This post isn’t as glamorous as the title implies. However, I felt it important to document our first outing as the K Clan girls. EK, MK and I went to the mall to pick up some nursing supplies. We hit the one store to pick up the purpose of our outing and then walked the upper level of the mall. Nothing fun or exciting, but it was nice to get out, and hey, I got to drive the baby limo. A good experience all around.
MK arrived on Monday, August 17, 2009 at 10:12 pm. She is a little one, but very healthy. She weighed 5lbs. 14 oz at birth and is 18 inches long. Mama and baby are doing well. Big sister is loving our new addition to the family and Hubby couldn’t be a better helper. Praise, honor and glory to God for everything!
I started my weekly check-ups today and came out with some very interesting info. I am 3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. My official due date is August 27th, but Doc doesn’t see me going past the 22nd if that far. He also mentioned the possibility of inducing labor again because I am group strep B positive. You may be wondering what is the significance of that. Let me explain…because I am positive for group strep B I will need to have two rounds of intravenous antibiotics during labor as a protective factor for MK. If I don’t get the two rounds then MK will have to be observed for 48 hours and receive the antibiotics through intramuscular injections. My doctor suggested induction due to the fact I went so quickly with EK (I only labored a total of 6 hours.) and the fact I have progressed this far this early. By inducing labor, we would be able to get all of the antibiotics into me before MK’s arrival and negate the potential of her having to be poked anymore than necessary. Of course I don’t want my newborn having to suffer through any more than she has too. The birthing process seems traumatic enough as is. So our game plan is to make a decision on our course of action based on my next exam which is on Monday (the 17th). Please keep us in your prayers.
Right now I am a bag full of emotions. I am excited about finally meeting baby girl #2, but also wanting her to stay in and develop as much as possible. I am ready to not be pregnant anymore, to sleep on my stomach, bend over without getting winded, and start to get my body back; however, I am not looking forward to the crazies the postpartum period produces, wearing a pad that could soak up Lake Michigan for 6 weeks, or loosing the ever-precious hours of sleep. I fluctuate from joy and elation to the feeling of being overwhelmed and uneasy. I know God will give me strength and help me through it all, but this is just how I am feeling right now.
It came today. The baby limo. Technically, it is a tandem double stroller by Baby Trend. We now have all the baby gear for MK. EK was so excited about this stroller. She could hardly wait for me to put the wheels on. She tried out both seats and approved of each. When Hubby came home, the words that came out of his mouth were, “Good grief!” I admit compared to our single strollers, this thing is large and in charge, but it has all kinds of cool features/options that I think will be great for the girls. First, either seat accepts the infant car seat. Secondly, the back seat can be removed as EK gets older converting the stroller into the original Sit-n-Stand. Lastly, it is not incredibly heavy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll have to exert some power over it, but compared to other double strollers it is reasonably “lightweight.” Now the limo is parked in the playroom waiting for its second passenger to get on board. Hopefully, it will stay parked for a couple more weeks.
Baby Trend Sit-n-Stand Double Stroller
I’ve been talking about cutting my hair for a while, but after finding out about our 10 year high school reunion, I decided to wait until after that event to go for it. I have had mid to long hair most of my life. The shortest my hair has been is to my jaw line and that was in 8th grade. I took the plunge yesterday and here are the results (sorry, pics aren’t great; I had a hard time taking them myself).
So, do I like it? Yes, but I am still getting used to it. I’ve had fun playing with my new cut, but tomorrow will be the true test since I’ll have to style it myself. What does Hubby think? He likes it. He says he knows it is really different, but for some reason it doesn’t seem as dramatic of a change as one might think. I am really glad I got it cut even if I decide a few weeks from now that I wish it was longer. I was proud of the fact that I was adventurous enough to go for it because I was starting to chicken out Monday morning. It is just hair and can be grown back (even if it does take a while). For now I am enjoying this little change in my world; I’ll let you know if my opinion changes.
