Gmail

Anyone else having problems? I can log into my google account but I'm getting some weird parsing error for gmail. It's very annoying. Both Safari and Firefox on the Mac. 

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Squee

Those of you who used to read my LJ will remember that some months ago I came up with a plan to work part-time since I didn't get paid nearly enough to justify two kids in daycare and well, I don't want them in daycare to begin with. After some initial hesitation on Vader's part, he finally came around to my way of thinking but we couldn't make any decisions without knowing what was going on with his job (and I'm not going into *that* particular problem here). He came home on Monday and said he got the closest thing to a definitive "you're not losing your job" and feels as comfortable as he's going to, so I can work part-time instead of full-time! While I would of course rather not work at all, this is the next best thing. Two nights a week, one weekend a month. No daycare, no babysitters. I don't consider leaving my kids with their father "babysitting". I've been waiting to say something until I could talk to BossMan.

I told BossMan today and he did not cry like I thought he would. I've been preparing him for this possibility for a while now, and he's been saying that he might as well find another job blah blah blah. It'll never be the same blah blah blah. I did buy him Orange Crush before telling him so maybe that was enough to soften the blow. He gets along with everyone else in the department now, he'll be fine without me there all the time.

At dinner last night Vader said that I would have to have some kind of academic program for SkyWalker, as well as physical activity. I told him that I was already planning on sticking to the daycare schedule. He said that he was wasting his potential there and we need to do more. It was quite funny. He's one of "those parents". But I was very happy to hear him talking about that instead of saying something like "now you can clean the bathrooms." I did do a little research into preschool lesson plans and whatnot today. I think we'll be fine. If I bring him to storytime once a week he'll get the social interaction as well as jumping around, and I'm sure we can come up with a good routine on the other days.

Exciting news! Literally, just moments ago we had a poop on the potty!! An intentional poop on the potty! Woo-hoo! I must now go and figure out why Hard Hat Harry is not working in my DVD player.

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Almost there

I can't remember how long it's been since I updated last, but I've been told it's been a while. ;-)

#2's room has been successfully painted (white), the crib has been put together (by my amazing husband on Saturday while taking care of SkyWalker at the same time), the dresser has made it upstairs and all of the gender neutral newborn onesies and outfits are in it. I need to get a bookshelf (I already have one picked out--the same one I bought for SkyWalker) and little odds and ends, but the major things are done. The car seat still has to be installed but I think I would be pushing it if we did that this soon.

I'm only 28 weeks.

I feel somewhat silly pressuring myself to get all of this done, but then I look at my pregnancy scrapbook from last time and we got the room together and the car seat installed and it was literally the next week that I was in the hospital with the second bout of bleeding and subsequently had a preemie child. I am taking no chances this time. That and the fact that I think as time goes on there will be less and less that I can do. Physically or mentally.

A couple of weeks ago I had a lovely surprise. Some out of town friends came to see me (expected) and threw me a mini-shower! Totally not expected! Complete with vegan cupcakes. It was just amazing. The generosity of this group of friends literally brought me to tears. I am truly honored to know them.

SkyWalker has been particularly funny lately. I taught him to say "mommy's womb" when I ask him where the baby is. I can't wait for someone to say something about a baby in my tummy and have him say "No! woooomb!!!". I love it. He has a Thomas tattoo on his arm and proudly showed Pop (who also has tattoos) on his arms. He called it a sticker for a  few days but he's finally accepted the fact that it's a tattoo.

There's stuff going on at work... I don't really want to say too much since this is a public blog and I make no attempt at hiding it. But let's just say we're in between a rock and a hard place--more money for us at the expense of the part timers that make this place run. And considering that I would like to be one of those part timers the rock I'm stuck next to is even bigger....

I worked all day alone since BossMan was in the courthouse waiting to be picked or hopefully not picked for jury duty. I told him to say inappropriate things and to simply tell them that his pregnant co-worker isn't allowing him jury duty anyway. It would be a 4 week trial. That would suck. A lot.

Friday is my next Level 2 ultrasound. I wonder if we'll get another 3D pic. That would be cool. Oh--we went to the consultation with the surgeon last week. Surgery is not a given--they want to avoid it for as long as they can. They'll monitor my ultrasounds and see the progress and they're still hoping that this will work itself out. And there's no reason for us not to have more kids. Because SkyWalker had hypospadious there is a greater chance that if this is a boy he may also have it. Which would royally suck if it turns out that surgery is necessary for the kidney. That would be two surgeries by 6 months old (kidneys by 3 months, hyspospadious at 6). That's a bit much. Am I selfish for wanting this to be a girl?

