Merry Christmas and political correctness

This year I've received a stream of emails and seen a number of Facebook posts about how people are annoyed at the phrase "Happy Holidays." Over the years, it seems that the issue of using the phrase is reaching a volatile state. I think using phrases like "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" probably started out as a way to combine the end of year holiday season from Thanksgiving to Christmas and New Year's and just wish happiness to people and their families throughout this time of year. Then, I suppose, people perhaps were becoming offended by the phrase Merry Christmas and therefore other people in an effort to show respect to those who perhaps don't celebrate Christmas switched to using these generic well wishing phrases in hopes to keep peace. This is all, of course, merely my own speculation. In any case, it seems that now using a phrase such as "happy holidays" is now considered politically correct. And of course, as a result, devout Christians are in an uproar. That begins the stream of emails and Facebook posts about how you should always wish somebody "Merry Christmas" otherwise you're not a real Christian.

It's all ridiculous really, Christian or not. The fact of the matter is that Christmas in and of itself is, in fact, a national holiday. It doesn't matter how you celebrate it or if you celebrate it, it still doesn't change the fact that it's a national holiday. Being that it's a national holiday wishing somebody "Merry Christmas" should be as mundane as wishing them "Happy Thanksgiving." I'm not sure what genius it was that decided that it's more politically correct to say "Happy Holidays" but honestly – it's ridiculous. Christmas is sanctioned by the government therefore "Christmas" it is, and whether or not somebody chooses to celebrate the national holiday it's still just as politically correct to say "Merry Christmas" to them. Yes I'm Christian. Yes, I celebrate Christmas. Yes, I recognize it for the origin as a celebration of Christ's birth. I can always wish someone a Merry Christmas keeping in mind my personal views and celebration of it; however, given the fact that country recognizes this holiday I never feel any hesitation to wish somebody a Merry Christmas, even if they're not Christian, even if they don't celebrate the holiday. I'm still well within my right and just as respectful and certainly just as politically correct for wishing them a Merry Christmas.

My birthday "vacation"

Not sure when the last time I posted was. I could look it up. But that would take effort.

It's been a lot of the same ol' play dates, boring days, and whatnot. Certainly some days are more interesting than others. The point is, that recently our day to day activity is pretty routine and nothing out of the ordinary.

On my husband's most recent time off from the rig we decided to take a trip to Texarkana to visit some family since we haven't been there in about a year. The trip went fairly well but I have to admit Taran was right. We definitely had to separate the boys. Noah decided to start pestering August when he got a little bit bored in the car. August certainly doesn't like extended stays in his car seat so after the early trip nap wore off it was a little more difficult and we had to take a couple of stops. All in all I can't really complain too much. A five hour car trip with two boys and only two stops? It was pretty good all things considered.

The weekend was spent going from place to place visiting various members of Taran's family. Taran, of course, helped with some projects such as helping to chain up his grandfather's truck trailer and working to make his parents Internet easier to access. We also took several opportunities to visit his great aunt who was recently moved to a home.

So in the title I mentioned my birthday. Where does my birthday come in? Well it just so happens that the Saturday of our trip happened to land on my birthday. Luckily it was just another day and just treated as part of our trip for the most part. I am slightly bitter about my birthday. It's not the aging thing. I've decided that I'm going to stay 25 until I'm 55 to get senior citizen discounts before that 25 is the only decent age to be. My birthday angst just comes from years and years of constant disappointments. I look forward to my birthday and something always goes wrong to make it either a basic letdown or something nearing the end of the world. At least for birthday person. In any case, aside from the handful of well wishes, the phone calls from my family, and the slightly embarrassing song and dance routine at a restaurant (which at least resulted in some pie, so I suppose that's acceptable) my birthday went primarily unnoticed. This, in my mind, makes for a good birthday. Taran's grandmother also took me shopping to find a birthday present. I think I slightly disappointed her because I didn't get something fun and exciting. I got something I needed: a new belt and a new pair of jeans. They may be boring and run-of-the-mill; but, I desperately needed them so I'm happy I got them.

The trip back was pretty much as could be expected. We headed out just after lunch so that we could take advantage of naptime in the car. Both boy slept for a decent amount of the trip. We took two stops after they woke up making for a good ride home.

So that's the tale of our most recent adventure. Who knows when I'll get back on to share the next exciting chapter of the Endsley's life. I'll try to make sure to let you know when something cool happens.

Wow, where does the time go?

So, it's been crazy. I can't remember the last time I updated or what all has happened since then. I suppose I could go check, but that would take effort, so I'll just update the latest. That's enough for several blogs in and of itself, but I'll try to be brief. The abridged version if you will.

So, a couple of weekends ago, Taran and I attended a wedding of a college friend and former roommate of Taran's. It was a beautiful wedding and the reception was tons of fun. It's been a while since I had that much fun at a wedding. But then, it's been a while since I've been to a wedding. Of course, hubs looked fantastic in his tux too (he was a groomsman), so I really can't complain. Noah slept through the entire ceremony (he'd had a long day) but was tearing it up on the dance floor. He had a blast!

The weekend of the wedding was also the weekend of an annual craft fair I work with my mom. It was a bit hectic getting everything to coordinate and Taran was so wonderful trying to accommodate my ability to work the show. It put a damper on his plans to help with pre and post wedding stuff but it all worked out in the end. The show went well. Much better than last year, but I still came home with way more inventory than I would have liked. I sold several of my dream catchers with was a huge surprise to me since I usually don't sell many of those at all. I only sold a few baby items, a buggy and a pair of shoes, which was a bit upsetting but I think next year I will need to bring more small items.

On the flip side, the great weekend came with its price. Taran got sick and was under the weather during the latter part of the weekend. August also picked up the bug too so he was sick for a few days but at least he wasn't feeling horrible - he still was alert and had his overall happy attitude. I got sick a couple days ago. Not fun. It took me out. Now I get why Taran felt so horrible. I tried to help him out how I could and let him get rest, but if he felt nearly as bad as I did, I didn't do enough.

In happier news August continues those happy but terrifying baby developments. He's now crawling like a pro and has moved on to working on pulling up. He also now officially has eight teeth. As always he's as happy as can be, but he does get upset if he crawls himself into a corner or wanders off someplace he's unfamiliar with like Noah's room. He gets all fussy, but I think it's adorable.

Noah is doing his thing. His speech is improving and he's putting three words together occasionally. Taran has been working on numbers with him (I have too, but to a lesser extent) and he seems to be picking those up well. He'll randomly start counting but gets the number out of order. He's trying though.

That's it on our front. I'm still working on figuring out Thanksgiving and dreading the impending Christmas craziness as we plan, decorate, and work on gifts. Some of that is in the works, but mostly in our head and in discussions, nothing physical yet. Yikes! Hopefully I can get back on my feet soon (as I'm still kinda recovering from my "illness") and get to work on that soon.

I'm Going Crazy...

Well, there are some that would argue that I'm already there, but whatever.

