New Pics!

I ran up to the nursery so Jenn and Joe could use my camera. They drive me crazy with their camera phone pics! =) Here are the best of today's pics:

Yay! She's a mommy now!

Bayley Elizabeth

First family pic (minus Z)

What you get for letting a doofus use your camera! Tee hee. J/k J!

Update from Jiff via text message...

"Bay took the bottle really well this AM! They had trouble with latching b/c whenver something touched her gums, she clamped on it. LOL! Her next feeding is at 2pm and its a bottle feed so I get to FINALLY hold her and feed her!!"

Jiff's going home...

I just talked to Jiff. She's getting ready to be discharged. Yay! She's very excited about going home and relaxing. Oh...and taking a shower! =) Bless her heart.

Bayley has to stay. I don't know a lot about her condition. She's under the bili light right now. She's on antibiotics... They're going to start her on formula today.

Jiff actually got to see Bayley last night...for the first time since she first entered the world. She was so excited even though she only got to touch a little part of her arm.

Jiff and J will be coming back every day to visit their little miracle until she's discharged. Pray for Bayley... that she'll get well SOON so that Jenn can hold her!

~Court

Look at this Cutie Patootie!

**UPDATED TO ADD NEW PICS**

I hated having to take pics of her thru the glass. She's so cute. She'd scrunch her little booty up in the air. She has a head full of dark hair...

Jenn is super tired, of course. She's doped up on drugs right now, so I didn't stay with her for very long. Apparently she's had a parade of visitors and J's been running "tours" from Jenn's room to the nursery. =) Cute!

I'll keep posting pics as I get new ones.

~Court

BAYLEY ELIZABETH IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy crap, ya'll! J called me at 9:16 this morning and said, "We're done!" Um, what was that?! I thought he was pulling my leg (he's good at that)! But, no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jiff had just delivered 20 mins earlier. I don't know all the details yet, but you better believe I'll get them to you as soon as I find out! =) I rushed up to labor & delivery...THANK GOD I WORK AT THE HOSPITAL...and just happened to meet Bayley in the hallway. So, of course I grabbed a pic! I didn't get to see Jiff. I gave J strict orders to call me as soon as she's ready for visitors. Whoo hoo! Oh...and yes...Bayley is perfect. She's tiny, but healthy as far as the prelim check-up could tell. Yay! OMG! I'M SO EXCITED!

WELCOME BAYLEY ELIZABETH!

UPDATE: Bayley was 5lbs 8 oz. Her lungs are a little "wet", but other than that she's perfect. I'm so glad Jenn had those steroid shots this past weekend!! Anyhoo, apparently the delivery happened so fast that Jenn didn't even get an epidural. Boo! I'm trying to get all the deets, but I'm so excited I forget to ask the right questions! =) Right now, Jenn is conked out, so I won't get to see her for a while. As soon as she's ready, I'm going to storm the room and take lots of pictures of my pals. Yay babies!

And here's a pic of Jiff from last night...

~Court

Latest Ultrasound Pics

Bayley sucking her thumb.

Bayley's vayjayjay. *snicker*

Bayley's face. Jiff's hubby says she looks like a superhero in this one.

Bayley's face. Check out her chubby cheeks!

~Court

Meet The Tarvers!

I went to visit Jiff tonight and managed to take a few pics. She wouldn't let me take pics of her, but she promised to let me do a "photo shoot" sometime before she delivers. I think she's the cutest pregnant person ever! I did get pics of the hubs, Z and the furry kids.

Jiff's hubby

Z - Jiff's stepson

DJ

Makana

Fletcher

Jiff's pregnant belly! Hehe. Snuck that one in there.

J showing off on the trampoline.

Z's a cutie patootie!

Bayley's room! It's really pretty! I wish I could get the whole room in one shot.

The Tarver living room. They have the greatest taste!

Jenn's so happy to be home. I went over there tonight to cook dinner, but their neighbor beat me to the punch! So, I'll go back tomorrow night. I loaded Jiff up with magazines, books and movies...and peanut M&M's, of course! I kept telling her to SIT DOWN, but she's so stubborn. =) Hopefully she'll take it easy tomorrow. We don't want Bayley to come out for at least 3 weeks! Speaking of Bayley, I borrowed Jenn's latest u/s pics. I plan to scan them and post them tomorrow.

