Maggie snippets

Filed under: motherhood

She spins around the living room (usually wearing a dress or one of her princess outfits) and makes herself dizzy. She stops and says “WHOA! The house is falling!”

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The only place we have child locks in the house is on our tv cabinet. And she recently learned how to open those (so Hello! DVDs spread all over the house!) One day last week, she was trying to open one of the locks but was having trouble. “AAARRRRRGH! Come ONNNN!” she yelled angrily.

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When she was a baby, we sang Wheels on the Bus to her approximately 8,192 times a day. Or we listened to the CD with that song on it 7,209 times a day. And my mom has a CD of kid’s music that she plays for Maggie when we’re at her house, and apparently she (my mom) makes a huge deal when Wheels on the Bus comes on. Because in the car if we hear it, Maggie gets really excited and yells “THIS IS GRANDMA’S FAVORITE SONG! OH MY GOODNESS!”

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A few days after Snowmageddon, she wanted to play outside. It was like NINE degrees out there, so naturally I told her we had to stay in, it was cold.

“But I LIKE cold!”

“Sweetie, this is really cold. DANGEROUS cold.”

“But I LIKE dangerous!”

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This is probably typical for kids her age but: “Valentimes Day!” nearly killed me every time.

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Apparently I’ve been whining a bit too much about my first trimester woes, because today she started walking around, saying “I’m so TIRED from this baby in my belly!”

anniver-surgery

Filed under: life, she's a weird one

I’ve always been one for remembering dates. The first date for Dan and me. The day he proposed. The day I found out I was pregnant with Maggie. The day we closed on our first house. Those sorts of things. (However, I’m only kind of okay at remembering birthdays. That is, I’ll REMEMBER it’s your birthday, but I most likely will forget to TELL YOU that I remembered it was your birthday. So I’m halfway there.)

So of course today, I reflected on the 20th anniversary of the day that a surgeon cut me open on the operating table, removed most of my innards, and operated on my left kidney. I was ten years old.

It was a long time ago, but I can still remember a lot of things pretty clearly. I remember being very sick for a while- nearly a year- before the doctors figured out what was wrong. I remember my pediatrician telling my mom that I was just nervous about going to school or I was trying to get attention. And of course my mom KNEW that wasn’t true. As I lay on the couch, my face green and pale and my body weak and dehydrated from puking for 7 days straight, she KNEW something was wrong. I remember when we went to Children’s Hospital after a night spent on the couch next to a paper bag, watching Nick at Night. I remember peeing in 8,092 cups and the nurses taking 7,289 vials of blood and undergoing several rather uncomfortable procedures (catheter, anyone?) before they finally did an ultrasound and saw the problem.

When it came time for my surgery, I remember being upset that I was going to miss my 5th grade Valentine’s Day party (and to this day, I can’t remember if I actually missed it or if I was just panicking that I would miss it.) I remember being in the pre-op area, behind a curtain, all alone, and the nurse asked me if I was getting an IV or gas for my anesthesia. Being ten, and scared, I just agreed with whatever she said, and then started crying as she prepped my arm for the needle. Then someone came in and corrected her- I was supposed to get the gas mask instead- so I was saved. I remember when it came time for the gas, it was grape ‘flavored’ and the doctor told me to count backwards from 100. I think I got to 96 before ZOOM! I was waking up in recovery.

I remember the girl in the room with me- she was young, maybe 4? 6?- and she had spina bifida. It made my surgery seem routine and minor, even if I was in pain for a few days. And it makes the 5 inch scar on my left side seem like a non-issue. Sure, my surgery was necessary and it WAS a little bit scary (the doctor later told my parents that if we had waited much longer, my kidney could have burst and then… well, that would have been very bad.) but the surgery fixed the problem and soon, I was good as new. And 20 years later, there have been no other issues.

At the time, I didn’t really understand what a big deal it was, having such an invasive surgery. But now- as a mother- I can only imagine how stressed out and worried my parents were. Imagining my baby girl being sliced open by a surgeon… just. No.

Anyway. So Happy 20th Anniversary, Left Kidney. I’m glad you decided not to explode on me. That was nice of you!

weekly winners, volume 46

Filed under: photos, weekly winners

curls

casino night

dealer

this game hated me & took all my chips.

red 19

Blackjack

button winner!

Filed under: contests, motherhood, photos

Congrats to Janette, the lucky winner in the Adjust-a-button giveaway. May your pants be always comfortable!

In other news, Maggie has been (semi) successfully drinking from a Big Girl Cup. Only at the table so far, because she doesn’t quite get that you can’t just toss your cup of milk onto the couch if it doesn’t have a lid on it, but it’s definitely a milestone.

(And yes, that’s a Halloween shirt. And it’s February. Don’t judge. It was laundry day.)

an ode to The Man

Filed under: marriage, pregnancy

When Dan and I got married (nearly 8 years ago!), I knew he was a Good Guy. He’s friendly, smart, laid back, and the only tears he’s ever forced me to shed have been because I’m laughing so hard I can’t breathe. He loves me. He’s always been supportive of everything I’ve wanted to do- when I wanted to quit my job to focus on my business, he was right there with me, celebrating and cheering me on. I only hope he has felt the same love and support from me along the way.

