Snap Crackle Pop

For the past month or two, I’ve had a very weird pregnancy symptom. Randomly, and when the baby is moving around, I hear an audible pop come from my belly.

Weird, right? I know…

I did not have this with Riley and I see no logical thing that the baby could be doing in there that I would be able to hear outside of my body. Last week, Derek finally heard it too. I’m not crazy! Woohoo!

I found a message board on Babycenter talking about this exact same thing. Unfortunately, no one could offer much insight. It seemed like just about everyone said it was either amniotic fluid sloshing around in there, or the baby’s joints cracking.

Last week when I went to the doctor, I brought it up even though I knew there was a slight chance I’d get raised eyebrows and a “What on earth are you talking about?”

Luckily, I got neither, but she admitted she never heard of this before. And never read about it in her medical books. But assured me that it’s probably nothing, and it’s probably not the baby, but my intestines passing fluid or something. She quickly nixed the idea of fluid sloshing or baby’s joints cracking. 

I guess sometimes in pregnancy, weird things happen. And apparently, I’m a prime example of that.

He Gets So Emotional Baby

(Now that song is stuck in your head. You’re welcome.)

In the past few months, Riley as become a sensitive, emotional little 3-year old. Ever since he could talk, he’s always been empathetic. It’s really kind of unusual, I think. Even at 18-months old, if he heard a baby crying in the store, he’d always get very serious and ask why the baby was crying. When I lost my job and he saw me crying, he came over to me, teary-eyed and said, “Owwie,” while pointing at me. So from that time on, he’s always wondering why others aren’t happy and does what his little self can do to make others happy. Crazy.

But lately, his sympathy and empathy have reached new heights.

We listen to his CDs from Kindermusik class and some of the songs are slow and well, emotional, I guess. Listening to them, his eyes fill with tears, he comes to me for a tight hug and his sweet little face crumbles into a frown.

We’ve started doing the occasional movie night at home with classic movies like Bambi, Beauty and the Beast and Monsters, Inc. Each time, at the happily-ever-after ending of these movies, Riley lets the crocodile tears fall and needs extra hugs.

Yesterday, when Derek left the house with me not feeling well, he told Riley to take good care of me. Riley came over to me and slowly and quietly sang, Oh My Darling Clementine.

“Aww, was that a lullaby for me?” I asked him.

“Yeah,” he croaked and the tears started flowing. I asked him why he was crying.

“That song made me sad,” he said.

Apparently we’ve got ourselves a sweet, sensitive boy who gets easily moved by movies and music. And we think that’s pretty awesome.

The Best Things We’ve Done to our House

Today is the 5th anniversary of owning our house. I get all reflective and sentimental on this day, I guess. It was such a huge thing. Twenty-eight years old, married for three years and homeowners. To say we were thrilled with our latest endeavor was an understatement. 

This house was definitely no Shangri La. Believe it or not, we were the thrilled new owners of this lovely abode:

We have spent the last 5 years turning that crap shack into something fantastic. Yes, it’s still an old house (built in 1950), and there are still things we’d love to and need to change, but we’re proud of what we’ve done over these 5 years. We’ve truly done so many updates (almost all of them ourselves) that I can’t even name them all.

So here I’m compiling my list of the best things we’ve done to update our house. I’m not saying this is what has increased the value of our house most, made it most energy efficient or made it look the nicest. This is my list (in no particular order) of things that have vastly improved our lives in this house. Here’s to the amazingness we’ll endure over the next 5 years!

1. Updating our main bathroom.

I have sung the praises of our bathroom model already. From the new low-flow toilet, to the whirlpool tub and beautiful tile work. This is one room we use constantly (duh!) and there is not a day that goes by that we don’t appreciate its awesomeness.

Before:

After:

2. New windows.

Yes, it cost a lot of money, even though we did the install ourselves. But this is one check I have never regret writing. We previously had the original 1950 windows in this house. That’s 60 years of wear and tear on windows that were probably crappy to begin with. By the time we bought our house, just about every window, if it opened at all, had to be propped open with a DVD case or paper towel roll.

We put in a new picture window on a super cold April day, which involved sawing through the front of our house, but still, it was worth it.

