Quick updates

I have this long-ish post about self-image and chopping off all of my hair (which I did last week), but it’s taking too long to get out of my head. Some updates:

• I’m 23 weeks today, and still carrying pretty low. I’m curious to see how that shifts over the month. The nesting has come upon me, so instead of traveling we will be painting the house for my birthday. The headaches I’ve been having are indeed migraines, and not signs of anything sinister. My blood pressure is nice and low still.
• Seamus is getting into the swimming quite well. He’s also in a definite wild boy phase, but still listening and chilling out with help and making good choices. 
• Patrick got to feel T/M stretch out last night. It’s the first time he was able to feel her/him move. And yes, stretching replaced kicking yesterday
• I think I’ve gotten Shay and Patrick’s Christmas presents figured out (whew). Seamus has done his annual growing out of his clothes, which he does betwen his birthday and Christmas, so I need to finish weeding his wardrobe and replacing key things. Also replacing lost items (grr!).

Short updates

I’m still packing, which makes sense, as I’m only awake and remotely energetic between seven and three. I definitely need to remember a teatime in there. WHen I get going it’s very good, but when I’m slowing down, it’s hard. It’s also hard to pack when Seamus is home, because he demands every moment of my attention. 

On that note, Seamus started swinmming lessons last week. He liked everything except being dunked, so today I plan to remind him to simply tell his instructor “I’m nervous about being dunked”. I’m curious about how it will go- this is the first time he’s had a male teacher aside from Patrick, so the dynamic will be different for him. But I also think acknowledging his feelings about getting his head wet will hopefully help dispel some of his anxiety.

He’s also begun seeing Patrick more as a person of comfort. By that I mean he’s letting Patrick put him to bed more often, and coming to Patrick more often in the night, rather than waking me up with grabbing and kicking, which then keeps me up for hours. I’m glad of this, not only for the reprieve I’ve gotten, but because Patrick was stuck in the “Fun Parent” role (whether he groks that or not), and their relationship was long overdue for a change-up. 

I had an appointment yesterday - T/M is doing just fine, but I’m a bit ahead on the weight gain, so I should keep an eye on that. There will be more walking and yoga post-move.

I’m so ready to move. Mostly to get things over with at this point. Five more days at most. 

Twelve weeks

I had my second prenatal appointment this week, followed by my first trimester screening on Wednesday. The Wiggler (Patrick calls him/her Blinky, but it’s not my favorite) has a heartbeat like a Swiss watch inside a washing machine at 156 bpm, and his/her nuchal fold measurements looked good. They factored in my age at delivery, the fold measurements, and my bloodwork to give The wiggler a 1/450 chance of Down’s Syndrome and a 1/35,000 chance of Trisomy 18. While those numbers may change with my second trimester bloodwork, right now they are considered negative results for both of those conditions. Not bad for being of “advanced maternal age”, aka over thirty-five.

So hey, it looks like we’re having a baby! Who moves around as much as his/her big brother did during my NT screening over four years ago, and does not like being squashed by my leaning over a low table. Ergo “wiggler”. Or maybe “Wigglebutt”. We’re good on girl names, less so for boys, because we can’t agree on what sounds good, and Patrick associates names with way too many people he has worked with and disliked. I want something that’s not too dissonant when spoken with “Seamus”, but also not too matchy-matchy. 

Seamus is pretty happy about the baby, less so about Mama’s flagging energy. I try to remind him gently when I need a break, and to use a timer. But he’s not so good about letting me be still while I’m taking five minutes. Ignoring seems like the best route, since any verbalization just fuels him on, but it feels a little mean. Less mean than getting cross with him and speaking sharply (or getting pissed and yelling), so I’ll figure it out.

Things we’ve learned this week:

Seamus’ clinginess increases when we’ve gotten angry with him.

Seamus has been gently redirected for general boy-exuberance stuff during circle time and pre-K learning time, as have several other boys, but he’s interpreting it as “getting into trouble”, and wants to do school at home with Mama.

