Operation Fit Mila: Stage 3

I am FINALLY starting to feel like we're ready for this baby.  Try not to judge me too harshly, but I have started drinking coffee or a Coke around 3 pm so I have the energy to get through the afternoon and evening.  It's been working swimmingly.

Tuesday night I was able to start moving items into the ASPELUND wardrobe.  Wednesday night we tackled a few larger tasks:

1|   I started sorting through all the baby clothes I have accumulated.  I have received hand-me-downs from a few people, but they are mostly 6 months and up.  I also have new clothes from the baby shower and a few random gifts.  With Aiden, I had everything separated by size, so when he reached that size, all I had to do was dump the contents of a storage container in the wash and it would be ready.  That really simplified my life, so I thought I'd do it again for Mila.  Last night I pulled out 3 loads worth of newborn clothes/blankets/burp clothes/towels/rags/etc.  I still need to go through half of Aiden's old clothes to pull out the unisex stuff. 

2|   I reupholstered the dining room chairs.  The last time I did it was right before Aiden was born.  I thought it was time to try something new.  I was bored of the last pattern and I think Aiden has spilled enough milk on it for a lifetime.  I've decided to lay a towel down on the chair he's sitting in hopes of preserving this fabric for as long as possible. 

3|   Travis put together the new dresser, so that's the last of the IKEA furniture for this year.  YA HOO.  This photo shows our old dresser on the right and the new one on the left.

See how BIG it is?!  I am ecstatic.  I moved some of my things over this morning, but I still have a bunch more to go through.  We have a ton of reorganizing to do in our room to accomodate this monster.  There wasn't enough time last night, as Travis did not finish putting it together until around 10:30. 

We are giving Ariel and Robert our old dresser, computer chair and the entertainment center that sits in our bedroom.  The next step is to move all the old items out into the garage.  After that, we just have to set up Mila's crib.  There is no rush on that, since she will be sleeping in the travel crib in our room for a month or so.  I would like to get the crib set up BEFORE she arrives though, for a couple reasons.  One, I'm worried about Aiden being angry or jealous when Mila shows up.  I'm hoping if the crib is in there before she comes, then he won't fight it as badly.  At the moment, he's almost looking forward to sharing his space.  Two, I have a feeling we will have even less time on our hands after this little one shows her face.  It would be nice if we could finish as much as possible before then.

I am extremely relieved with how much progress we have made.  There is still a lot to do, including stitching up a tear in one of the crib sheets and finding the money to purchase a new car seat.  We still have Aiden's, but I've read they shouldn't be used for more than two years after the manufacture date due to updated codes and requirements for child safety.  I think Aiden's is going on five years at this point.  We do have it as a back up though!

I never wrote that list, but I feel like I have some breathing room now.  I only have ONE outing planned for this weekend, so we should have plenty of time to catch up with everything.  I have some errands to run tonight and tomorrow night, meaning I'm not sure we'll get to much at home for the remainder of the week.  At least we're making progress!

Operation Fit Mila: Stage 2

Well, the IKEA wardrobe did not go as well as planned.  Putting it together wasn't that bad.  I think Travis and I make a good team.  I sit with the instructions and pull out the little pieces in advance so it's ready for him.  There were a couple times when I had to help him maneuver a piece, but he did the bulk of the work. 

Most IKEA furniture comes with a wall anchor to prevent the furniture from tipping over on people.  Nice feature.  Since that is a semi-permanent state, we wanted to arrange the furniture in the room the way we want it to be to make sure it will all fit together.  Turns out, it didn't fit.  Somewhere in the mix, we did not measure something right, so our plan did not work.  Instead of putting the futon in the guest bedroom, we are going to put it in our bedroom.  To help make room for that, we moved the rocking chair out of our room and into the guest room.

We still don't have the room completely set up.  We piled a bunch of crap on the bed so we would have space to put the wardrobe together, but you get the general idea.  There is so much room in that thing - I can't wait to fill it!  But at the same time, I get exhausted thinking about rearranging everything in the house.  Pregnancy gives you the nesting instinct - the problem is lately I haven't had the energy for it.  I get stressed every time I walk through my house and see stuff I want to clean/organize/rearrange. 