We've come to the end of our car search. Kinda. The search is over, the new car has yet to be obtained. Taran has officially completed the paperwork for our new minivan. Now, it's a matter of the dealership actually acquiring it so that we can trade in our current vehicle. That means that sometime next week (hopefully) I'll be officially inducted into the "soccer mom" club. It took a long time for Taran to convince me that a minivan was the best idea for us. I hate it, I truly do, but there really are no other options. Nothing else is big enough, gives us enough storage space, has rear air for the kids and enough room for their car seats, gets decent gas mileage (relative to size), and isn't a giant boat. So, minivan it is. It'll be good for us, just not my ego.

I've spent the past couple of days at home which has been bad for my sanity. Assuming I had any to begin with. I've got some crazy cabin fever and I am in desperate need of a girls' night out. I think the last time I had one was when Noah was about 5 mo. old. The kids are seriously wearing on me. I keep convincing myself that the few hours I get in the evening after Noah has gone to bed will refresh me, but it's not enough, especially considering that August doesn't necessarily sleep at the same time. Usually by the end of the day I'm so exhausted that I just want to veg and in vegging, I don't really appreciate the free time I have. And that's if I let myself veg and I'm not occupied by laundry or dishes or who knows what else that needs to get done around the house.

On a happier note, I have been keeping myself occupied with my crafts. I've finally finished all the shoes that I had official orders for. I also recently completed a cloth diaper cake (for display only) and a Halloween cake (also for display only). They were fun. I got to try some new things I hadn't done before and it was awesome to work out new tricks. I have many more projects prepped and ready to work on, I just haven't gotten around to doing that (and in many cases, I haven't had the energy).

Tomorrow I have my annual eye exam (not excited) and later in the week I have my regular mommy meeting and a meeting for the mommy foundation. Maybe with things to keep me occupied the week will go by faster. Next weekend my in-laws are going to be here, so that means a lot of cleaning on my part. It's nice when they are here, but I really don't like the pre-company prep. That part is never fun. Oh well. At least it forces me to clean on a semi-regular basis so that can't be all bad.

Busy, busy, busy...

I feel like I say that a lot, "busy, busy, busy," but it seems like that has been the case lately. Despite the fact that I've been getting an extra hour of awake time thanks to the boys transitioning from (or is it to?) Daylight Savings Time about a month early. I still feel like the days are passing me by before I know where they went. As a result, I'm feeling less productive as nap time and bedtime result in true "down time" for me. And by down, I mean almost catatonic. Ok, not really, but it's like I switch to lazy mode where I get very little done and just veg in front of the TV or read.

Our awake time seems to take us various places in an attempt to get Noah a release for his insane amounts of energy. I'm not convinced that tiring him out makes him behave better. Sometimes he just gets wired and whiney. Sometimes it works, other times, there is no change. Oh well. So that means parks and play dates which wear me out too since I spend a large portion of the time disciplining or playing with Noah - not the easiest task with a baby strapped to you, but I'm not about to leave him in a stroller while I tend to (or chase for several yards) his brother. It'd be nice if Taran was able to join us all the time (1 to 1 is a much better ratio than 2 to 1), but he comes when he can.

To add to the normal hustle and bustle, we've been squeezing in the continued mini-van hunt. Not easy working with Taran's hectic work schedule. I think we settled on one, but we have to wait until the dealer finds what we are looking for. I had no idea new cars were in such limited supply. I guess it makes sense, but never having had a new car, I just figured the manufacturers had a stash of the cars and you only had to order them if you wanted upgrades and whatnot. I was wrong.

My crafts have gone a bit by the wayside. Ok, I guess not really. I've been working on a bunch of shoe orders so the personal projects and the extra products I wanted to make for my baby boutique have been put aside. I may pick that up again though since I'm between orders and waiting on details for orders from a few people, so maybe I'll get productive on my own stuff. That means not vegging, but it's hard to move off of a comfy couch after a busy day. Such is life.

Where was I ten years ago?

It seems the thing to do to write up where you were and what you were doing ten years ago today when you heard the news of the planes crashing in to the World Trade Center, so I'm jumping on the band-wagon. Here is what I remember from that day.

I was in lab, I'm not sure which, but it may have been organic chemistry. I remember my lab partner was really stressed out and he was talking about possibly getting sent out. He was in the reserves and it was just the beginning of the semester, but he was thinking he wouldn't be able to get a refund on his tuition and certainly couldn't get credit if he left mid-semester. I had to learn from him that a plane crashed into the first tower. Class must have ended pretty soon thereafter because I remember going immediately to my dorm room and turning on the news. As I watched the coverage of the first crash, I witnessed on the live feed that was showing video coverage of the first plane, the second plane coming in and crashing into the second tower. I was in shock. I continued to watch the coverage. I remember they kept showing the video of the plane coming in over and over. Several cameras were set on the tower after the first crash so the second one had several views. Continued coverage described the fall of the towers and the crashes at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

I remember that at first, people thought that the first plane had lost control. No one seemed to know what was going on. Over the next several days I heard about terrorist attacks, Bin Ladin, and Al Queda as the events were explained. We learned that on the last plane, the passengers fought back and it had missed it's intended target. It was a confusing and upsetting time. Clean-up continued for what seemed like forever. The Ross Volunteers, and organization out of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets was sent out to help in the efforts.

Not long after, the next Aggie football game displayed an overwhelming view of Red, White, and Blue in the stands as Aggies showed up at the game supporting their country. An amazing view, I only wish I had been there.

I don't remember a ton of what happened closely thereafter. My lab partner did not get sent out. He was able to finish the semester. I also remember, that a friend of mine who was in the Marines got his clearance acceptance delayed because his paperwork was in the Pentagon. It's the big things and the quirky things you remember, not the little ones, I suppose.

A busy weekend

It's only about halfway into the weekend and we are all exhausted.

I had my normal mommy meeting today where we got off to a rough start with Noah and his very physical behavior. On the upside, I was able to hand off some of the shoes I had made that one of my mom friends ordered and picked up a potential new order.

In the afternon we attended a "family" reunion for an organization Taran and I were in while in college. It was so wonderful to get to see some old friends no matter how brief, but it also reminded me how secluded I've become in my "new" little life as a mom. It's a bit sad, really. Sometimes getting over that hump is the hardest part. In any case, Noah had a great time playing, even in the 106 degree heat - and depressingly enough, that is not an exaggeration. Poor Taran had to chase him outside while I stayed in and protected the wee one from the sweltering heat. He's such a good sport and luckily has a far superior tolerance to heat than I do. I hope Noah gets that from him because I'm a wimp. It's the end of the day and we are all worn out. I suppose that's the way to ensure good sleep.

Not a whole lot going on tomorrow, a few errands to run. Monday will be busy as well with August's 4 mo. appointment in the morning and then we are hosting dinner for a co-worker friend of Taran's and his wife. Fortunately, I've managed to keep the house from becoming a complete disaster area over the past couple of weeks since we last had dinner guests, so while there still is cleaning to be done, it's not terrible. We just need to plan a menu and take a trip to the store.

