family Education). William loved showing off the slides and all the songs he's learned how to sing.

After that we headed over to Target for some run-of-the-mill errands. You know the kind I'm talking about. It's the kind of list you feel could be laminated because the same items are on it every week or so. Diapers, razors, shaving cream, milk...

"Ninety-two dollars?!" Brian exclaimed after he signed the electronic credit card pad, "What did we even get?"

"Yeah," I said, "That's what is costs for just the usual stuff."

Next we headed home for lunch and naptime. Yesterday also just happened to be my deep cleaning day. It's the day where I clear everything out of the kitchen and bathrooms and scrub from ceiling to floor.

Being that it was his day off I told Brian he didn't need to help me but being that he is such an awesome husband he helped me anyway. I quickly put him to work cleaning the stove drip pans, shaking out rugs and scrubbing the tile and glass doors in the shower.

Just when he thought we'd finished our final task I'd say something like, "No, no, first we have to wipe down the chairs before we bring them back into the kitchen."

"Oh, OK," he'd say without any complaining at all.

At one point when he was traveling in and out to shake out all the rugs he looked at me and said, "I think I'm working harder here than I would be at work."

"Wow!" I said, "I think that's the best compliment you've ever given me."

The Real March Madness

Today I had my 32-week check-up. Everything is going along swimmingly. My weight it spot on, my blood pressure is perfect and the baby's heartbeat is at the same rate it has been since I first heard it way back when I was 10 weeks pregnant. The one thing that surprised me was that the receptionist scheduled out the rest of my prenatal appointments through my due date.

Whoa! How did THAT happen?!

Didn't I just get the positive pregnancy test, like, um, yesterday?

In one sense this process of pregnancy does drag on and on. But on the other hand it seems to have gone a lot faster the second time around. Having an active toddler to entertain me day in and day out might have something to do with that. I just can't believe that in five to ten weeks we'll be a two-child household. Craziness.

So let's bring on the guesses! Everyone has an opinion, right? Well let's gather them all in our first ever Baby Nash Pool. I didn't do this with William but I wished I would have. I've participated in other baby pools and I think it's so fun. There won't be a fancy prize at the end (except maybe the über privilege of having a shoutout on this blog) so just join in for the fun of it.

Here are some helpful hints to give you an inside scoop.

With my first pregnancy...

...my due date was December 10, 2006.
...I was dilated to 1 cm at 36 weeks.
...I was dilated to 4 cm at 37 weeks.
...my water broke on it's own around noon when I was 37 weeks and 2 days. My contractions started around 3:30 p.m. and I was pushing a little after 7:00 p.m.
...William made his entrance on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 shortly after 9:00 p.m.
...William weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19 inches long.
...we never found out William's gender prior to his birth but I was almost 100% certain the entire time that I was having a boy.
...my belly looked like this.

With this pregnancy...

...my due date is April 27, 2009.
...the baby's heart rate is and always has been in the 150s.
...other than a more intense bout with morning (all day) sickness in my first trimester I feel pretty much the same as I did with William.
...we did not find out the gender and I am completely baffled. Most days I feel like it's a girl until I hear that the heart rate is in the 150s. Then I think it's a boy.
...Brian is also baffled on the gender.
...William is certain it's a baby sister.
...my belly looks like this.

Did I miss anything? If so, ask away in the comments section and I'll reply for all to see.

Click or go to http://www.expectnet.com/games/babynashpool to enter your guess. Pass it on!

[I included a new widget on the top of my sidebar so you can always come back later if you're not ready to place your guess just yet.]