~Court

GUEST POST!!

Hello all. Court here...posting for Jiff. She's been in the hospital since Saturday night for pre-term labor and a "touch" of preeclampsia. I'm not sure of all the details yet. I'm sure Jiff will bless us with a detailed post as soon as she's able. In the meantime, you can check out my blog for updates.

Wow.

Wow. So yesterday, I was excited because I was getting to purchase a bouncy seat thingy for $15 and a boppie pillow for $5 from someone here at work. Then I get an email saying my deadline for this project that grates on my soul has been extended from 4/1 to 7/15!! WOO HOO!! So I was in a pretty good mood.

THEN.

My husband calls to tell me that a neighbor, 3 houses down, was dead. WTF?!?!?

I rush home and a neighbor had already gotten all the kids off the bus and into her backyard onto her trampoline. They knew nothing, other than there were a TON of police cars and such at that house. They remained blissfully unaware, thank goodness.

We don't know what happened. Most of us that knew him are very suspicious because he was a nice guy even though he had his issues. (Don't we all.) And his fiance' and her son we don't know very well. His fiance' was driving my neighbor's truck when her son who was at the house when it happened (in another room) called her. She rushes back to the house in his truck. What's suspicious to us is that in the years we've all known our neighbor, NO ONE but him drove his truck. And why would he be in a room and suddenly dead? Hm..not sure. But I don't exactly live in Vegas or Miami where CSI is filmed... and no film crews... so we may never find out the truth. Suffice it to say I was a little weirded out. We live in a very calm, kid-friendly, nice neighborhood. This doesn't happen to us.

Um... so ending on a non-tragic note:
Is it possible for my unborn child to DOUBLE IN SIZE in a matter of 2 days?! I feel like she is suddenly HUGE and her head is lodged right up under my boobs and her feet pressing on my bladder. I swear it wasn't this painful to move around last week. Seriously, I am officially at the uncomfortable mark. It's hard to get out of bed, up from chairs, and just uncomfy in general.

Wow. These last 8 weeks had better FLY by.

Car decorations.

Have you ever looked at what people put on their cars? I have a 30 minute (sometimes longer) commute to work every morning and sometimes I'm amused, shocked, grossed out, confused, etc. by what people choose to decorate their cars with.

Bumper stickers are usually funny but why would you want to say the same thing ALL day long for YEARS? Well, unless it's a really funny one...which I have yet to see. The "My kid is an honor student at X Elementary" is pretty lame, but what's a proud parent to do when their kid hands them a sticker and looks at them with those pitiful little eyes? Hehe. The "My kid beat up your honor kid" is funny for a second, but seriously. Not worth putting on your car. Or those Calvin stickers where he's urinating on a Ford or Chevy logo. Uh, not so funny. Just retarded.

Yesterday I passed someone with a Bush/Cheney '04 sticker on their van. Good luck peeling that off. Why don't they make political clingy things instead of stickers? That way you can take them off when they aren't running for office anymore.

My husband LOOOOOVES stickers. He's a kayaker and therefore his truck window is covered with kayak gear logos, musicians, etc that he loves. People always think he's a teenager when he pulls up with his loud music, racks on top of his truck, and stickers covering every spot on the windows. He even got pulled over the other day by a cop because one headlight was burnt out. Then they asked to search his truck. Sure, no problem. Once the cop realized he was sober, not a teenager, not a dope head or gangster, he asked, "So you like Bob Marley and you don't have any drugs in your truck?" I thought that was pretty narrow-minded and small-townish. But whatever. Joe said, "No sir, I just like his music. I love Jimmy Buffett too." And yes, there is a Jimmy sticker somewhere on there.

Joe put a few stickers on my car once and a few months later they "mysteriously" disappeared. I just couldn't stand it. I had to take them off. I have my parking stickers for work and that's it.