So, a good but busy start to the weekend. I'm not used to this pace of multiple outings in a Day and having had more outings than normal in the past week (some days with more than one) I'm wearing out. I remember the days when I had much more stamina. Here's hoping I can maybe keep up the pace and get that back. Yay for optimism. =)

More days gone by...

It's hard to believe that so much time passes between blog posts. I feel like there is nothing to report, but I suppose that depends on who's reading it and how much they know otherwise.

So, this week has been busy. Taran returned from the rig earlier than expected which was really nice. This go-round out there was stressful for both of us. While out there, the first big tropical storm of the season came through. Well, kinda. It was mild enough that they decided that the rig workers would ride it out. Not that that made me feel better. I also for the first time made sure to do some hurricane prep by getting a few recommended supplies. I wasn't terribly worried about food since I've had a habit of stocking up more since I've started couponing, but things like water and batteries were necessary to pick up. As it turns out, the storm passed south of where Taran's rig was stationed and they just got some waves. We didn't even get rain. Oh well, at least I have some supplies should I need them in the future.

This week I've also been inspired to create new projects for my baby boutique (despite having a lack of time to work on them. I also received some orders for more shoes which is super exciting - we just need to hash out the details for them. I can't wait to get to work on those.

Taran and I went and dropped off my second donation of milk to the drop-off site for the milk bank. I had almost 3 gallons collected which is awesome. It's so nice having Taran with me for those trips since the trip takes about 45 minutes and otherwise I'd have to unload kids and load them back up with no time to stretch legs and play, well, in Noah's case anyway - August would want a snack at the least. The other option is to stop somewhere to let Noah run around which can prove to be difficult depending on where we are. In any case, with Taran it was an easy run in an out so there was much less stress! Thank you, hubs!

Today I went to the local Big Latch On. Conveniently, it was taking place where we normally have our Saturday mommy meeting and almost at the same time too, so it's not like it was out of my way. I would have gone somewhere else though if it were in a different location. There were 15 moms there and a reporter from a local paper so that was pretty cool. They had also set up a silent auction for the Smart Mommies Education Foundation, the non-profit that hosts our meetings. I hope it did well. I didn't bid on anything b/c I'm cheap. Also, I didn't look closely at all the things up for auction but I did see some items which I either had or didn't need so I nothing drew me in.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have some work friends of Taran's joining us for dinner. Taran is planning on making chicken-fried steak which he makes wonderfully. I'm going to make the sides and we'll have mashed taters and black-eyed peas. Not a ton of color on that plate... Oh well.

So, that's the wrap-up of what's been going on with us. Maybe I'll get better at posting regularly, but who knows... =)

It's been two years already?

Ok, so I should have put up this post several days ago, but what can I say, I didn't think about it. Or I'm lazy. Or I was too busy. Or whatever other excuse you can come up with can be filled in. I didn't do it on time. Deal. =)

So, yeah, this passed Sunday, my baby boy became a boy. He turned two. I dunno. Two years in my mind are really the baby years. They change so much from month to month that I can't stop thinking of him as a baby at the age of one. I look at him now though and he really is a boy. He runs, plays, climbs, and throws tantrums. Yeah, he's two.

It's been amazing lately seeing all he can do and all he does. He's starting to put more and more words together which sometimes is adorable (like the other day when he was saying goodbye to the baby, the dog, and the books) and sometimes is not so cute (like when he's whining about something). It is exciting to see the development and depressing because he is getting more independent. At least when he's happy. If he's cranky or upset, that's when he wants his mommy. And some of those times I want to bang my head into a wall because as much as I want to snuggle my son, I don't want him to think crying is an appropriate response (like when the doctor comes into the exam room).

I'm not really ready for him not to be a baby anymore. I don't know if I ever will be. Even with currently have another baby, I'm not ready for Noah to no longer be one. Being a mom makes you funny in the head that way.

Another day...

So, yeah... It appears we didn't make it to the year mark with Noah's tubes before he started having  problems. Luckily, it's not an ear infection this time, it's his sinuses. I'm not sure that that is any better, but oh well. Back to the antibiotics and ear drops.

Over the past few weeks, all of us have been suffering form allergies and congestion. Taran and I seemed to recover relatively quickly. The boys? Not so much. Noah continued to have drainage, but since it was clear and he was acting like himself, I figured it was still allergies, gave him his allergy medication and ran the humidifier when he was sleeping. He had a few really bad nights where he was waking up a decent amount, but I just figured it was a little bit of reverting as I've heard toddlers do and I assumed it would go back to normal after a while. This too, shall pass, I decided. It appears that as in so many other situations, I got the symptoms wrong, and this is why as moms we have to accept that we will screw up.

Sweet boy

After noticing some discharge around Noah's ear yesterday, I didn't think a whole lot of it, because I could have missed some food bits from breakfast when I washed him up. I wiped his ear off and later I swabbed the entrance to the ear canal. This morning, he had more stuff in his ear and I was sure at that point, that something was going on. I had to cancel plans with my friend Laura (we had a Target and mall playdate for ourselves and our kiddos) and scheduled an appointment with the ENT. So, yeah, Noah has a sinus infection. He had a low grade fever, but you'd never know it. I suppose that's the reason that he was better behaved around the other kids in my mom group - and here I thought he was getting over the bullying. Way to go, self, you were so wrong...

Wee man

Luckily, wee baby is doing just fine. He still has some of his congestion, but it seems to be improving. Otherwise, he's doing his baby thing - eating, sleeping, and making diapers. Although, lately he has really taken up the whole cooing thing and has been talkative as anything. Complete with baby toothless grins. So adorable!

My newest pair of baby shoes

For me things are same ol', same ol' with the exception of having new projects to work on for my baby boutique. One of which is a pair of shoes for a little girl. I had to rework my pattern and pick up the material, but I managed to get those completed in record time. I just hope they fit, otherwise, it's back to the drawing board. No biggie though, I need to figure out how everything will work out with the shoes though since I've officially added them to my baby boutique. I've also worked on some new ideas for cakes which is awesome and I'm excited for opportunities to integrate them. Beyond that, I want to add some sewing projects to my baby boutique items, but that may be a bit down the road before I gather materials so I can experiment and have pictures for examples.

New bouquet for diaper cake topper

We did a bit of yard work today. Taran mowed, we both worked on trimming the bushes, and I weeded some. That's a never ending project, let me tell you! It's kinda like laundry and dishes. No matter how much you do, there's always more to do...

July!

It appears I'm behind... And once again, a friend has reminded me that I haven't updated my blog in over a month. So, I guess I will update it. I can't promise anything particularly witty or intelligent, but here's what's been going on...