I need to make a list so I can tackle it rationally.  I just might do that tonight.

Feeling Guilty

I am really not loving pregnancy this go around and I feel horribly guilty about it.  There is no time to sit and enjoy it.  With Aiden, I was able to come home after work, take a nap, then get up and make dinner.  We would sit on the couch in the living room and watch TV while we ate.  Afterward, I would watch the belly movement when dinner reached Aiden.

This time around, I rush home to get dinner ready as soon as possible.  We eat at the table.  I get up a minimum of three times per meal to get seconds, refill drinks, get paper towels for a spill, etc.  When I was growing up, my mom always put all the food on the table.  I have never done this as it would result in additional dirty dishes at the end of each meal.  I'm starting to see the perks in that.  I might have to start putting all the food on the table instead of leaving it on the stove.  Hmmm... 

Anyway, after dinner, it usually so close to bed time that we have to give Aiden a bath or start getting him ready for bed.  We try to get him down by 8:30 every night.  After that we clean up dinner, get ourselves ready for bed, and maybe do a few things around the house (laundry, dishes, tidying up, etc).  I would like to be in bed, lights out, at 9:45 every night.  But I generally don't get in bed until 10 and my mind is running a 100 mph, so the last thing I want to do is go straight to bed.  We usually lay in bed for 30-45 minutes watching TV before trying to close our eyes. 

Okay, so maybe I'm just being a little reminiscent about the last pregnancy.  I just read my post from 32 weeks with Aiden.  It appears I was just as uncomfortable then as I am now.  I feel huge.  I look huge.  I don't fit a lot of my maternity clothes already.  I have to make sure to get up when my alarm goes off the first time because I know I will go through at least two shirts before finding one that still covers my baby bump.  Baby mountain might be more accurate.  I have seriously considered purchasing a mumu or two for bedtime.  I cannot stand wearing elastic around my waist to bed and most of my t-shirts do not fit anymore.  Travis is not a big guy, so his shirts aren't much better.

Just like with Aiden, my fundal height is measuring a week ahead and I'm having frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions.  And just like with Aiden, the skin on my stomach is so sensitive that it is more than uncomfortable when Mila kicks.  Sometimes it's so strong that I find it helps relieve pressure if I press back.  Then the skin doesn't stretch as much.  Sounds awesome, right?  Last time I had gained 24 pounds so far.  This time I'm at +19.  There are still two months of growing time left.

I am so huge that I cannot roll over without waking up.  Thankfully I can usually fall back to sleep pretty quickly.  As long as my mind doesn't wandering in that moment, I'm fine. 

The one main difference between the two pregnancies at the moment is Mila is still breech.  The doctor said she's not concerned at this point.  Give it a few more weeks and we might start worrying.  I just REALLY hope we don't reach the point where she has to manually maneuver her into proper birthing position.  I've heard that's horribly painful.  I know I have to go through labor eventually, but I'd like to keep the pain frequency to a minimum.

Overbooked

I most definitely did more than my prego body can handle this weekend.  I think part of the problem is I went into the weekend already tired.  Travis didn't come home Wednesday or Thursday night because he was hanging out with Alex.  Friday night, our friend David came over for dinner.  I called it a night at 11 pm because I was exhausted from taking care of Aiden all by my lonesome for several days.  Plus, my normal bedtime is 10.  I can't handle much past that.  Travis flopped into bed at 4 am.  He may have fallen asleep for a bit on the couch before that, but not for too long. 

I think waking up frequently in the middle of the night (to use the restroom, to figure out where Travis is, when Travis flops into bed, etc) is one reason I'm so exhausted.  Plus, then I have to get up early for work.  I was so grateful when Aiden slept in until 8:15 on Saturday.  That is unheard of, but I'm not complaining!

I made pancakes for everyone Saturday morning.  Stephanie stopped by to pick up David, so we got to catch up for a bit over coffee.  As soon as Aiden woke up from his nap, we drove up to the Ramby's for Blair's birthday party.  Aiden LOVED the Transformers theme and had a great time running around with all the kids.  It was surprisingly hot out, so all the kiddos had rosy cheeks.  There were lots of juice boxes being passed around.  David, Stephanie and the Yeager's were there, plus all of Chris and Alexa's other friends.  We stayed for cake, but had to leave before the presents were opened and the pinata was set up.