Sooooo much has happened this past week. I will be brief in my update because there is no way I could go into detail without writing a novel. Here are the high and low points of the week (not in chronological order):
Baby shower- We had a family baby shower on Saturday to celebrate the upcoming arrival of MK, a little less than 4 weeks from now. It was GR-8 to have the family there, both men and women. One of Hubby’s grandfathers told me that at the age of 86 this is the only baby shower he had been to. Our families have and continue to bless us so much. I really don’t know what we would do without them! We are abundantly well supplied for our new little girl and looking forward to meeting her in a few weeks.
Mom and Sis visit- Because of the baby shower, my mom and sister were able to come from TN for a quick visit. We also celebrated mom’s birthday while she was here . I would tell you how old she is, but I have already received threats from her to write me out of her will due to previous ol’ timer jokes. So, to keep the peace, my lips will remain sealed. We really enjoyed having Gigi and Aunt S around and EK thoroughly enjoyed playing/hamming it up with them. Ya’ll come back now, ya hear.
10 year HS reunion- WOW! It has been 10 years since high school. Sometimes it seems so long ago, but at the same time it seems like it was just the other day Hubby and I were walking the halls of OCHS. We had a good time and are thankful to our class prez for organizing the whole shabang. There were times of awkwardness when talking to some people; just not much in common after a decade. But it was great to see how people are doing, who is married, who has kids and how many, and of course what everyone looks like. I was amazed how little the gals of our group changed, but how much the guys did. There was one guy there that I had no clue who he was due to the extra pounds and balding head until I was told his name. I know that sounds incredibily mean, which is not my intention. It is just the reason I didn’t recognize him. If you have a high school reunion coming up, I do highly recommend you attend. And if you take my advice here is one more piece to add, look through your year book to refresh your memory on names and faces. I bet it will help.
Poop in the potty- EK surprised me once again with a successful potty experience. Changing her diaper right before bed one night, she had a “rabbit pellet” in there, and I asked her if she was done going poo-poo. She said “Poo-poo in potty.” So my naked bambino and I headed for the bathroom. She sat on the potty, and I offered her a book. I am thinking the whole time, ”There is no point to this. She’s not going to go potty, but we’ll give it a shot.” Yeah, I know, what an encouraging and positive parenting moment that was. Nevertheless, after several minutes of her sitting there looking at her book and asking what everything was, EK sat very still, her eyes widened and she popped up after about 30 seconds. There it was poop in the potty! I was so excited I almost forgot what to do next. After lavish amounts of praise and two M&Ms, we headed back to her bedroom and finished getting her ready for bed. It was a great way to end the day.
Bathroom almost done- The deadline for the bathroom was supposed to be Aug. 1st because we wanted my mom and sister to have a bathroom of their own to use while visiting. Well after several weeks of late night work and a week of not going to bed before 1, 2, or even 3 in the morning, Hubby and I came to the realization that it just wasn’t going to happen and there was no real reason to kill ourselves trying to complete this task. We were disappointed since we had promised a new bathroom to my fam, but they were understanding and did not mind in the least bit sharing a bathroom with us. So the bathroom is about 95% done and will be completed within the next week. Don’t worry, I’ll post pics.
First public all-out tantram- If you have a little one that has not had an all-out tantram in a public place, be prepared for embarrassment, frustration, and a desire to kill your offspring. EK decided one day she was going to be a TOTAL brat and that day just happened to be when we had a bunch of errands to run. I was hoping getting out of the house would be a fun distraction and that her obnoxious attitude would sweeten once out and about. WRONG!!! By the end of our errand session, EK was crying, hollaring and lying on the floor of Kohl’s; I had bags in hand and was trying to convince her to come on so we could go home. She finally got off the floor but was still wailing because I would not let her push the shopping cart by herself, which she couldn’t do anyway, and just stood in front of the doors. After having to push the handicap door openers twice I finally finagled my bags and purse into one hand and jerked my child outside. She refused to hold my hand in the parking lot so I held her arm. That made her mad and by the time we made it to the car, EK was hitting my arm. That was it, the last straw. I put the bags in the car, popped her good on her bum and gave her a good verbal lashing while putting her in the carseat. Maybe I went too far with the discipline, but I will say she whimpered a bit and then straightened up. Hopefully, lesson learned for both of us.