3-tier Frog Cake

I, of course, have kept up with my regular attendance at meetings for my mommy group. The "group owner" has been working on getting her non-profit organization (a mom support and education organization) off and running which is cool. I really would like to help out, but since I still feel like I'm pulling my hair out with two kids, I really don't want to promise to do anything and then flake out. In the mean time, I'm just standing on the sidelines and observing what's going on and if I see an opportunity, I'll jump in. For example, today, they are having a booth at the local Independence Day "festival" and along with holding a bake sale, they were looking for items to either raffle off or sell in a silent auction. I made a diaper cake and donated it for said event. I hope it does well. Though, I have to admit, it was a bit selfish since I'm hoping to get my name out a bit more in the diaper cake biz. I suppose it's win/win really - as long as someone actually wants to bid on it in the silent auction. I really hope it goes for what it's worth and not a super low amount - that would be a blow to the ego.

My pump - it's a hard worker these days.

I've also been working on pumping a lot of milk. Well, the purpose was not to pump "a lot," really. I was just pumping. See, I had contacted the Mother's Milk Bank of Austin to get signed up as a donor. I went through the phone interview and was waiting on the donor packet to arrive in the mail so I could complete the next step as a donor. About that time, I heard of a mom in our mom group that was having some supply issues and was welcoming milk donations. I figured, why not? I could certainly pump and help her out, so I set off. I pumped some for her and some extra to boost my supply enough so that when the paper work went through I could donate at least something to the milk bank. The paperwork seemed to take forever and in the mean time, I'm just pumping along and creating a stash in my freezer as well as passing it along to the mom that needed it. Finally the packet arrived and I got it filled out and sent back, received my donor ID and was able to pick up some bottles for donation (they require "rigid" containers for collection at the milk bank). So, starting with the first day of July, I was officially able to start pumping for the milk bank. Yay! It turns out also,  that the mom I had been pumping for has been on a new milk boosting medication which has helped her immensely and she won't need me to pump any more (at least for now. I told her not to be shy if she needed more at any time.). So now, all my pumping efforts can go toward the milk bank which is great, but that means unless I get more bottles with each visit to the drop off site, I'll be going once a week to pick them up. We'll see how it all works out. I also have to get blood work run before I can drop off my first "installment" but they recommend doing it when you are close to having enough for your initial donation of 100 oz. So, I guess that means in the next several days I'll have to see about doing that.

Aside from that, I'm mostly trying to survive with two kiddos. Luckily the mommy meetings and regular trips to the mall or where-ever with my mom friend, Laura, allow me to get out of the house and give Noah some extra stimulation so he's not crazy with boredom and cabin fever. It's rough though. That kid needs to be able to run and climb to really burn off that energy which isn't the easiest for me to keep up with having a baby strapped to me, but I try.

August had his two month visit last Thursday. I can't believe he's that old already! Everything went well. He's growing (though not as quickly as Noah, but then, he was smaller to begin with so I guess it's relative) and up to 12 lbs 7 oz. He got his first big set of vaccines, which was no fun, but he did ok. Nursing after a trauma like that will fix anything. =) Noah did fantastic and though he was bored at the doctor's office, was surprisingly well behaved. I was so proud of him. I'm glad he behaves for the most part in public. =)

Two pairs of boy shoes size 2T packaged and ready for sale.

This past week I had my first sale of the shoes that I make. Up until then, I had only made them for Noah, but one of the moms in my mom group liked them so much she asked me to make two pairs for her. I was happy to do so and tried to package them up all nicely. Some of the other moms seemed interested in possibly buying them, so I may go ahead and add them to my baby boutique as another product which is a pretty exciting prospect for me.

This weekend, we anticipated going to visit Taran's family but that didn't pan out well since he returned from the rig several days later than planned due to a training course he had to take. We stayed in town and had some friends visit and wouldn't you know it, it's been about a year since we saw the one friend. We had a nice time, though I have to admit, we may not be the most fun hosts b/c we didn't do much but sit and chill and chat. Oh well. They've headed back now and it's back to our regular routine. Hopefully that includes more frequent blog updates, but we'll see...

I'm a Survivor!

Today marks the end of too long of a time period where I had to figure out how to be a single mom of two for the first time. Taran returned from his stint on the rig today to find both boys alive and well and me too.

I have to say it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, though I kinda protected myself. I limited outings to the bare minimum which helped greatly. I also had help on the weekends with various family members coming in to town which was awesome. The biggest difficulty I noticed was in the house. Before having two kids, housework got a bit behind, but I didn't have much difficulty catching up if needed. With two kiddos, it's much harder. Cleaning, laundry, and dishes it seems were done on a catch-up basis - when say, the sink was full of dishes or I ran out of clothes - which is definitely not ideal, but that's how it worked.

In case you were wondering, chasing a toddler is not as easy when holding a wee baby. The Moby is my friend keeping the infant close while keeping Noah out of things or chasing him and bringing him back to the time out chair he was avoiding. It's also not so easy to clean off breakfast dishes if I happen to set August in the bouncy chair and Noah is loving on him a bit too much, and by that, I mean sitting on him. Yes, that's right, I caught Noah sitting on his younger brother in the bouncy seat. Sheesh...

It's definitely an adventure. I'm glad that the hubby is back. Maybe I can go grocery shopping or something now kid free! Or maybe with just one... Even that would be a break. I still adjusting and I'm sure as time goes on I'm going to figure out this two kid thing. For now, I'm attempting to maintain my sanity.

Two weeks? Seriously?

Today our new little man had his two week visit with the pediatrician. I can't believe that it's been that long. Ok, technically, it's been 13 days, not two weeks, but it's close enough...

It may be because our schedule and day to day routine has been abnormal. Taran has been on vacation so we don't have specific places to be and things to do. We've been taking it easy and working out the specifics of how things work with two kiddos. That's not so easy and I'm glad that with few exceptions for appointments (and once for work) Taran has been here to help me out.

Our visit with the pediatrician was good. Our little man had 4oz. to gain to regain his birth weight, the goal at two weeks. He overshot it a bit and gained 13! Even the doctor was surprised at how well he had done - not that he was expecting him to do poorly, he just gained much more than expected. I'm glad he's doing so well. =)

Welcome to Our New Little Bundle of Joy!

I wrote this up and posted it on My Mommy Blog and decided to post it here as well. This is the birth story for our new little man, August.

With my first little one who is now 21 months old, I didn't do a very good job writing up his birth story. It's still partially done. I decided I'd go ahead and write up my experience with my second little one who was born just under a week ago.

After my last labor, I was happy with the care I received and the overall experience, but I still wanted some things to be different, and after experiencing it that time, I felt I knew more what to expect and could plan a bit better. I felt more empowered that I could make the decisions rather than being lead in a particular direction.

The major thing I wanted to be different was that I wanted to avoid medical interventions and medications. I wanted this with my first, but it didn't work out that way and after reflection, I felt that I had gotten so stressed out by the traffic in and out of my room during labor and the constant emphasis on time. I was hoping for less stress and less traffic. I actually got that!

