5 years and counting

So T-Dad and I passed a major milestone over the weekend...our 5 year wedding anniversary. Its really hard to believe that 5 years have passed..but its also hard to believe Bug is 4 1/2...and if you do the math, yep, that's right...Bug was at our wedding, in utero. We planned our wedding in 6 weeks, it was really amazing. It was a regular church wedding with all the friends and family invited. It was a beautiful fall day and almost everything went off without a hitch. ;) In many ways, we hit the ground running as a married couple, soon to be family. In other ways...we got to continue "as we were". After we actually tied the knot, we had to continue to live separately for the next 6 months. We had jobs, apartments, commitments in separate cities. We were alone, yet married. Married means a lot of different things to people. We didn't get to play "newlyweds", we continued to play "long distance relationship". And everyone knows that's got its good points and bad points but when married and pregnant...its mostly bad points. In a lot of ways, I feel like that first 6 months really defined our marriage. Not in a bad way, but perhaps a different way then some. To this day, we are separate and together. Most likely, we were predisposed to this sort of relationship anyway, but it has stuck with us. Don't get me wrong, we're "together" but I think in our minds we process things more as individuals than as a unit or couple. Our relationship, married life, parental duties, home life is very 50/50. There are very few, if any, areas that are ever totally mine or totally his. (i.e. breastfeeding was all mine, when I'm pregnant the litter boxes are all his) We can each do what the other does regardless of what it is. Its good and bad...good because we are totally equal and no one can really claim "i'm doing it all", but having an area that is your responsibility means that you know it gets done for the most part...but when both individuals have equal responsibility for all areas...sometimes...it doesn't get done. But that's probably a discussion for another post.

Anyway...I found a perfect card for T-Dad this year (except it showed some strange bunny rabbit couple sitting on a park bench with flowers all over it)...
It said "If I hadn't found you" on the front and inside "I'd be forever looking". And I sincerely believe that. Getting pregnant with Bug was a form of "divine intervention" because it forced me to see the lucky woman I was...I had an interesting, intelligent, like-minded man who loved me, who was excited about becoming a father and wanted to spend the rest of his life with us. And thank the universe and God and intuition and all the good advice I received...because here we are 5 years later and still going strong.

Bodily Functions

So as a mom, I think we all develop a very healthy, non-chalant attitude about our kids' bodily functions. I mean from Day 1 in the hospital, "they" expect us to change our newborn baby's diapers all by ourselves. And so it goes...diaper after diaper, onto underpants after underpants, including many mishaps at the potty, in the car, on the sofa, in bed while wearing a halloween costume, etc... resulting in all variety of soiled Spiderman underoos/jeans/tights/socks/shoes, etc. Which, of course, requires us to remove, dispose of, manipulate, scrub, rinse, wash large amounts of bodily excretions. Honestly, a mom's life is filled with a lot of shit, literally.

So here's the thing....
why... when I'm in a public restroom do I have to ...
squeeze my eyes shut, put my fingers in my ears and silently hum Showtunes to myself so that I feel comfortable enough to... "drop the kids off" ?

To buy or not to buy...that is the question

I have many inner struggles...one is materialism vs. minimalism. Honestly, I don't "need" more STUFF in my life. Stuff that clutters up my house and eventually causes me choose between putting it in a landfill or passing it on to someone else to clutter up their house.

So that brings me to...Christmas. I've started doing a little Christmas shopping, in an attempt to spread out the financial crisis that always follows. And I'm questioning my actions. I love Christmas presents. It was the one time of year that my frugal parents loosened up...a little. We all got multiple gifts. :) Yeah, occasionally my dad would wrap up library books (that needed to be returned in 2 weeks) and various grocery items we needed. But we always got several things we asked for. :) It was wonderful. Now that I am older and know a thing or two more about the world, and am having to make these decisions for my own kids...I'm torn. Do I buy my kids lots of stuff for Christmas for the pure joy of being surrounded by gifts? Or do I take the minimalist approach and limit the purchases to only a thing or two? How many presents is "too many" and how few is "not enough"?

Oh, how I still remember and love that feeling of being surrounded by new gifts and having all day to play with them. :)

National Parks

Five years ago or so, T-Dad and I decided to start a lifelong goal - visit all the National Parks together. (the ones we've been to separately don't count). As a way to document this, we would get our photo taken by the main NP sign for each one. This is the most recent....this summer Bug took our picture in Ohio at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It was Bug's first time taking a "real" picture. And it was raining. Not terrible for a first attempt but we'll work with him a little more for the next one. :)

Another Bank Holiday

T-Dad is off work for another Federal Holiday...lucky guy.