Patrick DOES think that four is young for Kindergarten. Well, yes, it is. My friend J’s son is two weeks younger than Shay, and we’ve agreed to co-op next year if both boys are home. We’re swapping resources with a friend in Wisconsin who is keeping her twins home for a few months till her new job starts who is wickedly organized.

Sweets and coffee are still off the list for me, but I can drink lemon/mint tea blends, which is giving me ideas about the front lawn. Also I am now the proud owner of a conrbread recipe that is light, dry, and crumbly. Not great for much other than burying it in bean soup. Fortunately, I can make a kick-ass bean soup.

Updates from Spring

Wow. June? Wow. I have no idea how that happened, aside from that whole rotation of the earth thing.

So we got through that last spate of growing. I made Seamus three pairs of pajamas before we took off on our annual roadtrip with Grandma and Poppy and our niece A. We all met up in Vegas, rented a ridiculously large SUV and took off for Zion, Bryce Canyon, and several other places with astonishing geology. The thing I love most about the Southwest is how the colors of the canyons and mesas and plateaus change from white to pnk to red to yellow, all with contrasting striations. Seamus did really well up to our last night, when he melted down from being in one hotel room too many. I think I’ll be rooting for exploring one place next spring, and see if that helps.

I came home and witnessed the 2011 springtime drama. Not mine this year, thank goodness, but a lot of folks went through a rough patch where there was little more to do but listen and offer help and wait for them to accept it or not. We finally began unpacking the dining room and weeding our insane media collection, which even weeded at our current rate of discarding (25% of the books, higher for serials) is not going to fit in this house. We started climbing at Berkeley Ironworks. Patrick’s begun working on the Airstream. One day, one day we will camp in the bloody thing.

Patrick got braces, which has required a slight refit of my cooking, which was occurring as a result of the Great Freezer Installation, anyway. I’m making smaller dishes and taking as much advantage of the seasonal produce as I can. I’m freezing fruit early this year with the intention of cooking some of it- I want to figure out short dough this summer and make hand pies. I’m also cooking a lot of legumes in the slow-cooker and freezing them for use in recipes and for small dishes in preparation for the hot days that are somewhere ahead of us. That worked really well in the last late summer heatwave, since I could make various bean salads and serve them with bread and cheese and a green salad or whatever.

Seamus is still 3.5  on a stick, as Patrick says. We went through a rough month of unrelenting button-pushing which coincided with another growth spurt and energy uptick. He’s been calmer this past week, but he’s also ill, so we’ll see how that shifts as he recovers. We’ve caved to sticker-charts and gotten one for him to encourage listening and cooperation through the logisitics of our days. It’s….early days on that, shall we say.

Patrick and I got published in the newest GeekDad book. We submitted a tutorial on stenciling with your kids which was accepted, and we both received author credit, which was really cool.I was contacted by a lovely editor at Library Journal to write a book review, and I girded my loins and submitted an essay elsewhere recently. I’ll keep you all informed as to how things shake out, and I have a backlog of stories to share with you all. 

Alas it’s Monday, and I’ve got some deadlines, a filthy house, and a sick kid. So I’m off.

NaBloPoMo Blah Blah Blah

So this year I thought I’d try my hand at NaBloPoMo. I don’t plan on signing up, but I’ll probably tackle a few of their writing prompts. Mostly I want to get back into daily writing, and I thought shadowing NaBloPoMo might be helpful. If I’m going to plop onto the couch at the end of the day, I may as well poke my brain into stuttering out some prose.

Just checking in right now as we’re wrapped up a weekend of parties and trick-or-treating and started the annual visit with P and J, Patrick’s folks (aka Grandma and Poppy). Like last year, Patrick needs to attend Blu-Con for work so I’ll be up in a couple of hours when Shea wakes up.

Hope everyone had an excellent Halloween/Samhain/All Saints/Dia de los Muertos. Vote tomorrow.