Get me outta here!

After sleeping on the couch all morning I was feeling a little better and wanted to get out of the house.

I picked up the plates for the new car. I was excited to see that the number and letters are easy to remember. Years ago, when my friend worked at a DMV office, she got me the plate MSP444. Of course MSP was easy to remember, and 444 is how a little boy I used to babysit said "por favor". This new one could be a bra size.

Then I stopped at a baby store to take a look at a brand new version of the stroller I'd found on Craigslist in the morning. I also found the kid-watching mirror FP has been asking for. One that clips to the rearview mirror or visor so you can see what the kids in the back are doing. We kinda got that bee in our bonnet after seeing the built in one when we test drove a Honda CRV.

I couldn't pass up this Craigslist deal: $50 for this orange Joovy Caboose sit & stand stroller with the parent organizer. It has a small tear on the arm, but who cares? I'm itching to try it out. I think Relia will like it. I also think FP won't. He prefers to have the kids secured in place.

So now we have two double strollers. We'll see which one winds up being our favorite. If nothing else, we won't have to keep moving a stroller from car to car.

Blessings to count

I am sick. Lucky me.

But I am still so incredibly lucky I can't believe it.

• I thought if I spent the day resting & sleeping I could store up enough energy to have a decent afternoon with Relia when it was time to pick her up. Nope. I felt so much worse at the end of the day, that I went over to my parents and sat down to cry. Mom & Dad took Rellie until Peder got home. Lucky.
• I am pregnant and with a little luck, less than a month from meeting my son.
• My daughter is soooooo good. She is one of the most self-disciplined toddlers I've ever seen. Unless she is tired and/or hungry, she is so on top of everything.

Getting ready

practicing using burp cloths


Putting her down for a nap "shhh, baby's sleeping"






"NO MORE PICTURES!"


but lots of kisses


I really need to learn to edit myself, but I am so in love with these

Today's project

I love the idea of marking kids' heights on a door frame. But I'm a sentimental fool, and could not bear to start if we weren't going to live here forever.

Cleaning out my teacher stuff I found a stack of pretty wooden rulers and thought about nailing them to the door frame and writing heights on those. Even better, I could put them on a board and just take that board with us if we ever move.

I finally got the board painted last weekend, and this morning Relia helped me lay out the rulers on the board, then had her own fun lining up rulers and "walking the line".



Then we put the first measurement on the frame.

Exactly 3 feet!
(of course I got the date wrong. Luckily, it is pretty easy to change a 5 to an 8)


I plan to go back and add her birth "height" as well as her 1st & 2nd birthdays too.

Weee heeeee!

I am so anxious for garage sale season, I can't help but cruise the Craigslist. This, as I realize how crazy cluttered my house is. What I really need to to do is get a trusted friend to mercilessly tell me what to get rid of, and pay a strong guy to haul it all out to a dumpster/truck.

Today I met two people to acquire some baby items.

• Some different cloth diapers (this time I'm not gonna try to mess with the bamboo & wraps. they take too darn long to dry. I'm just go for the pockets and inserts)

• A beautiful, red Moby D Wrap which from what I can tell will be an improvement over my other wrap.

I also worked on Felix's room. I want to get some cute pictures for the wall and a good deep shelf to hold nursing supplies.

I have 10 days until I'm back at work. How much can I accomplish?

Sigh

On top of all unfulfilled my plans, I have a sick kid and a sick husband.

All of a sudden I had to change gears and I somehow was not prepared for that.
Mom came over to watch Relia while I tied up a couple of loose ends at school. We came to realize that to our little girl, Nana is much more playmate than comforter. I think it made mom feel a little bad, but it made my heart smile because that means I am the comfort, and that she expects to have lots of fun with her grandma. So Relia pretty much said Sorry nana, I can't play right now and went to her room.

Now we are off to the doctor.

Aaaaaand it's a .........


DOUBLE ear infection!
Poor girl.

After some antibiotics, lunch and a viewing of Toy Story, we took a big long family nap. Not exactly how I planned to kick off my spring break, but it is nice to have a little snuggle time with my sick kid.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

I want to get things done, but it is just so darn hard.

Lesson learned

No more pepperoni pizza until after baby is born.

Aye yi yi, what a night.

We don't know what we don't know

I was having a conversation with another teacher yesterday. He is bilingual and we were talking about how we can support English language learners in math. He explained to me that in Spanish number notation, the commas and decimal points are opposite of the way we do it in English.

So while we would write: 1,234.75
They write: 1.274,75

This explains soooo much about what I see when I correct tests and homework. Can you imagine how confusing this is when parents try to help their kids with homework? There is no reason to use either way. They are just symbols, and it is important that students learn to do it the US way, but I now I understand some of the "mistakes" they have been making and that I need to explicitly teach the difference.