After a pretty uneventful pregnancy (I lucked out and had nausea, severe heartburn, and backaches in the later stages but otherwise I avoided a number of other normal pregnancy discomforts), I neared the due date with a sense of calm and relaxation. I was in no rush to have the baby and I felt I had all the time in the world. it actually took my father-in-law visiting for a week and getting on my case to get things done like pack the hospital bag and get the baby clothes ready. I also had been reading HypnoBirthing, a book I borrowed from a friend, to try to gain some skills to keep myself less stressed during my labor and help me tune out the traffic in and out of my room. Inspired by that book and a few other factors, I wrote up my birth preferences (which I had not done with my previous baby) and printed out a copy to take with us. Among my preferences I listed the desire for a heparin block (vs. fluids) and intermittent monitoring so I could move around and change position during labor; reduced lighting, traffic, and checks during labor and delivery; no to limited medical interventions; breastfeeding immediately after the birth; weight checks, evaluations, and other newborn procedures to take place in my presence; avoid taking the baby to the nursery if at all possible; return the placenta to me for donation; and a few others.

My labor started on Friday afternoon. I was getting contractions throughout the day and in the afternoon I noticed they were getting a bit more frequent. Duration and spacing were not in a regular pattern, however. I called my in-laws (both nurses) to let them know I had started getting contractions. They were going to come and watch our older one while we were at the hospital and needed advanced notice since they live about 5 hours away. The rest of the evening was low key. I took a nice long shower and my husband kept our 21 month old from climbing on me too much. I gathered up the rest of the items I wanted to bring with us to the hospital. My husband went and picked up dinner for us to eat and I headed to bed a little early. I wasn't feeling very tired, but I lay down anyway, watched a bit of television and continued to monitor my contractions and practice the relaxation techniques I had read about. My in-laws arrived while I was resting. From about 10:45-11:30 they were coming fairly regularly with almost all of them being about 4 minutes apart. We decided we'd go ahead and pack up and head out.

We arrived at the hospital and checked in around midnight. We went to the triage area where I was hooked up to monitors and we filled out paperwork. My husband handed the nurse my list of birth preferences which she copied and placed in my chart, but barely looked at it. I was a little bit worried, but since I knew my preferences I figured we'd discuss it all as it came up. My contractions continued to be every 4 minutes and I was dilated to 3 cm. We were moved to a labor and delivery room where we filled out more paperwork. With a bit of difficulty, I was able to receive a heparin block rather than being hooked up to fluids and we then settled in for the night. It was a long night. I tried to rest, but it was difficult with the contractions and my very active little boy that didn't seem to like being squished. Eventually, with the help of my MP3 player, I did get intermittent sleep. When the morning came, things seemed to have slowed down some which was a bit unsettling. My new nurse came in and the first thing she told me was that she had read my birth preferences and everything looked great. She asked if I wanted to get up and take a walk, which I was more than happy to do to see if we could get things moving along. We took a stroll around the labor and delivery area but I didn't really feel any different. Around 10, the doctor came in to see how things were going and he check my progress. My contractions were really spread apart and so I wasn't progressing much at all. I had only dilated 1 more centimeter since we had arrived. He talked to me about various augmentation options which I told him I'd prefer to delay some more and see if we could get labor started up again naturally. He suggested I walk around for an hour or so (briskly) and he'd check me again in a few hours. My nurse told me no strolling that she wanted me to come back huffing and puffing and told us we could go further than just the labor and delivery unit. Off we went to wander the hospital - briskly.

We returned after an hour and continued the monitoring. My husband headed out to grab lunch and returned shortly after. When the doctor returned after 12 to check me, I hadn't made much progress. The doctor spoke again of possible interventions that were available to help move things along. Despite his assurance that this kind of intervention is "normal" for obstetrics today, I still was very hesitant to have anything done because I feared the snowball effect that seems to happen and had happened during my previous labor. Eventually, I opted to let him break my water and see if labor would progress some more - after all, it's the least detrimental of the interventions they can do and your water has to break at some point anyway. My nurse suggested that after he broke my water, we could wait a bit and then take a walk around to help things move along some more. This time, we needed to stay a bit closer. We walked around the unit and I was feeling more contractions which was great. We returned to our room where we relaxed for a bit. I sat on my exercise ball some, but eventually decided to lay back down in the bed. My contractions started to pick up and were not only more frequent, but were also stronger. I could feel them throughout my entire abdomen. I was able to incorporate the breathing techniques that I had read about and tried to keep in a relaxed state between them which seemed to work well. The contractions were far from the easy painless ones that I had before.

Around 3, the doctor returned to check me again. He had seen that my contractions had picked up so he was pleased with that. I had dilated another couple of centimeters and was now at 6. I have to admit, this news was disappointing to me. I really had hoped I was further along. I began to stress out a bit because I didn't want them to start talking to me about more interventions. Luckily, despite the "slow" progression, the doctor was happy to continue to watch and wait since I was making some progress. While this made me feel a bit better, I was still a bit on edge. My nurse asked if we wanted to walk around again, but at this point, I really didn't feel like it, so I decided to stay where I was. I did sit on my exercise ball again and leaned up against the bed when the contractions came along. Another nurse came in to check on me because the monitors were not reading as well when I was on the ball, but my nurse came in and said it was fine since the baby had been doing well and I could stay on the ball as long as I was comfortable. The contractions were getting stronger and I really wanted to get back in the bed. My nurse came back in and let me know that if I laid on my side and switched from time to time it might help things progress. I liked this idea since the firm bed was uncomfortable and laying on my side/stomach would be more comfortable. It was, except when I had a contraction.

My nurse was definitely right. Laying on my side/stomach definitely made things pick up and the contractions came stronger and longer. I also started experiencing back labor. I breathed through the contractions and tried to stay calm which was not very easy at all, but I managed. My husband started massaging my back which made a huge difference and really helped me get through the contractions. After a bit, I wanted to switch sides. We called my nurse in since the monitors were not reading well as I had been laying in that position so she readjusted them when I turned over. Again, the contractions picked up. Stronger and longer. The back pain was horrible. I felt I couldn't make it though a contraction without my husband rubbing my back. I'd tell him as each contraction came up. He decided he needed to run to get something to eat since things were starting to speed up. While he was gone, it seemed like an eternity. The contractions were so bad and I had fleeting thoughts of asking for meds as I tried to breathe through them. Each time they subsided, I tried to recenter myself and calm down again, but they came so quickly it was hard to do. I felt the slightest urge to push during one contraction but ignored it. The next few contractions, I felt the urge again and it was getting stronger. My husband returned (and, poor guy, got a not-so-happy me complaining that he was gone too long and I really needed him to massage my back - that he should have brought the food back instead of eating away from the room). After another few contractions, the urge to push was so strong I couldn't ignore it any more. I told him - mid-contraction - that I needed them to come in and check me because I was feeling the urge. He said it was too early, which I agreed, but there it was and I needed them to check me. He tried to leave, but since I was in the middle of a contraction, I wouldn't let him go just yet to get them. When that one was over, he went to get the nurse and another contraction started almost as soon as he left. I was feeling the  urge to push so badly. Apparently, despite both of us thinking it was too soon, it wasn't and I was ready to go. I was begging to push but they kept telling me not to. I needed to change positions so they could de-construct the bed and get things ready. I was so close to crowning and they had to rush. The doctor came in right around then and before I knew it, it was go time.