3. Abolishing squeaky floors FOREVER!

This may sound minor when we’re talking about the major things that needed repair in this house, but the floors, especially the floor of our bedroom, squeaked to epic proportions. Seriously, I have never heard floors so squeaky in my life. To the point where you could be standing perfectly still and take a deep breath and the floor would squeak. And when your husband, who plays in a band, comes home at 3 a.m. while you’re sleeping, NOT COOL.

So finally. FINALLY. Just this past winter, the floors were banished from our home. Actually, the carpet was ripped up, the subfloor was screwed to the floor joists (with 100 screws!) and laminate flooring was installed over them.

Before:

After:

4. The fenced-in yard.

For the most part, our neighbors are fine and dandy, but really, do they need to be all up in our business? Do we want to be all up in theirs? Nope. Pair that sentiment with a dog and the only logical answer is a fence. A beautifully solid 6-foot high fence.

See how we could just connect our fence with the neighbors fence? Score! And see that happy pup’s face? Double score!

5. Central air conditioning/converting to natural gas furnace.

Did you know that back in the day, people had giant tanks of oil in their basements that were attached to their furnace and heated the house? That you had to have a giant tank truck of oil back up to your house and hook itself up to a spigot on the side of your house? Yeah, we didn’t either! Until we bought this house.

I think the furnace itself was from sometime in the 1980s, but it was not able to be converted to natural gas. After we both had the flu, during a freezing cold snap in February, and we ran out of heating fuel, we knew we had to save up every penny and convert this old system to a modern, energy efficient natural gas furnace.

So we did. And it’s been wonderful. We don’t smell gas when the furnace kicks in anymore. We don’t have to keep our eye on the gauge on the giant tank in the basement to make sure we have enough oil to heat the house, hell, we don’t even have a giant tank in the basement anymore. Welcome to the modern world!

When we converted our furnace, we decided to really grab the bull by the horns, party like rockstars and all of that and ….get central air! Call us spoiled, but we refused to live without central air. Derek grew up without it and knows the agony of humid Wisconsin summer with no air conditioning, and I was a spoiled suburban kid whose parents lovingly installed central air in every house I’ve ever lived in. It needed to be done.

When it’s 95 degrees outside and 100% humidity, you may get me to admit that central air conditioning is my favorite invention of all time. True story.

So happy anniversary, little house. We’ve got more big plans for you, so don’t get too comfortable. There will be a full kitchen remodel, a fully furnished basement, and a new driveway in your future. And maybe when all this hard, expensive grunt work is finally finished, we can spend our time doing fun stuff – landscaping! a deck! a pool???

My New Favorite Day of the Year

Ah, Mother’s Day. This is my fourth one and it’s been the best one yet. The temperatures were in the 70s, a bunch of family was over, we grilled and chilled all day – what’s not to love?

We stuck with tradition and headed to the park to take a picture of Riley and me in front of the same tree we’ve stood in front of for the last two years. I love that this has become a tradition and it’s really fun to look back at past pictures.

Riley, age 1.

Riley, age 2. (And no buds on the tree yet during that cold spring.

Riley, age 3. (And that tree has already flowered this year. Thanks, early spring!)

Is there anything more amazing than how fast the time flies once you have a child? We currently have virtually no inklings of babyhood left anymore. It’s all wide open, preschooler, little boy. He’s unbelievable – he signed his name on his grandmas’ Mother’s Day cards – by himself! He drew a robot (with a “wiener” but that is neither here nor there), and when I tucked him in bed tonight, he said, “Thank you for being my mama.” How did we get so lucky?

Here’s to hoping lightning strikes twice and we get another one just like him!

30 week baby bump. And an excited big brother.

Pregnancy #2 Week 29

Sometimes I can’t believe how this pregnancy is just flying by. It’s crazy. I’m in the third trimester. As in, I’m going to have to give birth and bring home a newborn soon. Sometimes it feels unreal that we won’t be a family of 3 anymore. Just like it used to feel unreal that it wouldn’t just be the two of us before Riley was born.

I’ve noticed some differences in this pregnancy lately.