I hate those stickers that say "If it flies, it dies." You may not be familiar with this unless you live in the south. We're animal lovers and conservationists. We don't hunt, my husband fishes with Z in a neighborhood pond, but they always throw the fish back. We aren't vegetarians by any stretch but we always take in stray animals and find homes for them.

And I'm a sports fan but you know those flags you put on your windows so it looks like your car has two pigtails sailing in the wind? Why do people use them other than on game days? They just look retarded.

Some people put plastic duck or deer heads on the ball hitch on the back of their truck or SUV. That doesn't bother me. What DOES bother me... those hanging balls from the bottom of a truck that are supposed to look like testicles. How do you explain to a 5 year old what they are? I've just said, "Oh honey, those are tacky decorations for a truck. They're stupid." Of course, Z says, "Yeah, they look really stupid. I don't like them." I said, "Yeah, I don't either." So hopefully that will be the end of it and it won't come up again.

Bastard Pears.

YAY FOR SLEEP!!! I FINALLY slept last night!! I woke up like 5 times but went right back to sleep. Each time I woke up, it felt like it was SO much later than what it was. I went to bed at 9:30 and my husband was so exhausted he had fallen asleep across the bed (sideways). I didn't want to wake him so I gently sat on the bed with a book and just waited. He eventually stirred and got up and ready for bed. We were both so tired (we haven't slept well the last 2 days) that we both passed out and barely moved all night. It was so nice to actually SLEEP in the same bed with my husband! He usually sleeps on the couch and I have the bed to myself. I've gotten used to spreading out and having pillows all around me, but there's nothing like having your sleepy, snoring hubby next to you. Sorry for the gooshiness of this post.

SO... yesterday, with all the flash flooding and heavy winds and rain going on...I get a call from hubbaroo saying one of our Bastard Pear Trees (I HAAAATE Bradford Pear trees) had split and crashed into our mailbox and into the street. THANK GOB our house or anyone else's property hadn't been hit. No one was injured but the bed around our mailbox. My husband was cussing because a weeping Japanese Maple was destroyed. Those aren't cheap. :( But it's replaceable, so that's all that matters.


I sat and watched as Joe chainsawed up the limbs on the ground and 4 neighborhood kids helped move the pieces onto a trailer. Two more neighbors came out to help and it went by quickly. The rest of the tree will come down in a few weeks when Joe's schedule slows down.

Monday was Z's first baseball practice and his mother didn't really want to take him, but she did. She joked via text message, "I know, I'm a bad mother!" Joe rolled his eyes and made some comment. So then she asks Joe's shirt size. She was ordering parent shirts and she ordered one for her and one for Joe. She got Z's mom and his number put on the back of her shirt and nothing on Joe's. She also got him a hat. When I asked how much it was so we could reimburse her, she said, "Oh, it's okay. I got it." I didn't think much about it. I told Joe later that evening that he was getting a parent shirt and he thought it was rather tacky (but expected from L) that one was not offered to me. He said, "I'll just give you my shirt and I'll wear the hat." Sweet, but unnecessary. I ended up calling the sport shop and ordering my own shirt and hat and had Z's number put on the back of our shirts. I went by to pay for it and saw the list where L had to write in their names. I just thought it was kind of funny. I mean, she emails me about her newest boyfriend and what's going on with her, etc.


This morning I woke up REFRESHED although it was a sleep in kind of day. Still storming outside, my bed cozy and warm, hubby slept in and all cute cause he's tired, and I just wanted to stay home and snuggle. When Z got up and I was "fixing" his hair, he told me that he thought he was tired from "picking up sticks" in the front yard the day before. lol.

I have my 32 week checkup today so we'll see how much weight I've gained in gummy bears and peanut m&m's. heh.

And there has been some questioning about why I don't have pics of myself up...so I'll try to get a decent one taken of myself within the next few days. :) Just remember... I'm 8 MONTHS PREGNANT. And I'm not one of those little skinny girls who doesn't look pregnant until she turns around and you say, "WOAH!" cause she is still tiny except for the basketball sized bump for a tummy. Don't those girls make you sick? Bleh!!

Food cravings.

Got a couple of foam mattress pads and put them on my bed. Definitely helped in the hip pain department. Hubby went out on another late job so I think that may have been part of my inability to sleep. I still tossed and turned a lot last night, but definitely better than the night before!