It was all of three pushes, if even that, and they told me to look down which I did and there he was. I couldn't believe he was out already. I heard a nurse call out 6:31 as his time of birth. They placed a very blue, very fussy baby on my stomach and I heard the doctor repeating to the nurses to be careful because the cord was short. The little guy was screaming, which I instinctively tried to calm while my husband was in my ear telling me he needed to cry to get oxygen. I watched as the precious blue little baby cried on my stomach and eventually started to get pinker. When the cord stopped pulsing, they cut it. I had torn some which the doctor repaired and then shortly thereafter, I delivered the placenta with an easy push.

The nurses proceeded to bustle around and clean up as I held my new little baby taking it all in. They weighed and measured him: 8lbs. 5 oz., 19 1/4 in long and returned him to me to hold and nurse. He latched on right away and we had our first nursing session with my champion nurser. 

My husband proceeded to make calls letting everyone know the baby had been born. Before too much longer, my in-laws arrived with our older son and bringing supper for me. I was so elated to see my little man whom I had been missing all day long. He was fascinated with the baby and proceeded to point out body parts, like nose, eye, hands, feet. It was such a beautiful moment.

We were moved to the recovery wing and settled in for the night. There were a few more visits from the nurses to check on the baby and me. Throughout the night we had only a few interruptions for checking vitals, etc. which was a nice change from my previous labor and, according to the nurses,can be credited to my birth plan which indicated a calm, low traffic environment. We spent two nights in the hospital and returned home Monday morning to start our new life as a family of four.

Welcome to the world my new little baby boy!

Here we go... time's flying and things are happening fast...

Heh, I just realized that my title makes it seem as if I went into labor! Not the case, sorry, but I'm gonna keep it anyway. =)

39 weeks

I've made it to 39 weeks and beyond. I'm excited to report that I finally got all the "nesting" stuff taken care of. Thanks to my father-in-law who was able to stick around for a whole week during my countdown to Taran's return from the rig (which happened exactly one week before the due date) I was able to get a bunch of stuff done and he was able to take care of several of the things that would have been on Taran's plate pending his return from working 7 days a week for longer than anyone cares to. So, lucky Taran, he got a bit of a break from a crazy wife insisting he get to work right away without a single day off or time to think.

I officially have the infant clothes out of the attic and most of them are clean, Noah is sleeping in his own room (well, he goes down ok, but has been waking up at night - baby steps, I suppose), the hospital bag is mostly packed (there are some things I'll use before then), the co-sleeper is up and ready to go in our room, and the car seats are both in the car and ready to go for two boys!

And now, the big news: I had my 39 week visit today (which is more accurately at 39.5 weeks). According to the doc, I'm about 2-3 cm dilated and the baby is pretty low and he can feel the head. He seems to think I won't make it to my 40 week visit next week. We'll see how that goes. He told me the same thing with Noah and I walked around for a week at 2 cm dilated. =) With any luck, the baby will wait since Taran has a training class he's working on this week and it'd be bad if he missed any of it - he told me missing just 45 minutes would require him to retake the whole course. So, as close as it seems, with luck we'll take our time! Until then, I have lots of laundry to keep up with. =)

Has it really been that long?

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! I suppose I could say I've been busy, but mostly, I've been trying to get by with sleep deprivation and surviving Noah's teething. Oh yeah, and the whole pregnancy thing...

For the most part I've been taking advantage of opportunities to sleep. I haven't been sleeping the best at night and Noah with his two year old molars moving around and coming in, also hasn't been sleeping so for me, that means naps when he naps and early bed times that cut into blogging opportunities.

The good news is that we are almost out of the woods with Noah's teeth. The forth and final molar has broken through and while that one and two others are still pushing through, the initial part is done and with luck, it'll be down hill from here. I'm sure Noah will be relieved - in more ways than one.

38 weeks

My pregnancy continues to go uneventfully which is great. The little munchkin is super active which at times is really uncomfortable, but I'd rather he move around like that than not at all. He's also decided he likes putting pressure on my sciatic nerve which shoots numbing pain down my right thigh. Perhaps he does it because he knows it makes me dance and wiggle around in an attempt to gain relief. The good news is that it's usually fleeting so as long as I move, the pain goes away. A friend of mine who was expecting just a few days ago actually had her baby a week early which made me panic that evening about not having things ready, but I soon recovered and returned to my I've-got-all-the-time-in-the-world status which is neither healthy nor accurate. Luckily, my father-in-law came to visit this weekend to get away from work and he's been helping out around the house and helping to kick my butt into gear to get things prepped for the new arrival. With luck, the next couple of weeks will continue to be boring - unless the baby comes since he's due in 11 days!

6 weeks to go...

34 weeks

I can't believe that yesterday I hit the 34 week mark! That means that in less than two months, I'll have two baby boys to keep me busy. April seems so far away. At the same time, it's probably because I'm in denial about March being halfway over. Even though it's so close, it still seems so far away. I feel like I still have all the time in the world to "get ready." I don't really have a ton to do. The extra diapers have been washed and are ready to go (to be added to the rest of the stash once labor starts so Noah has plenty while we are away and the in-laws don't have to worry about laundering them). Other than that, we still need to retrieve the infant clothes and infant car seat from the attic, set up the co-sleeper, and pack the hospital bag (Taran and I will share a bag). For some reason though, I'm not really in a rush to get any of that done.

Most of the time, I'm more focused on Noah and making sure I'm feeling as best as possible at any given moment. As time goes on, I've been experiencing some varying levels of back pain (probably because Noah weighs 31 lbs now) as well as increasing amounts of indigestion and heartburn. As a result, I tend to focus on what I can do, what has to be done, and what can be put off until another time. I'm trying to stay active but not over do it. Fortunately, my friend Laura and I have gotten the opportunity to be cliché stroller moms at the mall several times over the past few weeks which gets us out of our houses, gives us some exercise (though I'll admit, mall walking isn't very vigorous), and allows our kiddos to get some activity in the kids' play area at the mall.

We've had a pretty good low stress week this week, so that's been nice. Well, aside from our very unlucky St. Patrick's Day - things just seemed to keep going wrong yesterday! I just hope the weekend continues in the same low stress pattern as the early part of the week.

Keeping active...

It's interesting. Most of the time I feel like life is going in slow motion. Looking back at the past week, it has been anything but that. So, in keeping with early tradition of my blog, here's an overview of my week:

32 weeks

On Monday, I had my 32 week pregnancy visit. Everything is going well. The baby's growth looks good (in fact he's a bit on the big side). My blood pressure is normal. My weight gain looks good. The baby's heart rate is also good. An added bonus, my doc palpated the baby this time and he's confident that he's head down. Let's hope he stays that way.