Bits & Pieces

-We had a pre-nat appt with a midwife yesterday. We heard the heartbeat - 140 bpm. Does that mean boy? We have our Ultrasound appt. on the books for next month. We timed it so that we can take Bug and Mealyworm. I think they will get a kick out of seeing inside mommy's belly.
-We have been pretty sure we weren't going to find out the sex of the baby this time around. We liked the surprise with Mealyworm. With Bug, we'd had enough surprises, so we found out as soon as we could. This time...we're starting to waver. I think I could really use a couple of extra months (pre-newborn) to gets clothes, house, room in order for a specific gender. Hmm...we're still debating.
-Mealyworm has been doing neubulizer treatments for a recent (monday) diagnosis of asthma. She does well for like 5 minutes, but it literally takes a whole episode of Dora to get through all the medicine! aargh! I wish I could speed up that thing. Her little breathing mask looks like a fish, its cute.
-Bug misbehaved at preschool earlier this week while they were on a field trip. So he didn't get to attend the next field trip to Curtis Orchard (yesterday). :( I actually didn't feel too bad for him. He is going through this phase (again) where he refuses to listen to what you tell him to do and goes off on his own...repeatedly. And they couldn't have him doing that out at Curtis Orchard with hundreds of other school kids running around too.
-T-Dad cleaned the kitchen really well on Monday when he was home with sick - Mealyworm. He even scrubbed the kitchen floor twice (it was really dirty, I guess.). So I have been doing a good job of keeping it clean all week. I'm so proud of myself.
-I haven't touched the clothing chaos all week. Boo-hoo.

I love kids in costume!

Our little Dinosaur...Mealyworm, 5 months old - Halloween 2006


A Dalmation Dog...Bug, 2 1/2 years old - Halloween 2006


A Little White Duck...Mealyworm, 18 months old - Halloween 2007


Bug, Mealyworm, WW, JB - Halloween 2007

Creek Water Poo

Beware, pooping is discussed in some detail...


So we've been playing "House" at our house. Using our years of medical knowledge to decipher the icky code spelled out in poop. Mealyworm has been plagued with diarrhea for months. We've had a few days reprive in there and each time we breathe a sigh of relief and think "Thank goodness, a Peanut Butter poop instead of creek water poop." She goes through multiple outfits a day, tons of diaper cream, knows precisely how to say "I poopy, ouchy bottom, mama." so we hurry off to do a diaper change. We've tried all kinds of things...increasing the banana intake, cutting out juice, eating only "low acid" foods. At one point, I convinced myself it was all the plentiful Fall apples I've been feeding my kids. So no more applesauce, cider, sliced apples, etc. Blah, blah, blah. Fortunately, we aren't doing this alone...we've even visited the doctor and handed in a lovely array of poop samples, each painstakingly collected with a wooden stick and smeared into different vials to be tested for various diseases/bacterias, etc. And all have come back negative.

So....at the recommendation of the PA we've been seeing, we are approaching it from the new angle - Lactose Intolerance.

Since I've cut out all juice and now milk...MealyWorm is going to be having a lot of water in the coming days. I'm assuming Lactose-Free Milk and Soy Milk are viable options...? No yogart, no cheese, no ice cream...ugh... this poor kid. :(

Me and my thoughts on the New baby...ramblings...

So I haven't blogged much about the impending arrival. Truth be told. I don't know if I can be totally honest, out loud, about it. But I'll try to keep it real without causing anyone to hate me. We'll see how it goes.

Well, I'm feeling better...morning-sickness wise, that is. I'm over that hump and into the the dreamy 2nd tri. Barely any heartburn yet, woo-hoo, its good times.

There are many things that weigh heavy on my mind at this time. One of them is...I'm not really looking forward to having a newborn. I know, I know, I should be strung up by my toes for admitting this outloud (in writing) but...they are so much work....and I am soooo lazy. Okay, maybe lazy isn't the right word, but every bit of my 17 minutes of personal time that I have now (and loads more) will be eaten up by this third little one. :)

Kind of related in a Lavender Lemonade sort of way...
The other day someone I've known for a while but haven't ever really "sat down with" to talk said to me..."I've been meaning to get together with you for coffee or something, I'd really like to get to know you and what your beliefs, dreams, ideas are."
Very nice of her to ask and want to get to know me better, but...My instant response...uh..Really, you don't. It would be a very short cup of joe. I'm hollow inside. I'm in survival mode. I'm not really in dream, belief, idea mode like I was in college or high school. Those were times when I relished introspection and deep thinking. I loved and had lots of "over coffee" discussions about beliefs, dreams, ideas. And umm...now...not so much. Right now, maintaining a semi-respectable appearance for myself and my family and a very moderately (okay, barely) clean home is about all I can do. And honestly, soon there's going to be even less attention to be paid to appearance and housework...enter in the new baby.




So in this picture...Mealyworm was like 2 months old I think. And was crying. And nothing would make her happy. And we were at a birthday party for one of Bug's friends. And I had to take my screaming newborn outside so I didn't ruin the party. So I missed some of the fun, not really "my fun" but...well watching Bug have fun is my fun, and I missed that....Is this new baby going to mean I miss out on lots more special moments with my already two precious little ones?

My twin nephews vacationing in Cape Cod

Aren't they cute!