56 more days!! It's hard to believe I'm this close. Part of me thinks the time has flown by, other parts scream, "GET HER OUT NOW!!!" haha.

Doritos aren't as big a deal anymore... still stuck on gummy bears, though. I love potatoes anyway, but I think that's prolly my new food obsession for the moment. I have potato soup today. I like french fries, baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes... I could go on like Bubba in Forrest Gump. haha.

I have been through the beef personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut, ramen noodles, salads, and a few others I can't think of right now. Being pregnant has only given me the excuse to indulge my cravings, but I always go through cycles. Do you ever just get SO tired of food? Like, NOTHING sounds good? It's almost 8am and I'm thinking a cheeseburger and fries sound really good right now... weird.

Whiny Post. Sorry.

Pregnancy has made me crazy. Seriously.

Last night I felt Bayley kick and I wondered if I would feel more connected to her once she was HERE. I mean, how much more connected can I be? I dunno. I guess it just feels a little like the Twilight Zone in that there is something moving around inside of me...and I've seen a 3D picture of her, but it still doesn't feel real.

So last night I decided to clean the house. Like, CLEAN. Do tons of laundry that I've been too tired and unmotivated to do. Our vacuum cleaner had to be professional unclogged and we got it back on Saturday so yesteday I went to town cleaning and vacuuming, etc. I stayed up until 11pm doing laundry, cleaning, and whatnot. I realized at the time I really needed to get to bed. My bedtime is 9pm. My psiatic nerve was screaming, my back and tailbone hurt, and my legs were sore. My feet felt like bricks. Yet I wanted to clean. I was tired of my house looking so filthy. I didn't get it all done, but I made a big dent.

I get into bed and I hurt so badly it takes everything I have to lay there and not cry. No pillow or combinations of pillows will make me comfy. My husband is on a job with the Game & Fish Commission until 2:30 or 3am and so he's not there to play with my hair (that quickly lulls me to sleep) or massage my feet. So I lay there and feel all whiney and pitiful. I manage to sort of fall asleep within an HOUR... and then wake up again. And again. And again. I toss and turn, my hips hurt, and it hurts to turn over. I just cannot get comfy.

This morning I sort of fall asleep when Joe gets home and snuggles in bed with me around 3am. Then his alarm on his phone goes off in the kitchen at 4:45. I have to wake him up TWICE to go turn it off. Then at 6:30 someone from work is calling him (he's off today because of the G & F trip). So I finally huff and puff to get out of bed at 6:35. It's really hard for me to get out of bed nowadays. Even rocking back and forth til I can roll myself outta bed hurts.

Is this normal? I guess I just overdid it. But I have heard that the 3rd trimester means little to no sleep, and definitely being uncomfortable. So now I'm whiney and exhausted and want to go back home and go to sleep... but I'm afraid that I'll be back to where I was last night. :(

I'm 32 weeks as of tomorrow... please tell me I don't have 8 more weeks of this.

Bayley's 3D picture!

Sorry for the blurry picture, but it's hard to take a picture of an ultrasound picture.
Anyway, this is Bayley Elizabeth at 31.5 weeks! She's 4lbs and 9oz. She's very feisty, stubborn, and camera-shy. She gets the first two of those from her daddy and the last one from me. :)

Poor little thing has her mommy's pudgy nose. She kinda looks like the cartoon Ziggy in this picture. I hope it's just the u/s picture and she actually gets her Daddy's nose. He has the cutest nose ever. :)

I found out I'm a little anemic, so that would explain why I want to SLEEP. ALL. THE. TIME. Seriously. It's finally beautiful outside and I just want to curl up in bed and snooze. So I told Joe he has to take me out for a steak dinner tonight. Doctor's orders. He has NO problem complying with that! haha.

So this whole 3D ultrasound thing is really cool. It sort of feels like the Twilight Zone to think that a PERSON is growing INSIDE OF ME. Sooooo strange! But I'm getting excited. Part of me wonders what I'm doing having a baby because I'll have NO free time. Another part thinks I'm not that interesting of a person anyway and I'll LOVE being a mom. I mean, I love having Z over and being involved with all the neighborhood kids. I think I'm just getting nervous/anxious.