Makes me wonder what else I don't know.

Vap-o-rub

Well, I guess it's VapoRub, but that isn't how I remember it.
Wanting to do something to calm Relia's cough (which really isn't that bad), now that cold medicines for children are taboo, we went old school and bought a tub of Vick's. The internet says that all the cool parents are putting the stuff on kid's feet instead of their chests now, so that is what we did. (It also says it can kill you and your whole family, so we'll be very cautious)

Our daughter gets a little too excited about the idea of anything medicine, so of course she was thrilled at the idea of foot medicine. Man, that smell takes me back. I don't remember any time it was actually used on me, but the smell quickly takes me back to our bathroom at home.

It seemed to help a little this afternoon, we'll see if it does the trick tonight.

Holy Moly

It's sad

When I see something on "There, I fixed it" and think "I need something like that":


This is the situation with our downstairs bathroom sink. Two separate faucets so you can choose too cold or waaaaay too hot.

Saturday

Relia has been having issues with a cough. Not sure if it is something serious or not. It seems to come and go so I'm putting my money on a recurrence of croup. We did the steam/cold treatment around midnight last night, and then she came tearfully padding into our room around 4am. We got her to settle and snuggle in with us for the rest of the morning. She and I didn't get up until about 7:30. VERY unusual.

Then after a breakfast of Coco Wheats, we headed to the MOA to meet Pop Pop and see the grand opening of the jellyfish exhibit at Underwater Adventures.




After that we went for brunch and then retired to our living room for basketball watching, playing with Grandpa, and a round of naps.

Big Sisterly

It was cold again, so Relia and I hit Savers this afternoon. As I was picking out a couple of newborn sleepers, Relia asked, "Are those for me?" "No, these are for Felix" "Why?" "Because they are too small for you, and Felix will need some clothes to wear when he comes." "Can I get one for Felix?"

How can a mom say no to that?

"Yes, you can pick one for him." So she began to examine the rack. "Does he want a pink one?" "No, I think he wants a blue or green one."

She picked out a bluegreen sleeper with teddy bears on it.

So sweet.
I think I'll have her help wrap it up and hopefully she can bring it to him when she gets to meet him. Now I have to help Felix find a small gift for his big sister too.

Gulp.

Went with Relia & FP to see the midwife this afternoon. Everything looks good heart rate was 140. They suggested I take the glucose tolerance test again just because Relia was so big. I don't get what one has to do with the other. I passed with flying colors this time and last time, and she was overdue by almost two weeks. So, I'll have to decide one of these days if I'm gonna do that or not.

She mentioned that if I went into labor now, they wouldn't stop it. That was kind of a wake up call for me. So tonight I started packing my bag. Relia was very curious and asked where I was going. How do I explain this to her? I'm gonna have to find a book.

I told her that I wasn't going anywhere right now, but when the baby comes I'll be going to see the doctor and I want to bring some things along.

Impossible

to maintain grumpiness while eating ice cream in the sun with my two best girls (mom & Relia), and then watching my daughter squeeze in with three other girls on a tire swing to spin, spin, spin, for a full minute.

Overheard

As I sit here "working" on the computer, my daughter is playing in her office (AKA playroom). I can't resist recording her conversation.

Baby, do you want to watch me sweep the floor?
I'm going to get the stuff out of your mouth
There's a baby toy, do you want to play with it?
What is you gonna do?
SIT ON THE GROUND!
Okay.
I'll have all of them
So were not gonna do and play and play.
Your baby blanket is here.
Here's some milk.
Do you want some milk in your cradle?
I like this.
Wanna have it? (plastic key ring) there's so many.

1. We picked up the new car tonight
2. Don't ask me if I like it yet because I don't know. It is difficult to drive home in the dark in an unfamiliar car with the constant chattering of a toddler.
3. I admit now that for over 2 years I have been driving with no drivers side mirror. It broke off. My previous car had no passenger side mirror. I now have no idea how to use the side mirrors while I'm driving.
4. It didn't help that all the crazies seemed to be out -Driving the wrong way on a one way and darting out to cross against the light.
5. If I sound grumpy, It's only because I am. I had a difficult day for no reason at all. I just couldn't concentrate on anything at work, and felt strongly like I needed to lie down. Eventually I left work early. It didn't help.
6. They gave us about $100 more for the trade in than we'd even hoped. So that is good news.

Thought I

got the long form of the Census again. Filled that sucker out 10 years ago. It took for-ever. Mailed it in, and a month or so later someone came knockin gon my door telling me they hadn't received it. GRRRR.

Well, the giant packet I got is only the regular form BUT in both English and Spanish.