I had my checkup on Thursday. Everything's all good. I have to go every 2 weeks now. I got the shot in my ass (I'm rH negative) and I'm up to 114. I can't imagine gaining another 10 pounds in the next 10 weeks but I suppose it can be done. They don't seem concerned (although she did mention that I had lost a pound. Well, yeah, you made me fast for the damn glucose test and then you made me wait in the waiting room forever. I'm sure I've gained the pound back since then).

SkyWalker is sitting next to me on the couch watching his fire truck movie (bire cuck moo-yee). He has him arm around me like he's on a date and looking to get some. It's quite funny. He also smells like urine. That's not that funny. Daddy will be home soon so as long as it's just urine I'm not getting up. Although I suppose I should make dinner soon.

Haze has just relocated so she is sitting directly in front of me. On guard. Her neck is craned. It's funny. She's my little puppy girl. Oh--that's what SkyWalker has been doing! I was in the bathroom yesterday and I come out and see him at the back door--with it wide open--wearing his scarf and hat, coat in his hands, calling the dogs. He let them out. And apparently decided they should come in. At least he didn't leave but his hat and scarf being on was scary. And then when we got home today I let the dogs out, hung up my coat, heard the scratching on the door, and saw him run to it, so I ran to it, but he was closer and well, faster, so he got there first and let them in! Which could be useful if he would promise not to go out himself. But 2 year olds are not to be trusted, so the door has to be locked all the time now. Knowing Haze she would lead him to gate and between the two of them they'd figure out how to get out of the fenced yard and run free.

I really should make dinner now. Sometimes I wish we didn't live so far out. Delivery is never an option. Ever. We have never had food delivered. Ugh. And now I am starving.

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I could get used to this

And by "this" I mean this staying home thing. I have had a lovely 3 days off of work (not including the normal Sat & Sun). My mom and sister came on Saturday and left yesterday morning and that certainly helped. We bought a new combo changing table/dresser. My mom cooked dinner Monday night. There are loads of leftovers. Vader finally finished painting #2's room. He still has to take all the plastic down and move the furniture back and get the dresser up there before I can do anything else.

SkyWalker and I have had a lovely time. He didn't nap yesterday and then had a bit of a breakdown when we were downstairs and I was printing pictures. The trouble with digital pictures is that they're digital...sure I make albums and upload them and share them, but SkyWalker's photo album stopped when he was 10 months old! So I went through all my digital albums to choose pictures to print. I thought maybe 30-40. Ha. 118. I got 25 done before SkyWalker got really bored with his toys and wanted to play with the pictures. As it turned out I am on the last printer ribbon and I don't think I have enough paper either (for the Kodak Easyshare printer) so it was taking a while to figure out how the hell to save my list of pictures without having to either manually write them down or just start from scratch. I finally figured it out but not after much cranky no-nap whining and crying. Once we went back upstairs and I started making dinner he was okay.

He is playing with his cars and blocks right now, very nicely by himself, although he keeps asking for a truck movie. I wasn't aware we had a truck movie. We watched the Baby Einstein On the Go and he was happy with that but it's clear that he has a specific truck movie in mind. I'm not sure if maybe one of the Thomas episodes had a truck in it and that's what he's referring to, or if my mom or sister called something a truck movie, or if he just wants me to make one up.

He's been sleeping great, aside from the lack of nap yesterday, and I even changed the sheets on his bed. He still has the Thomas blanket and pillow though. He doesn't actually sleep on the pillow, it's just in the bed so I don't think it needs to be washed every week. Hopefully by the time something happens to it (I shrink it, it gets stained, etc) he will have retrained himself to sleep and it won't matter. He may have already done so but I'm too damn tired to experiment.

He's sitting on the potty a lot more but saying he's done after less than a minute. Dude, you're my kid there's no way you're done. You need to put a little effort in. He's also asking for a "new diaper" which is absolutely hilarious. I can't believe how much he is talking now.

I should probably take advantage of his independent playing and get dressed. I considered going to Target for a few things but I really don't feel like leaving the house. Tomorrow is going to royally suck and I want as much relaxing time at home today as possible. At least it's just 2 days at work this week and then we'll have the weekend together. I fantasize about being home all the time. There are times when I'm pulling my hair out (neither one of us is perfect--SkyWalker gets naughty & whiny and I get frustrated) and I wonder if I can really do it and then I remember that those times are rare and that yes I can do it. I know, deep down I know, that this is what I'm *supposed* to be doing.