My Dad took me to lunch today and was all smiley, of course. We go every Friday and the bigger I get the more smiley he gets. I huff and puff walking up hills and I have to scooch to get into his van and I immediately ask for him to turn on the A/C. He finds all my pregnancy quirks amusing. He even gets a kick out of the fact that Joe has to put my socks on me every night before bed.

OH...and my cousin just offered to throw me a baby shower! I'm so excited! I love presents!!!

AND...it's FRIDAY...AND payday!! WOO HOO.. I still just want to go home and sleep. heh.

Wheelchair Thief.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine who is 4 weeks further along than me and with TWINS had the funniest thing happen to her. I still giggle when I tell her story. She is having some trouble walking around for very long, as she is pretty uncomfortable and gets tired easily. She's due mid-April, but her doctor thinks she'll deliver sometime this month. So anyway...she and her husband went to Wal-Mart to register for baby stuff. Knowing she'd be walking around for about an hour or so, she decides to get a store wheelchair and grabs one of the several in the wheelchair area. The one she gets is pretty worn looking but she doesn't want to get a motorized one because she knows she'll knock things off shelves and such.

An hour and a half later she and her husband are at the checkout line and she asks him to return the wheelchair while she pays. Hubby goes to return the wheelchair and Wal-Mart security SWAT teams him! They were all yelling him saying, "Where did you get that wheelchair?" and various other questions. He's standing there all confused and it turns out my friend took some poor old lady's personal wheelchair, who had left it at the front while she used a motorized wheelchair. HAHAHAHA!!! No one stopped my friend and told her otherwise. So this poor old lady was thinking her wheelchair was STOLEN.

I just about peed myself when I heard this story. Maybe it's just me.

Weird Eating Habits.

I've been really craving Nacho Cheese Doritos. I finally used some of my GAS MONEY last night to buy some. I got the family size bag for $3. What did I have for dinner last night as Joe and I were watching American Idol? Doritos and ranch dressing. Now, what's even stranger than that is HOW I eat them. I like to lick off all the nacho cheese and then lick my fingers and then eat the semi-soggy chip. I did this last night but dipped the wet chip into ranch dressing. And I have to go for my 32 week checkup next week...which means I get weighed. That will be interesting.

So on my way to work this morning, I heated up a bean and cheese burrito and ate that. Then I dug back into the nacho cheese doritos and repeated my lick the cheese off routine, sans ranch dressing. I'm sure other peeps in rush hour traffic would've been curious to know why I was sucking on a dorito at 7:45 in the morning. But I didn't care.

I also eat the sides off a kit-kat then eat the rest of it and I peel the crust off bread and roll the rest into a ball and eat it that way. ALL the time.

And last night I saw my hubby looking at me but he was polite enough to not mention my strange dorito eating habit. I mean, he's the freak of all freaks when it comes to oranges. I've never seen anything like it. He will quarter an orange and then suck the juice out of it (like put the orange in his mouth like Marlan Brando did in The Godfather and scared his grandson in the garden) and then throw it away. He will NOT eat oranges the "normal" way. And when he does this, he makes the funniest squinchy face ever. I always run into the kitchen to watch and laugh when he starts "eating" oranges. This is cheap and fun entertainment for me.

My cousin Tracy (who will be kindly watching Bayley for me after August) I thinks tops it all off. She told me that she likes to take pickles and put a TEENSY hole into the end of a pickle with her tooth and suck the juice out. Then she dips it in ketchup and parmesan cheese and does it again. W. T. H. ?!?!?!?! She does this until the pickle dries up and is all shriveled. AAAANNNNDDDD...she says she eats oranges the same way Joe does. So now I'm left to wonder if she'll teach Bayley these odd things. Eew. Seriously...pickles, ketchup, and parmesan cheese? GROSS. I think she has me beat.

SO. HOT.

So sleepy this morning. And I was in bed by 9pm last night! I call Bayley "my little nekkid bongo player in my tummy" because she is quite the active one. Last night it was funny at first...then it started to make me feel a little nauseaus. Is that normal??

