Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

Today was our 37 week doctor appointment and everything looked good – my blood pressure, baby’s heartrate, etc. She approved my birth plan and confirmed that he is definitely still head down.

But how do you reply when the doc says, “this isn’t going to be the smallest baby I’ve ever seen?” On one hand, this is a good thing because I’m sure she’s seen some pretty tiny ones in her years of delivering babies. On the other hand, I’m not so sure about delivering a big baby (especially since I hope to deliver unmedicated, but we’ll see how that goes).

She asked what size Little was when she was born and when I said 7 lbs 1 oz she said that Boo is about that size now and will probably be bigger than that, especially if we go three more weeks. The doc who delivered Little “guesstimated” her to be much bigger than she actually was, so we’ll see if this doc is more adept at determining size based solely on external signs.

The only question that remains (or at least the only one that comes to mind) is whether or not we’ll make it through these next three weeks. According to my “progress report” today I’m at about the same dilation/thinning as the day Little was born. Guess we better get a hospital bag packed and the car seat installed!

Thursday evening, Little was sitting at the table eating her dinner. I was going out to dinner with a group of friends, so I was in the kitchen doing something else while she ate. She was working on some mac & cheese with her fork, and I heard her say “uh-oh scheese.” I asked if she dropped some mac & cheese and she said “uh-huh.” Nothing unusual there. As she was answering I turned to look at her and noticed she was looking down her dress. I asked if she dropped the mac & cheese down her shirt. Her reply – “in my bwa.” Yes, friends, she is 20 months old and already talking about her “bwa”; such a girl! Needless to say, Matt and I got a good laugh out of that one.

Warning: The remainder of this post is not very exciting. Its intended purpose is to document a few things Little currently says. If you choose to continue reading, you can’t say you weren’t warned.

As Little’s language skills develop it is becoming more and more interesting to hear what she has to say. Lately she’s been picking up new words right and left, but not all of them come out exactly as they should. Here are a few of our favorite Little-isms to preserve for posterity.

fwaffal – waffles
aeegg – scrambled eggs
fwoffee – coffee
uh-er-side – other side
ahfork – any utensil used for eating or cooking
sersial-ah-milk – cereal with milk
susic – music
weed-weed book – read a book
wock-wock seat – rocking chair
ah-peeg – pig
babbit – her favorite stuffed rabbit
baar – bear
oo-oo-oo – monkey or drinkable yogurt (accompanied by pointing at the kitchen)
soo-five, soo-five – two-five, her way of counting (sometimes with a four thrown in)
deredoe – “there you go” when she hands you something or “thank you”

She is getting so big and changing so much that we have to catch some of these things while we can. I know it won’t be long before she is talking in full sentences and enunciating with no problem. It is fun to enjoy these sweet tiny girl words as she comes out with them.

The winner of the “From the Sidetrack’d Bookshelf” giveaway is April of I think I can, I think I can.  April, I will be in touch with you by e-mail to get your mailing information. Thanks to everyone who entered.  I hope to do another book giveaway during the month of April (timing will depend on Boo at this point), so stay tuned. 

Yesterday Boo and I had our 36 week doctor appointment.  
That means that if he holds out for the due date we have just over three weeks before we welcome this little man into the world.  If he is on a schedule like Little it will be about two weeks.  I’m torn between being anxious to meet him and wanting him to wait a little longer because, you know, we aren’t really prepared to bring him home (read: his room isn’t finished, clothes aren’t washed, we have no diapers). But, alas, as my friends keep reminding me, he really won’t care if everything is finished.

Anyway, we are now to the point where it is okay for him to come whenever he decides it is time.  We’re making some progress in that direction and he is confirmed to be head down.  Guess now it is just a matter of waiting patiently for our precious new son.

Well, the tackles for this week didn’t go down exactly as planned; I forgot that Matt would have a nice long weekend (he was off a 1/2 day Thursday and all day Friday) due to my birthday and Good Friday.  I also didn’t think about Thursday being my birthday which meant I took the day off from household chores.  But we enjoyed Matt’s extra “stay-home” days and even managed to get a few things accomplished.

First tackle – a written birth plan.  I was storing a lot of information in my head regarding what I want and don’t want for Boo’s birth.  On Thursday I put those thoughts on paper and will take a draft copy to my doctor’s appointment to discuss.  There isn’t anything wild or crazy, but it is nice to know that my goals are written down so that others will be aware of them.

Around the house – On Friday, Matt washed both of our cars, vacuumed the interiors, and cleaned the windows.  This was a tackle that really needed to be done; our cars were pretty yucky as we emerge from winter.  It’s been wonderful to get into a clean car the last few days.

And on the baby Boo front – We bought some of the wall decor we will use in the nursery, a set of 3-D letters in brown paperboard that spell his name and a ledge shelf to display them.  Hopefully, we will get some work done in his room this week/weekend and I’ll have some pictures to post next week.

I also began a sewing project for the boy, a set of cute burp cloths from this tutorial.  Not really a difficult project, but quite time intensive for a novice, teaching-myself seamstress.  I am down to stitching everything together, so it shouldn’t take me too long to finish.

Up next – 36 week doctor’s appointment (today), dust house, do regular cleaning (bathrooms, kitchen, vacuum, etc) before company this weekend, finish Boo’s burp cloths, bake bread, get baby things from attic (Matt’s job), write Thank You notes, get to work putting Boo’s room together.  Sounds like a pretty busy week for me.

Happy tackling!

And as an aside – I’m hosting a book giveaway this week.  If you’re interested, check it out here.