Tuesday I attended my regular mommy meeting. I can't say there was anything particularly memorable about it, which I guess is good. We had a new mom at the meeting, that much I remember. Otherwise, it's a bit of a blur. It's likely my fatigue and exhaustion cloud my memory.

Wednesday I went to Hobby Lobby and the mall with a friend. It was so nice to get out and socialize where my kiddo wasn't bullying everyone else smaller than him. I spent the rest of my gift card for maternity clothes since I'm running out of time where such a gift card is even useful. I picked up some cute tees to add to my very boring wardrobe of t-shirts and jeans. Our two little munchkins played around at the kid section in the mall and they were so tuckered out that they both fell asleep in their strollers before we even left. I can't really complain about that.

Thursday the same friend and I met up at Target and picked up a few things we both needed. We then headed to a nearby playground and let the kiddos have fun sliding and running around. Ok, well, my kid ran around. Had anyone else been around they would have gotten a good laugh out of a very pregnant mama chasing a 19 mo old. My back was really bugging me and it wasn't easy. We eventually left the playground with the kiddos wearing out and ready for naps. I chilled at my friend's house for a bit to recover and get some Tylenol before going home. Thursday evening Taran returned from his two weeks in PA on a rig. It's so nice to have him home. It makes the house seem much less empty.

Friday was primarily a relaxing day. I did get some grocery shopping done which was nice. I was able to take advantage of some great sales. I ran out of steam after one store though and didn't get all my shopping done. I may just skip the other store this week.

Super yummy!

Today, we went to the home of one of Taran's co-workers for a crawfish boil. It was my first one to ever attend and the same goes for Noah as well. It was nice to be able to relax a bit. Noah had fun playing on the trampoline and with the two boys of the co-worker. He also really enjoyed the crawfish which couldn't have made me happier. He kept asking for more and more and I couldn't peel them fast enough for him! I love that my munchkin is so willing to try new foods!

Soft soled shoes for Noah

I did have a project that I worked on starting on Wednesday. At Hobby Lobby I picked up some materials and supplies to make some soft soled shoes for Noah. At 19 mo, his feet are too big to fit into most of the commercial brands of soft soled shoes and I can't afford to pay for most of them anyway. It's really important to me to help ensure proper foot development so I really wanted to keep him in this style of shoe. My sister-in-law found a shoe pattern for me that was for 0-6 mo. I did a bit of measuring and managed to enlarge the pattern to an appropriate size. I first made a practice pair of shoes with some scrap fabric (that project I worked on about a week ago). The practice shoes fit great so I felt confident in making the real deal with a leather sole so Noah could wear them outside. So over the past couple of days that's what I was working on in my "spare time" (does that actually exist for me?). The real test came today when we went to the crawfish boil. The shoes are great, but I need to tighten the elastic a bit more since they slipped off of Noah's heal a couple of times. Otherwise, they stood up great and I'm encouraged for the next size up. I may have to narrow the pattern a bit since it's really wide at the top.

Aside from that, life is pretty normal. Ok, well, maybe not. Noah has been really volatile the past couple of weeks because of teething. One of his 2-year-old molars has shown it's ugly face and I'm sure the others are close behind. The poor kiddo has been clingy and wanting to be held all the time (not and easy task for preggo mama over here). He also seems to get easily irritated or frustrated. Add to that the fact that he's not sleeping well and you have just a bad equation. Needless to say, I also haven't gotten much sleep lately either. I'm almost getting used to the constant tired feeling as sad as it is. My only hope is that the teeth come in before the new baby arrives and we can get Noah back to his regular routine. You know, just in time before it's disrupted by another munchkin!

Keeping up to date...

A friend of mine told me today my blog was out of date, so I guess I should at least post something...

For the most part life is "business as usual." Noah continues to get into things as he grows and explores and drives me crazy! His most recent antics include a wide variety of things to keep my blood pressure up such as climbing on chairs and stacks of boxes to get to light switches. He has also decided he likes coloring on the walls, doors, boxes, etc. with whatever coloring implements he can find and then consuming those coloring implements. I guess he thinks he can hide the evidence - hard to do with purple ink running down your chin. He has destroyed half a dozen or so more books that are currently awaiting repair as well. Throw into the mix the crankiness that comes with teething and it's just a hoot and a holler at our house, often quite literally. Gotta love those two-year-old molars. He's only 19 mo, but one has already broken through on the edge. I can see white of another just under the gums. It's only a matter of time. I can't wait. I wonder if the drooling will stop after that since he seems to have very productive salivary glands even between teething times...

30 weeks, 2/17/2011

Despite Noah's activities like setting off his dad's car alarm multiple times and figuring out how to open the dishwasher (oh no, knives!) the comment about the blood pressure is thankfully not true, which is good with the pregnancy and all. So far so good in that department. I'll be 31 weeks tomorrow and everything looks good. I do get comments about how I don't look like I'm that far along (it really isn't fair when you compare me to someone who is further along and carrying completely differently). Sometimes the comments are a bit annoying, sometimes they are complementary - depends on my mood, really. It's just a bit frustrating, because it's not like I'm dieting or anything. I'm just not gaining a ton of weight and letting myself go simply because I'm pregnant. That's ok, after the baby is born I can just brag about how easy it was to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Maybe... if I'm lucky. Anyhoo... the baby is growing fine according to the doc and he's super active too. No other issues or complications so, yay! Unless you count heartburn. I really don't. I just have to up my dose of Pepcid - joy. I had to get shot (correction, injected) for Rh factor since I have negative blood - I don't remember it stinging that much - owie, but that's just part of the deal (Free bruise with every injection!). I'll have to get another injection if the baby turns out positive. We'll see when he gets here. I have noticed that I'm kinda chill about the whole thing. I know what I want for labor and I don't feel the urge to get all prepared. There are a few things we'll need to do like pull down Noah's infant clothes and car seat, install the baby car seat, set-up the co-sleeper, and what not; but, I'm not really stressed and I have no urgency to do those things right now! I did receive the additional diapers to supplement our stash, they were delivered about a week or so ago (Thank you to Taran's mom). I have to prewash all of them, but again, no rush. I'm mostly focusing on keeping track of the trouble maker. My doc advises me to pick him up less - riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... like that's a feasible option. I guess I shouldn't have mentioned that sometimes I've been experiencing some lower back/hip/upper thigh discomfort. I need to learn to keep my big mouth shut.

I've been trying to work on my baby boutique stuff and pet nutrition consulting "business," but both have been slow going. Probably because I do it in my free time - wait, what's that? Oh, that's the problem! Most of my efforts in those departments have been brainstorming. It goes a little like this: "I need to increase business. What can I do to increase interest? Think, think, think." It's very Pooh-like. To be fair, I have developed two new products and a new style of diaper cake for my baby boutique all in the past couple of months so that's not nothing, but I feel like it could be better. Oh, and blogging for both the pet nutrition consulting and baby boutique. I've tried to keep that up too, so I guess that means this one is suffering.