It’s easy to love a spouse when it’s just the two of you. But things change when you have a kid. Instead of being two individuals who happen to be together, suddenly you are On A Team. For everything from late-night feedings to toddler discipline, you have to be on the same side or things can get ugly quick. Lucky for me, since Day 1, Dan has been an amazing dad- which makes him an even more amazing husband.

But now that I’m pregnant again, I’m realizing even more just how incredible he is. I’ve been sick the past week- pregnancy sick- and it’s kicking my butt. It’s not nearly as bad as some people get- THANK GOODNESS- but it’s enough that it’s making daily life a little rough for me. I hate hate hate not being able to do what I want because I don’t have the energy. I’m absolutely craving sleep. Nothing sounds good to eat so I keep skipping making anything decent for dinner and we just scrape together leftovers or whatever from the fridge. I go through phases of complete exhaustion and intense nausea where all I want to do is lay on the couch and moan, followed by a burst of energy and LET’S GET SOMETHING ACCOMPLISHED, OMG. (unfortunately the energy burst is a lot shorter than the first phase, usually.)

And he’s just rolling with it. He’s taking care of Maggie, taking care of me, getting me water and Tums and pretzels when I ask for them. We all three spent the day at home today- him working, me trying to work and take care of a sick Maggie. And even while he was working, he was still taking care of us.

Then tonight, while he was cleaning up my kitchen for me, Maggie puked on the living room floor. Immediately my sensitive stomach started sending DANGER! DANGER! signals to my brain, and I looked at him in a panic. He took one look at me and rushed over to clean it up while I took Maggie upstairs to get changed. After things were, um, REMOVED FROM THE PREMISES, Maggie and I settled in on the couch while he finished cleaning up the kitchen.

My man, he is the Best. I just hope he’s willing to put up with this for 5+ more weeks. SECOND TRIMESTER, WHERE ARE YOU?

the incredible expanding waistband

Filed under: contests, photos, pregnancy

So apparently, when the Baby Websites and Magazines and Books tell you that your second pregnancy will probably start becoming physically obvious a lot sooner, THEY MEAN IT. You guys. I’m seven weeks pregnant. And I can’t button my pants anymore. (At least not without worrying that I’m strangling my poor little bean in there! And feeling like someone is sawing me in half with denim.)

I know that it’s all bloating at this point. But STILL. This didn’t happen the last time. I remember being 10 weeks pregnant with Maggie and still comfortably fitting into my regular jeans. And shirts were no problem! Now, not only can I not button my pants, but every shirt I own is too tight around my middle (and my boobs. Oh lordy, the boobs are out. of. control.)

But there is a solution, my friends. At least for the pants issue (For the shirts… *sigh* I think I might have to break out my bins of maternity clothes and start sorting through them. ALREADY. GAH.) A few weeks ago, Sarah wrote about the Adjust-a-Button. I had JUST found out I was pregnant so naturally I was intrigued- enough that I went to the website and bought a set of those suckers. I was confident I wouldn’t need them for at least another month or so (HAHAHAHAHAHA) but at least I’d have them on-hand. They were cheaper than a new pair of jeans, after all! Plus, since I hadn’t really shared the news with the world yet, it was my first Pregnancy Purchase and made the whole thing seem that much more real.

Fast-forward to last week when I couldn’t button any of my jeans. Awesome. So out came the Adjust-a-Button and it did the trick. WAY better than the rubber-band/hair-tie through the button hole trick I used last time (how many times did the dang things slip off?? GRRR)

The only issue is that the buttons come in sets of two. And really, even if I gain eleventy-billion pounds while I’m pregnant, I can’t see a scenario in which I’d be wearing TWO pairs of pants at the same time. That means I have an extra one. And THAT means: GIVEAWAY.

If you’re pregnant, thinking (hoping!) about becoming pregnant soon, have a friend who is pregnant, or heck- maybe you just want to have them on hand for Thanksgiving dinner!- you will want this. Or, if you’ve recently lost some weight and just need those pants to be a *little* tighter ~~I hate you~~, you can also use this to make your waistband smaller! It’s a genius little product, I think. One of those where I’m smacking my forehead, going WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?

So, how to enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me what you did for SuperBowl Sunday. Did you watch the game? Do you hate football and do something else? (then I don’t think we can be friends, sorry.) (but it won’t hurt your chances in the contest, I promise.)
2. You can get another entry by Tweeting about the giveaway and posting a 2nd comment here with a link to your Tweet.
3. Comments will close on Thursday evening at 9pm EST and I’ll pick a random winner after that.

Now if you need me, I’ll be over here rubbing my already-growing belly.

Note: I didn’t receive any compensation or payment for this post. I bought the Adjust-a-Button with my own hard-earned cash and just felt the urge to share the love.