Thank goodness.

The rest are here!!!

Turns out it's big day in the FP household:
JM Photography

We did it

The 0% financing Toyota is offering was too much to resist.
Grandma D was kind enough to play with Relia for a while today so we could make the deal. I'm working hard not to rethink the whole thing. I'm very happy with the car (though we aren't actually getting it until Tuesday), and I feel good about what we paid, but a car payment is still a commitment I am not 100% excited about.

FP also snagged some balloons. I think there is a federal law that every car dealership must have balloons. Relia was a little disappointed last weekend when there were kids attending an event at the MOA who got balloons, and she couldn't have one. So don't tell her, but when we head out there for our weekend walk tomorrow, we'll present her with three big shiny balloons.

Tapity tap

I can't believe how much fun it is to work in the kitchen while Relia taps around the room.I was a little worried that she would have trouble respecting the "tap shoes stay in the kitchen" rule, but she's been very good about it.

Boys

I had the idea in my head that because we didn't know if Relia was a he or a she, I have tons of gender neutral clothes for a tiny baby. Yesterday I went through that giant bin of clothes I had carefully packed away and found about three outfits that aren't blatantly pink. Also, our infant car seat is terribly pink.

Hmmm.

I set on a quest to make our layette & gear more masculine.

Step 1: car seat
Step 2: clothing
Step 3: double stroller

Would you believe I got all of those taken care of in a single Craigslist transaction?
Stroller, car seat & 2 bases for the price of the stroller new. The car seat & stroller are less than 6 months old.


The woman also asked if we knew if we were having a boy or a girl. When I said a boy, she asked if I wanted her to throw in a bag of clothes. Um, sure.

Wow. Tons and tons of seasonally appropriate, newborn, 3-6, & 6+ boy clothes! Plus some adorable hats. I love people that have way more money than me. We are now ready for the arrival of a baby boy.

You've probably heard

all MPS schools are on lockdown. Just thought I'd let you know I'm fine.

Apparently a very vague threat was made. Things are normal here, they
are just being very picky about who they let in the building, and kids
are not supposed to be in the halls without an adult. No recess today,
but that was likely with the rain anyway.

UPDATE: The Strib is reporting

Web threats on Mpls. schools traced to Australia

St. Paul police spokesman Paul Schnell says the department's computer experts have tracked the messages to servers in Australia. He says the FBI and Interpol have been notified.

In Minneapolis, a telephoned threat came into the city's 311 information line about 7:30 a.m., saying that about two hours later "a male will be coming to a Minneapolis school, shoot up the school and then shoot himself," Minneapolis police spokesman Jesse Garcia said.

So it was an uneventful day. Terribly unproductive for me because all the adults wanted to speculate, but nothing happened. Thank goodness.

Sleepy girl, sleepy girl

Why won't you go to sleep?

Relia was up much of the night last night, and so was I. This is not at all what I wanted when I wrote the last post.

So I took today off, in hopes of making up some sleep. No dice. After laying for an hour in a quiet, dark room with relaxing music playing, I got up to watch some garbage TV. That put me out, but only for about an hour. Grrrrr.

Weekend went by way too fast

Simply because I spent so much of it feeling tired and annoyed. I hate when I am having trouble appreciating my daughter's lovely smile and enthusiasm, or my husband's efforts to help me enjoy our time as a family. I think my iron may be low, so I've made 4 spinich salads for this weeks lunches.

I did:
Do a huge toy purge from Relia's playroom. It was overflowing with tiny little things that never get played with, and will be very exciting when they come back out in place of other six months from now.

Rearranged BabyXY's room and brought down the crib parts from the 3rd floor. Also began to cover the recliner I intend to use for rocking & nursing in there.

Picked up a practically new bumbo from a CL seller for $10!

Good things done, but as usual, I want more.

Improvement or desecration?

I painted this dresser for baby XY's room. Like Carrie, my pregnancy twin, I am anxious to get a room ready for him. The pictures make me think I have done something horrible, but I didn't love it before, and I really like it now,

As we went to dump the compost, Relia grabbed her bucket and scooped up some snow. I let her bring it in and play with it for a little while.


Singing along with K.D. Lang at the 'lympics a week or so ago.

planning

Everyone at work is very curious about when my last day will be. The idea of being done on a certain day, that could be 2 weeks before baby comes, seems so wasteful. Unless medical professionals or baby decide otherwise, my plan is to go into labor while at work, find someone to walk me across the street to the hospital, and have the baby. (We all know my plans for birthing babies always work out perfectly)

Upon hearing this, I can see the wheels turning in people's heads as I tell them my plan. They now are making plans for what to do (and say to kids) if my water breaks in the middle of their class.