She likes to rest on my bladder because I always feel like I need to go to the bathroom...and not just like I need to go, but like I'm going to BURST if I don't go. RIGHT. THEN. Why can't this happen to me in the shower? And oh man...the HOT FLASHES. I was in Target on Sunday with my mom looking at baby stuff and I had to take off my fleece pullover. (It was 43 degrees outside.) Then I still felt like I was going to pass out. SO HOT. My skin was all reddish pink and my mom asked me if I was okay. If I wasn't pregnant, I'd think I was going through menopause. Same thing yesterday here at work. I had to get a fan on my desk that I turn on periodically.

And I'm starting to have trouble putting on my socks in the PM. When I get home from work, I change into pj pants and a tshirt. I have to wait for Joe to put my socks on me. I can do it in the mornings, but it's a struggle in the PM. Very embarassing. He just acts like it's no big deal. Sometimes he grins at me, but usually he just slips them on and goes back about his business.

So my biggest things right now are :exhaustion (again), full bladder feeling, and HOT FLASHES. Pregnancy sho is fun!

This morning Z came up to hug me and I said hi to his mother who was waiting there until the bus picked Z up. He looked all pouty and L asked him if his mood was going to improve. She had yelled at him earlier because he kicks his shoes off in the car. So whenever they get somewhere, he has to stop to put his shoes on. Umm... ok... is this really worth yelling about? She said, "It just gets on my nerves. And I'm already not a morning person!" Poor Z. I hugged him and helped him put on his coat. It's not like it takes him more than 10 seconds to put his dang shoes back on.

Joe finished our fire pit in our backyard on Sunday and last night he put wood in it to try it out. But the wood was still too damp from the snow on Friday, so it lasted all of a couple minutes. Hopefully tonight it will be dry enough and we can roast hot dogs! If so, I'll take pics.

Not much else to report on... too sleepy. 63 more days til my due date. :)

This Weekend.

Fletchy Flakes.

Frosty 2 got demo'd.

My snow dog, Makana.

Z rockin' his snowhawk.

Joe doing a flip on the trampoline on Sunday, when the weather was nice and warm. You can't see Z squealing his approval on the side. :)

Things I've Noticed Since Becoming Knocked Up...

• Toilets in public restrooms are made for midgets. I'm 5'4" and I feel like a sumo wrestler hovering over said toilets.
• Some public restrooms (like movie theatres) stalls are SO cramped that it's like being in an airplane bathroom. I usually head for the handicapped stall but if that's taken, I pray to not get knocked into the toilet when I try to cram myself in and shut the stall door.
• The candle aisle at Target is OVERPOWERING with some stinky scents. Seriously, who would want something THAT BAD in their house?? eew.
• Complete strangers smile at me once they see my belly. It's like they feel they should be nice to me because I could jump them at ANY moment and search them for chocolate... or something.
• Men now open doors for me in public and smile at me. Why didn't they do this before?
• I can now walk around in stores and EAT. WHATEVER I WANT. And people actually think it's cute!!!
• My belly rubs up against the steering wheel when I drive. And I'm only 30 weeks.
• I can be cranky, whiny, mopey, etc. and everyone says, "Oh, it's okay. You're entitled. You're pregnant."
• I have a hard time getting in and out of booths at restaurants now. My family thinks this is amusing. Joe likes to say, "Suck it in, pregapotamus!!"
• I need a forklift to get me off the ground.
• I grunt everytime I bend over.
• People like to tell their pregnant stories when I'm around. And then it turns into, "Just wait til they get to (insert age)! You'll be in for it then!!"
• Everyone thinks Bayley will look like Joe, not me. (Fine by me, I married him for his looks. hahah!!)
• I feel NO shame going into Old Navy and looking at XXL pants.
• Nothing sounds better than SLEEP. Except maybe a massage.

Finally, a Happy Day!

Today I am in a much better mood. THANK GOB. Because I was getting quite whiney there for a while.