Aiden was so upset.  He REALLY did not want to leave.  But we had made prior arrangments to go into Houston for the night, so we needed to get Aiden back to the babysitter.  Our friend Shannon's daughter watched him for the night.  This is the first time we've ever paid a sitter to come to our house.  I was really nervous about how Aiden would react, but he seemed to do fine.  I turned on Spiderman 2 before the sitter arrived and ordered a pizza.  The pizza came right when we were leaving, so there were plenty of distractions for him.  I think the only hiccup of the night was when Aiden refused to brush his teeth.  But if that's the worst of it, then I'll take it!

For our child-free night out, we went to dinner and the Improv (a comedy club) with David, Stephanie and another of their couple-friends.  We ate Japanese food for dinner right next to the club, then walked over for the show.  The main show of the night?  Pauly Shore!  We had seats on the main floor, only two tables away from the stage.  The two comedians up before him were both really funny, one of which was Sandy Danto.  He did a great Chris Farley impression.  I always forget how much I love seeing stand up.  I told Travis a few months back that if we can work it out, I'd like to go see someone for my birthday. 

Anyway, Pauly Shore was pretty awesome.  I was nervous about how funny he would actually be, but it wasn't bad.  Although, afterward I felt really bad for him.  He made fun of himself a lot and we all just laughed at it.  Kind of sad, right?  There was a section of his skit that was all political.  I really wasn't into it.

I was the DD and we rolled in right at 1:30 am.  I was about to PASS OUT.  The sitter gave us a quick recap of the night and then was off.  Of course, I couldn't just go flop into bed like Travis did.  I was starving by this point.  And since I wasn't drunk and able to ignore the hunger pangs, I reheated some of the leftover pizza.  Yummo.

Sunday morning I got up with Aiden at 7.  He was really tired, so he stayed inside and watched TV.  I went outside to alternate laundry and yard work.  Aiden was out of clean underwear and I had some seeds I wanted to plant ASAP.  Travis slept in until 11 and I left at noon for a baby shower in Houston (my friend from college is due three weeks after me).  I left a honey-do list for Travis and couldn't believe it when I got home and he had knocked everything off the list.  On top of that, my friend from work stopped by to pick up our old computer desk, which means we now have room to put together the wardrobe from IKEA. 

I'm hoping to muster up enough energy to help Travis set it up tonight.  I can't wait until that thing is ready to go because then I will be able to set up Mila in the house.  I feel SO under prepared for this child, it's ridiculous.  I have 8 weeks left until she is due and we haven't done a single thing to get ready for her.  It's a complete 180 from last time. 

I'm thinking I might splurge on a cup of coffee around 3 to give me the energy to keep going tonight.  I'm still trying to think of something easy for dinner so I spend less time cooking and more time putting together furniture...

A Missing Husband

You know what's disorienting?  Waking up to find your husband is not in bed, when you expect him to be.

2:33 am - I wake up to a strange noise.  I lay in bed for a moment trying to decipher if it's Aiden or a cat.  I think cat, but I'm not sure.  I'll just get up to check.  Wait a tic, I'm cold.  I change into warmer PJ's. 

2:38 am - I get out of bed to go check on Aiden and realize Travis is not in bed with me.  His side is not even messed up.  When I get to Aiden's door, it's slightly ajar.  Which is weird, because I shut it when I went to bed for the night.  I check out Aiden - he's fast asleep, but his covers are all bunched around his face leaving his tootsies chilled.  I tuck him in properly and go to turn on the heat.  This is when I realize Travis is not asleep on the couch like he does occasionally.  Sometimes when he works late (like he did last night - got home at 10:15), he eats dinner in front of the TV and falls asleep there.  But he's not there.  He's not in the guest bed either.  I check the back door.  The light is still on, which is weird because Travis always turns it off at bed time.