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Bribery & other things

I know I've bored you all ad nauseum with SkyWalker's sleeping problems of late. I bought a Thomas the Tank Engine fleece blanket to entice him to his bed. No go. My mother bought him an entire Thomas toddler bedding set and a little Thomas flash light. I put the comforter on his bed and the sheets in the wash. He slept with the flash light, on the floor, but once Vader put him in bed under the comforter he did stay there all night. So it was progress. I finally did his laundry yesterday and put the sheets on the bed. The fitted sheet, the flat sheet, and I even got one of the pillows from the other room and put the pillowcase on it. He's never slept with a flat sheet or pillow, but I figured what the hell? I put the fleece blanket and comforter back on so the entire bed was just THOMAS. Apparently while I was at work he napped for 2 hours. In his bed. Okay, fine. We put him to bed last night, he said "I want night-night", crawled in his bed and stayed there.

I can no longer hate Thomas the Tank Engine. Even if he is a whiny baby.

We're having snack time right now and for some unknown reason SkyWalker flipped out when he caught sight of the old Veggie Puffs in the closet. He hasn't had these since he was a baby, but I brought them down for him, in addition to his animal crackers and Nilla Wafers. I made the mistake of letting him pour some of the puffs on his tray. And then leaving the canister within reach. He has emptied the entire thing on his tray. It is hilarious. Luckily these are really baby snacks, a serving size is 80 pieces, so I don't think it'll spoil his dinner.

We went to the OB for my regular checkup. He was such a good boy. Every once in a while I have to take him out in public to remind myself of how good he really is. The OB didn't seem too concerned when I told him what happened at the ultrasound on Friday. He's glad that it's being monitored with the ultrasounds, but is under the impression that a lot of cases clear up on their own. I did some research myself and found an article written by the surgeon who would do it (the one who did SkyWalker's hypospadious surgery) and the article says the same thing--surgery is a last resort and it was comforting to read that this doctor doesn't advocate immediate surgery. So I feel a little bit better than I did last week.  He also said that there's no reason for us not to have more kids.

I'll have to do that glucose gestational diabetes icky drink test soon. As well as get a shot in my ass again. We're up to visits every 2 weeks now. I can't believe I'm at that point already. Although by this time last time (25 weeks) I was only 11 weeks away from delivering. Kinda scary when I think about it. I have to be prepared to go at 36 weeks again, actually I should be prepared to go at 34, but man I am so NOT prepared.

SkyWalker has the hiccups and it's amusing me. Looks like someone is playing with his massive tray of puffs now, I should probably pay attention...

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Bad plumbing

And unfortunately I'm not talking about the kind with copper (do they still use copper?) pipes.

We had our second Level 2 ultrasound yesterday. Those of you who have followed me from my LJ will remember that 4 weeks ago we had our first L2 ultrasound to check on the status of my evil placenta. The placenta turned out okay, but they saw some dilation in a kidney. Hence the second L2 ultrasound. I had hoped that it would clear up on its own, but apparently I just can't escape children who have pee-pee problems. SkyWalker had to have surgery at 6 months old to correct hypospadious. This one will need surgery too. There is still dilation in the right kidney which means that something is either pinching the ureter or there's reflux, some kind of obstruction. They'll keep giving me the L2s every 4 weeks to make sure that there is enough amniotic fluid (baby pee). There's plenty of fluid now which means that the kidneys and bladder are working. If there is not enough fluid that could be a problem... We'll meet with a surgeon, the same guy who did SkyWalker's surgery, he'll check out #2 after its born to diagnose the actual problem and we'll go from there.

I wonder what will happen to #3 and #4? Will their pee-pee problems be worse? Will they tell me I can't have #3 and #4? That will suck.

In other plumbing news FIL is not feeling too well and is actually in pain. I think he starts the radiation next week. He's been on some pain medication that made him sick so now he's back on something he took when he had chemo last year.

Think maybe there's a reason my kids have bad plumbing? I'm going to blame my husband's side of the family.

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Tread lightly

The long and the short of it is that the FIL has cancer again. Radiation seems to be the only option. I don't want to get into details here, now, but suffice it to say that our house has been filled with gloom once again and we're not exactly optimistic.

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