EK spent night with Granddaddy and Granny F and slept in a big girl bed- Becuase of the high school reunion and the fact that EK will be staying with Grandddaddy and Granny F while I’m in the hospital with MK, we gave her spending the night away a dress rehersal. Granddaddy and Granny F had prepared a room just for EK equipped with her toys, books and a big girl bed. Of course I was slightly anxious about this little adventure. It is my first born spending the night away from home. I know Granddaddy and Granny F are completely compentent in taking care of her but I just wanted to make sure everyone was prepared for the event. And they were. EK had a good time and only got out of the bed twice before crashing for the night. The weirdest thing about the whole experience was for me. On Sunday morning while getting ready for church the house was so quiet; it felt erie to me. I had so much time to get ready I was looking around the house for stuff to do and still got to church about 40 minutes early. It made me think of life before kids and wonder what did I do with all that time? Ha! I probably slept in.
One thing that will get me fired up in a heart beat is when people spit their chewed up gum on the ground, especially on hard surfaces that have lots of foot traffic like sidewalks and parking lots. Apparently, I have a homing device for these gooey litter spots since I step in them way more than I ever want to (which would be never!). Yesterday, EK and I were out running errands and in the mall parking lot while getting a bag out of the car I felt it…that sensation on my foot, well it was my flip-flop, giving me resistance to be moved. I looked down and a long string of green gum connected my shoe to the over 100 degree asphalt. I exclaimed, “Stupid jerk for spitting their gum on the ground!” and started to scrape the bottom of my shoe on the ground to remove the nastiness. Of course, EK was in her car seat and then started repeating “stupid jerk.” So now I have a shoe with sticky grossness I am having a hard time getting off and a toddler using “profanity.” Moral of the story: Don’t spit your gum out on the ground because you could inadvertantly teach a youngster some no-no words. Moral #2: I need to watch where I am stepping.
Just to add, if I had my way there would be a law that would make it illegal to spit your gum on the ground. If caught doing so by the police or other citizen a mandatory sentence of litter detail along a highway in Death Valley in the month of July would be given.
EK decided she was going to be a big help with putting the groceries away for me. After unloading the car and just setting the bags in the kitchen, I headed outside for a minute to talk to Hubby. When I got back in here is what I found…
If you can’t tell, EK decided to put cheese, frozen broccoli, butter, chicken, and other cold/freezer items in the pantry. Bless her for trying to help me!
I want to yell it from the mountain tops…EK went peepee in potty! I know this isn’t nightly news worthy, but it’s a a big deal to me. We have introduced the potty and EK has been interested but whenever she would sit she would not release. That is until today. I now have a renewed sense of hope that once we officially start potty training progress will flow. Ha Ha, yes, the pun was intended.
Pregnancy is a joyful experience, however, it does have it’s challenges. One quirky complaint I now have that I have never read about in all those pregnancy books I devoured with my first pregnancy is body odor. Yeah, I’m reeking. I am not a very malodorous person (normally), but apparently my body chemistry has changed recently, and man, the funk is in the air. Of course, I have maintained my personal hygiene by showering and applying DO, lotion, and sometimes perfume, but now that doesn’t seem to be working like it used to. This is really making me self-conscious. I’m not sweating profusely, so I don’t need a prescription strength antiperspirant. My diet hasn’t really changed, and I have had to temporarily give up foods that I love like garlic because of the intestinal issues it has given me during my pregnancy. So, bottom line is that I stink and it is all MK’s fault.:) Oh well, I’ll be stinky mama for a little bit and have a healthy little girl in the end. But for the time being, I’ll scrub the pits more, slather on the DO, and douse myself in smell good stuff.