I had horrible heartburn when I was pregnant with Riley. Even pancakes would give me heartburn. It would wake me up at night, almost every night. Not this time, at least not yet. Knock on wood. The other thing that used to always wake me up was the urge to pee. That hasn’t been happening lately either. Again, knock on wood. I realize that typing these words probably jinxed me and tonight I’ll probably wake up choking on stomach acid and feeling like my bladder is going to explode.

Here’s a picture from last week, with a special guest:

You know, I would recommend taking semi-regular photos of yourself while you’re pregnant. Mostly because I feel HUGE, but when I look at these photos, I don’t think I look as huge as I feel. It’s refreshing, really.

However, here’s a side-by-side (poorly Photoshopped) of me while I was pregnant with Riley at 29 weeks and now pregnant with mystery baby #2 at 28 weeks:

Ok, yes, it’s an awkward crop. My graphic designer husband isn’t home right now and he will cringe when he sees this, but people, focus on the baby bump. That’s a pretty big difference from pregnancy #1 to pregnancy #2, don’t you think?

My goal for the next few weeks is to not feel the impending doom that I have sometimes let myself feel when I think of how big I may actually get. I need to work on enjoying each day and week of this pregnancy, as it is likely to be my last.

I’m happy to report that if our baby is a girl, she has a name! A middle name, too! No, I won’t tell you! If this baby is a boy, he does not currently have a name. Why are boy names so hard? It needs to be something to fit a cute little boy and a grown man and that is not an easy feat. We will find one that we both like, I’m confident. ….or one of us will cave and give the other one her way. Heh, heh.

 

Well, May Is Off To A Great Start

It’s May Day. I think that means something in certain countries, but I have no idea what. Here is how the first day of May went down in our household.

2:12 a.m. I wake up having to pee. Surprisingly, this hasn’t been a regular occurrence as of late. I get up and go to the bathroom. When I return, I cannot, for the life of me, fall back to sleep.

2:47 a.m. Still awake. My mind is wandering on such stupid thoughts as what to wear to work tomorrow, how Derek will get to the airport for an upcoming trip, why does the dog smell?

3:03 a.m. I can feel myself starting to drift off. FINALLY.

3:07 a.m. I hear the unmistakable sound of dry-heaving. Coming from the dog on the floor at the foot of our bed. Suddenly, I hear the REALLY unmistakable sound of the dog puking all over her dog bed.

3:08 a.m. I get up, flip on the light, get paper towels and cleaner and clean up the dog puke.

3:53 a.m. STILL AWAKE. Ugh. I think I fell asleep sometime around 4.

7:17 a.m. I awake to the sound of Riley calling, “Mommy! Mommy!” I nudge Derek and ask him to go in Riley’s room because “I can’t move.” Literally. I couldn’t move. My loving husband obliges.

7:27 a.m. After coming to, I hear the boys talking in the other room and I realize I need to get up and start getting ready for work. I walk into Riley’s room and see that Derek has the bed stripped of its sheets. “Good morning!” Derek says pseudo-cheerfully. I see poop on the sheets. I see poop coming out of the top of Riley’s diaper. Ruh-Roh.

7:30 a.m. I am starting a load of poopy laundry while Derek scrubs the man clean. Needless to say, Riley is not thrilled with his morning wake up call. And neither are we.

7:47 a.m. I hop in the shower. Having no time to eat breakfast. Wonder how I’m going to get ready, eat breakfast and get to work on time. Then wonder if I can make it til lunch without eating. Then laugh at the mere thought of that.

8:01 a.m. I’m blow drying my hair and Riley comes into the bathroom. He tells me he spilled. Ruh Roh, again. Turns out, in an attempt to “help” his daddy make the morning coffee that we both desperately needed, Riley spilled a little bit of coffee grounds on the floor. Then, in typical 3-year old fashion, he PURPOSELY spilled a whole scoop of coffee grounds on the floor.

8:02 a.m. Riley is in a time out, while Derek vacuums up the coffee grounds. Yells of “I want to be a good boy!” fill the air. Then don’t purposely throw coffee on the floor, kid.