Today is a good day because it is:

a) the first official day of Spring
b) my birthday
c) the beginning of the Spring Reading Thing
d) time for a Sidetrack’d giveaway (check it out here)
e) all of the above

If you picked “e”, congratulations and happy March 20th!

I’m having a bit of a tough time with my reading list this Spring.  In fact, I wasn’t sure I was going to participate in SRT at all, but since I know I’ll be reading anyway, I might as well set a few goals.  My reading will be complicated by a few things: first, Boo’s arrival in a few weeks will definitely impact the time and energy I have to devote to reading; second, my local library is changing locations and is closed for the next couple of weeks (this could make it a bit more difficult to get some of my books); and third, I’m having trouble deciding what I want to read.  As always, I reserve the right to add to, subtract from, or alter this list as I see fit.

And with all my excuses out of the way, here is my list…

Non-fiction:
John Adams by David McCullough
Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss
A Midwife’s Story by Penny Armstrong
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
The Complete Book of Sewing by DK Publishing (won’t finish this one by June)

Fiction:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Austenland by Shannon Hale
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
Mater Biscuit by Julie Cannon

Bible Study:
Until the baby arrives, I’ll be continuing my study of the gospel of Matthew through Bible Study Fellowship International; after that, I haven’t yet decided what I will do.

The books listed here will be added to my bookshelf in the sidebar and will remain there until the challenge is completed (or I get them read if I don’t finish by June).

For more information on the Spring Reading Thing or to view the other participants lists, click on the button at the top of this post.

Happy Reading!

To celebrate Spring and the Spring Reading Thing, Sidetrack’d is hosting a book giveaway!

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor

This was a light and fun read that left me with much the same feeling as the books in Jan Karon’s Mitford series.  Living in the small, rural Irish town of Ballybucklebo during the mid-twentieth century, the two main characters endear themselves to you with their quirks, faults, and the way they interact with each other and the interesting clients of their medical practice.  If you are looking for a warm and happy read, I would recommend you check this one out.

From the back of the book:

Barry Laverty, M.B. can barely find the Northern Ireland village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there.  But Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice.

At least until he meets Dr. Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly.

The older physician has his own way of doing things.  At first, Barry can’t decide if the pugnacious O’Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met or the best teacher he could ever hope for.  Through O’Reilly, Barry soon gets to know all of the village’s colorful and endearing residents and a host of other eccentric characters who make every day an education for the inexperienced young doctor.

Ballybucklebo is a long way from Belfast, and Barry is quick to discover that he still has a lot to learn about country life.  But with pluck and compassion, and only the slightest touch of blarney, he will find out more about life – and love – than he ever imagined back in medical school.

If you would like to be entered in the drawing for this book, leave a comment on this post; you don’t have to be a blogger to win, just be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you comment.  I will close the contest around noon on Friday, March 28, and determine a winner using the random number generator at random.org.  The winner will be announced here at Sidetrack’d and notified by e-mail and/or a comment on their personal blog.  This is my personal copy of this book, so it has been gently read.  I will be happy to ship to US addresses via USPS parcel post or media mail.

I hope to have a couple more giveaways during the Spring Reading Thing, so check back over the next several weeks.

Yesterday Matt and I received a new toy. 

For the last year or so we’ve been using an Apple laptop that Matt brought home from work.  This arrangement has worked well, but now Matt needs the laptop back at the office.  This left us with a dilemma – either buy our own laptop or go without.  Now I do realize that it is a luxury to even have this dilemma; we have a nice Apple desktop, so we wouldn’t be without a computer.  However, Matt is an IT guy, we’ve had 2 computers for several years, and we are often using both at the same time.  It is also very nice to be able to sit on the couch and use the computer!

A few weeks ago we received a refund that has been owed us since last July and decided that since those funds had been out of pocket for several months already, we would use them to fund our laptop.  After much research and deliberation, Matt decided on the one he wanted and placed the order. 

I was a bit disappointed that it isn’t an Apple, but I’ll survive.  And here I sit (on the couch) typing happily on our nice new laptop and trying to remember how things work in Windows OS. 

This week it was back to Spring cleaning.  I finished up a couple of things that still needed to be done in the living room and moved on to the hallway. I wiped the fingerprints off the walls, cleaned the baseboards and door frames, cleared out the cobwebs, and scrubbed the air intake for our central heating/cooling system. And I got in trouble for standing on the step stool to reach the areas above my head (Matt doesn’t like me to stand on things while I’m this pregnant).Spring is in the air and Little is outgrowing her 12-18 month size clothes.  So, I tackled her closet on Friday.  I removed all of the outgrown (there were smaller sizes piled in the bottom of the closet and some of her winter stuff that is too little) and too wintery clothes, bagged them (I store all of her clothes in zipper baggies to help prevent storage yuckies), labeled the bags, and boxed them up.  Now they are ready to go in the attic when Matt goes up there to get the baby stuff.  I also pulled all of her Spring/Summer clothes out of her “to-grow-into” bag, washed them, and found homes for them in the closet.  It’s nice to have this taken care of since the temps are warming up and Boo’s arrival will make projects like this difficult for a while.Up next on the tackling agenda – a couple of projects for Boo and his room, some deep cleaning in the master bedroom, and writing up a birth plan.Happy Tuesday and happy tackling! 

I don’t know exactly when it happened.  It could have been a Thursday or maybe even a Monday.  It was probably a gradual parting; one of those things that happens so slowly you don’t even realize it is happening.   All I know is that one day I looked down and my belly button was gone.  It didn’t leave a note.  It didn’t say goodbye.  I hope it comes back one day.