Ok, well, once again it's time for diaper duty (heh, doody - sorry, mom humor - or just my 12 year-old sense of humor - you pick). I hope this something is sufficient for updating my blog. Let me know, Laura!

A visit from the Jehovah's Witnesses

Today I had the pleasant experience of a brief encounter with some Jehovah's Witnesses. We had a nice little chat, they gave me a book and then went on their way.

I really don't mind visiting with them, honestly. They are typically nice and polite, as are the Mormons when they come by. And honestly, you gotta give kudos to people that evangelize like this. It can't be easy. In today's day and age, they are as welcome as a telemarketer calling during dinner time. So, it's nice to see people keeping up with and sharing their faith.

Being the type of person I am, I of course started reading the little book they left with me. I flipped through the pages and read excerpts when something caught my eye. I also started looking up some other information about the beliefs and origins of Jehovah's Witnesses. It's quite interesting. Now, I also have to consider the source, because the source of information tells you just as much as the information they are providing. I'm learning quite a bit, and despite some similarities and commonalities, I can't say I really agree with a lot of what they teach. It is, however, enlightening.

I've always been one to try to learn about the beliefs of others and share my own beliefs. I love religious discussions. I do draw the line though, when they change from respecting my beliefs and sharing theirs to converting me or questioning and challenging what I believe. That's a conversation stopper for me. If I were asking about their beliefs because I wanted to learn and found my own beliefs to be lacking, that's different. But I don't. And every religious discussion I've been in, whether from someone simply conversing or trying to convert, has never done anything more than strengthen my own beliefs. Funny how faith works.

They may come again, I told them it was ok. I don't mind people evangelizing. I do, however, have a better idea of what they believe and teach and the methods in which they do so. If they do come again, that's fine, I don't mind brief discussions, but they won't get anywhere with me if they try to convert me. That's just the way I am.

Same ol', Same ol'

Not a ton going on lately. We are basically keeping with our normal schedule. Hubby goes to work, mama and baby stay home, hubby comes home, dinner, baby bedtime, then our bedtime, and repeat the next day. Sounds relaxing and a bit boring, but really when you throw in the fact that the baby is very active and I'm preggo, it adds to the "excitement." Yeah, that's the word I'll use.

I do try to get out, but lately I've been a home-body. Hey going out of the house costs money, even if it's just gas money. Eventually though, I do need to get out and run errands...

I had my 24 week visit on Monday. Nothing terribly exciting. All is well. I'm a bit bummed that I gained 5 lbs since I last saw the doc, but since my weight gain has been nil, well negative (I'm still technically under my pre-pregnancy weight) the doc isn't worried. I went to my mommy meeting yesterday and was asked if I was sure I was pregnant. It's a bit sad. Mostly because I'm showing, but because of how I'm carrying the baby (and this happened the last time too), I look like I'm chubby as opposed to pregnant. It's a bit depressing.

Taran may be going out to work on a rig in PA. I'm not too thrilled about that, especially since his schedule for that rig will be three weeks on, two weeks off. He said that means he'll have two stints out there before the baby is born. I don't like the idea of him being gone for three weeks at a time. Of course, he came home yesterday talking about all kinds of big changes in the company so he doesn't even know any more if he'll be going out. There's a lot going on this week for him. Today, he's giving a presentation for a promotion (this is the third time they've scheduled it because of various reasons) and then tomorrow he has one of their regular meetings. Both his presentation and the meeting are in Louisiana so I have almost two solid days without him. On Friday after his supervisor has a meeting he'll know more about what's going on with the rig job and other things at work.

I've gotten the urge to be crafty lately, but lack the time. Probably because I'm being lazy and watching TV or blogging when I have the free time. I did make a new bracelet pattern recently. I was intrigued by a pattern book I saw at Jo-Ann's the other day, so I picked it up. It had a bunch of patterns I knew or ones that were in other guides I have, but some were new or variations of what I'd done, so I picked it up. It took me most of the day to make the bracelet, but if I had been able to sit and make it in one session it probably would have taken 2-3 hours which is short considering the size of the bracelet. I like it, but I think I'll have to use different material if I do that pattern again. I'm not sure how long it will stand up.

This is the full bracelet. The patterned portion (without ties) is about 5" long and almost an inch thick.

 

 

 

 

Up close view of the pattern.

This is the backside of the bracelet. A bunch of people will wear friendship bracelets with the back facing outward (I'm not sure why), and with this pattern it kinda works, but I prefer to wear them with the top-side out.

Anyhoo... maybe I'll continue to be inspired by crafty projects so I feel like I'm productive. We'll see. Maybe next time I'll have something more interesting to write about. =)

Happy New Year and Keeping up with Christmas!

Time for resolutions, right? Yeah, right....

I just don't participate. Most aren't held up, and those that are last through January if you are lucky. I'll pass. Yep, that's right, I'm admitting I don't have the discipline. At least I'm honest.

I do, however, want to vent a bit. I was watching a news show of some sort, I think it was a talk show on CNN not long before Christmas. The topic kind of confused me. They had the host, a priest, and an atheist leader discussing Christmas and Christmas decorations and symbols and their affect on society. Apparently, some people are feeling awkward about Christmas. I'm guessing it has to do with not celebrating it. The thing that gets me though, is that Christmas is not exclusionary.

As a Christian, I celebrate Christmas recognizing the religious aspects of the holiday, and attempting to focus primarily on those. I prefer that to be the main focus of my celebrations of Christmas, and as a result, I maintain the decorations and try to keep up the holiday spirit for the full 12 days between December 25th and January 6th (aka the twelve days of Christmas).

There are however, many secular traditions like Christmas trees, decorations and lights, gift giving, and Santa Claus (in his current lore and apparitions) that are celebrated by many people that don't acknowledge the religious aspects of the holiday. Although many of the secular traditions have changed from religious origins or since their pagan beginnings have had Christian concepts superimposed on them, they can still be a part of Christmas celebrations without the focus on one specific religion. One of the biggest parts of Christmas is celebrating family and a spirit of sharing and giving. In that way, Christmas has nothing to do with religion and those that aren't Christian should feel no more excluded than an American at Thanksgiving.

The biggest thing though, that people seem to forget is that Christmas is a national holiday. The governmental recognition of the holiday may have roots in pagan, Christian, and other religious origins, however, in today's society, the national holiday is in tact in all it's secular glory. It is appropriate for salespeople to wish you a "Merry Christmas" just as they would say, "Happy New Year". Your religious beliefs are not an issue. It is not exclusionary if you are non-Christian or if you chose to celebrate the Winter Solstice instead of Christmas, but the well wishes are the same. It's an American thing, not a religious thing. It is naive to feel excluded or left out.

I celebrate Christmas my way. Every American is welcome to do the same regardless of creed. So I do hope you had a truly Merry Christmas! And for those still celebrating as I am, I hope your Christmas continues to be merry!