Hubby usually sleeps on couch and I sleep in our bed solo. He loves our couch and he likes to watch tv and fall asleep to it. He also snores VERY loudly. I like it cold, dark, and QUIET... so no tv and no snoring. Last night he fell asleep on the couch and I was in bed reading. He came back to bed and just layed beside me and fell asleep. He woke up a little later and I asked him to sleep back there with me. So he did. And I was happy. Even with his snoring. :)

So I have this weird feeling when I lay on my right side. I know I'm "supposed" to lay on my left side because of blood vessels and whatnot on my right side...but who can lay on their left side during their entire pregnancy?!!? So anyway, sometimes I feel what feels to be my pulse in my hip area. I know it could either be Bayley and hiccups (I'm told they're rhythmic flutters, but I'm not sure if what I'm feeling is hiccups or what), MY pulse because I'm squishing some artery, or I'm squishing Bayley and limiting her blood supply. I get a little freaked out at the latter. I don't want her to come out brain-damaged because I slept on my right side.

I'm 30 Weeks as of TODAY...

Today it snowed outside. People in Arkansas don't know what snow is, so when it happens they freak out and everything shuts down. People can't drive and everyone raids the closest Wal-Mart like we'll be in a blizzard for weeks.

I just didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I guess the third trimester means you revert back to your first trimester : all you want to do is sleep. I wake up and am fine for the first couple of hours, then I'm ready to go back to bed. Unfortunately, I have to go to work during the week so this isn't a possibility.

My mood doesn't change a lot... but I do find myself being sad and depressed. I feel like a very unattractive hippo and even feeling little Bayley kick doesn't cheer me up. My back hurts most of the time and nothing relieves it for very long. If I lay down, then my side goes numb or gets sore. So I switch to the other side. Same thing. Lay on my back but propped up ... gets uncomfy after a while. I have to pee every 30 mins, then when I go... I barely have anything to pee but I still feel like I have a full bladder.

I realize this is all normal. And I'm only 30 weeks. Please oh please tell me there is a magical food I can eat (that tastes good and is calorie free) that will provide me some relief.

Bleh.

I did sign up for a study that will get me 3D/4D ultrasound of Bayley. If she cooperates, that is. I go in on 3/13 so I'll have to post the pics if I get any.

Guess I'm going to meander around here at work and see if I can't lift my spirits. I can't do retail therapy because we're po' for another couple of weeks. Such is life. I'm so fun today. Aren't you glad you read my amazing blog? :)

Raising a Liar and a Thief.

Apparently I care too much and am too involved in my stepson's life. I want him to grow up responsible, affectionate, and sweet. He is going to be 6 in June and I know what a wonderful kid he is. But he's learning different standards for behavior at our house, at school, his mother's house, and everywhere else. I do not like this. At all. I know kids learn boundaries early. And they push them as far as they can. This is normal. But when his teacher starts calling us because he's acting out at school, I get frustrated.

I had this long blog typed out about what happened on Friday, but decided against it. My blogs are too long as it is. So, in summation: he got a bad note on Friday for misbehaving repeatedly in class and PE, lied to Joe about said bad note, backtalked to us about getting a spanking, and stole some stuff from his teacher (she didn't know this...but I'm sure she will this morning when he returns it). The thievery was the second of the week.

We had him Friday night and he got into trouble. Saturday AM L picked him up and told him he needed to clean his room. She gives him an ENTIRE DAY to clean it. What 5 year old is going to NOT watch tv in his room and actually clean it? Not this one. So she added 2 days of grounding him from his tv because he didn't finish cleaning his room. She said she felt he had learned his lesson because he "wasted his whole weekend" on his room. Whatever. She has done this with him before. Joe and I give him 5-10 mins to get his room cleaned. Now it doesn't even take that. It's "clean your room" and it's done immediately and quickly. No hassle. What goes on at her house shouldn't be of my concern, but when he starts acting out at school because he thinks he'll be going to her house that afternoon... it DOES concern me. I guess I care too much.

Maybe when Bayley is born, I'll just let go and let L and Joe deal with Z because I'll have my hands full with Bayley. It's just hard for me because Z is the only child right now and he has 3 parents. One of which who doesn't know what the #$%^ she's doing. But that's just my opinion.