8:20 a.m. Ready for work, I decide that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. I pour myself a bowl of Kashi and a glass of water and decide to sit on the couch for 5 minutes and eat my breakfast, while Riley and Derek eat theirs.

8:21 a.m. I set my cup down on the ottoman and hear a plop. I have no idea how, but Mr. Potato Head’s ear falls off into my water glass. I fish it out and continue my breakfast. Riley laughs hysterically.

8:28 a.m. I leave for work. Hearing Riley still laughing, “Mr. Potato Head’s ear fell in Mommy’s water!”

I’m late for work, unprepared for the day, but seeing all the things that went wrong, I figure the fact that I made it to work in one piece a success.

My Must-Haves for Pregnancy #2

Being pregnant the second time around has been different from the first (could that mean that it’s a girl this time??). I’m exhausted, but have not taken a single nap in the 28 weeks I’ve been pregnant. Having a 3-year old (who also cannot nap these days), makes relaxing and taking it easy very difficult. I’ve found that I’m completely exhausted after working all day, coming home to make dinner, entertaining our little man and then putting him to bed. So I decided to compile a list of things that have made this pregnancy just a little bit easier for me. Enjoy.

Don’t worry, I will conveniently “forget” to include Oreos on this list. But really, why are they so good?

1. A memory-foam mattress topper.

Sleeping on either your left or right side gets old. Real quick. I was so tired of my hips going numb while I slept, that I knew something had to be done. We purchased this mattress topper:

Honestly, it’s made a difference. You can spend a small fortune on these bad boys and we got a lower-end one, but I would say it gets the job done. My only complaint is that it has kind of a nasty plastic-y smell so it really needs to be aired out for a few days before you put it on your bed. Buy one. Your hips will thank you.

2. Prenatal Yoga.

Back pain during pregnancy is no joke. At least for me it’s not. Yes, I’ve blogged/complained about this here before, so I will spare you. Taking a weekly prenatal yoga class has been great for my back pain and my sanity. And….it’s free. Do you know Destination Maternity offers FREE prenatal yoga classes? They also offer prenatal belly dancing and pilates and all sorts of other classes. Did I mention they’re FREE? I’ve really started looking forward to Thursday nights when I get to do something just for myself for a solid hour. I feel so relaxed afterwards. It’s really been a highlight of this pregnancy.

3. Cat/Cow pose.

As stated above (again…I’m not complaining…) the lower back pain I’ve been feeling is fo realz, yo. But the cat/cow pose has really helped! I’ll even do it on my lunch break when I’m feeling a lot of pain from sitting or standing too much at work. I learned this one in my prenatal yoga class and it’s one I’m so glad I found.

4. Disposable MakeUp Wipes.

I know, not earth-friendly at all. But here’s the thing. I. Get. So. Tired. The thought of having to wait for the warm water to flow through the faucet, suds up my face, wash it, then dry it is too much for me most nights. So temporarily, I’m using these bad boys:

Yeah, cuz why spend the extra on name brands? It’s just cleaning off the day’s makeup, people.

5. Nail Polish Remover Pad.

Ok, I’m sounding lazier and lazier as this post goes on (come on, I’m growing a human, cut me some slack). But I still want to have painted nails and look semi-fashionable/presentable. I’ve found that this super easy, cheap nail polish remover has saved me time and effort and that makes me happy.

This stuff looks like it was packaged in the 70′s, but trust me. You just twist your polished nails in a sponge soaked in polish remover and within seconds, your chipped nail polish is gone. Ah, it’s the little things that make me happy, apparently.

6. An Awesome Husband.

Luckily, I had one of those to start with. But seriously, there are few things as stressful as child-rearing. You find yourself physically and mentally exhausted, especially if you’re both working full time, and I’ve found that we need each other now more than ever. Until the baby comes and then I’m sure we’ll need each other more, more, more than ever. I’m jus thankful that I have a husband who will save me the last Oreo, say nothing when I buy another maternity dress (what? I can’t help it, they’re cute!), and bathe Riley because I’m just too tired.

 

Ugh, I don’t have a single, recent photo of just my husband and myself? I just made a mental note to change that soon.