2:42 am - I walk back to the bedroom to look out my window at the driveway for his truck.  On my way there, I try to recall if he told me he would be gone.  Last I remember, he was getting in the shower.  No word on leaving the house again until morning.  Maybe he got called out on an emergency job?  Unlikely, since his he's not on call and I never heard his phone ring.  Nope, truck is not in the driveway.  I sit down on my bed, adrenaline pumping, and pick up my phone to call Travis.

2:43 am - There's a text from Travis at 2:02 that says he's just going to stay at Ariel's til the morning.  Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  He had mentioned the morning before that he might go hang out with Alex (who is in town for spring break this week) either Wednesday or Thursday night.  I guess he decided on Wednesday night.  I respond that I had no idea he was going down for sure and it thoroughly freaked me out.  His response, "I kissed you and said I am going to hang with Alex."

Ohhhh, well he did tell me I guess.  No matter that I was asleep when he said it.

I laid in bed waiting for the adrenaline to leave my system.

3:15 am - SO HUNGRRRYYYY.  I've been awake for so long that my body has decided it's time to eat again.  Mila handles hungry about as well as Mommy.  Which means she's repeatedly karate chopping the interior of my stomach.  FINE.  I get up and swallow a strawberry Pop Tart (no icing) whole.  Mmmm... back to bed!

I don't think it took me too much longer after that to fall back to sleep. 

5:45 am - Stupid alarm.  Stupid work.  Stupid headache.  Why do I feel like I have a hangover??  It's not fair!  I don't even have the excuse of drinking to balance out the dull thud that is fogging up my brain.  Ugh.

6:07 am (one snooze later) - Coffee is brewing.  Aiden's eating Lucky Charms at the table.  Travis comes in the back door.  HUNGOVER for real.  He brushes his teeth, shaves and passes out in bed for a few minutes before jumping up and realizing he's going to be late for work.

I'm glad Travis got to see Alex while he is here.  He hasn't had a chance to get down to Galveston all week.  Alex is staying at Ariel's house near the beach with his 6 other friends.  However, I'm not too thrilled about being 7 months pregnant and being the sole caretaker of Aiden.  I am exhausted.  Even more so after waking up in the middle of the night for almost an hour.  I guess this is a glimpse of what's to come in two months.

Operation Fit Mila: Stage 1

We got the new office area set up.  It used to be in the guest bedroom, but now that will solely be a bedroom for guests.  Well, and for the cats to hide in.

We were a little irked to find that the drawer system we bought does not fit completely under the desk.  Oh well.  More table top space?  Aiden woke up yesterday morning and noticed the new furniture right away.  He immediately wanted to get out his colors (Crayons) and have some art time at the new space.

I'm really excited about rearranging the house and having new furniture, but I'm getting anxiety about how small our house is starting to feel.  This desk makes the walkway from the living room to the kitchen a little more snug.  We moved Aiden's toy chest from this location to another spot in the living room (you can actually see the end of it against the back wall in the photo above).  After it was there, I recalled that this was where Aiden's baby swing used to sit.  The same one we will have to pull out for Mila.  Ugh.  Aiden is going to have to give up some of his toy space.  I guess we can move his toy grill out to the patio?  Meh, I'll deal with that later!

Oh, I checked the other night - the desk name is BESTA.  Travis moved everything he could into the new desk.  There are still some things we will probably end up storing in the wardrobe once we get that set up.

Stage 2: HEMNES dresser, will probably have to wait until a few moments of free time this weekend.  The schedule is pretty jam packed, so I don't know if it will happen for sure.  We have a kid's birthday party, a night at the comedy club and a baby shower.  Ahhhhh!

Homemade Pies

One night while my dad was here we baked homemade pizzas.  Ariel and I used to do that all the time as a kid, so it brought back some fantastic memories.  Aiden and my dad shared a pizza.  I think it worked out good because Aiden wanted every topping my dad wanted, so they had lots of goodies on top. 

I think Aiden enjoyed himself.

I used dough that came in a pouch for the first time - I just had to add water.  It wasn't too bad!

He watched his pizza bake in the oven and then scarfed down his slices like we hadn't fed him days.  Gpa was impressed.