Young Baby Young

Once again, I’m forced to acknowledge that my peeps are the shiznit.  In the past few weeks, we’ve received spontaneous gifts, generous hand-me-downs, wonderful heirlooms, and practical parenting magazines.  For example, we received a much-coveted Bumbo seat for Baby E from our coworker, Beth, whose daughter was done with it.  It’s even the color I was going to buy! 

Unfortunately for me, Lorraine’s triplets are a little too old for her to have lots of useful stuff still lying around, but she has managed to uncover a few excellent things, like these chunky books:

Grandma Mary Ann and Grandpa Steve did a fabulous job of picking out this Musical Gym for our little princess.  (I like the fact that the giraffe appears to be eating some greenery….)

We had a gift certificate to LL Bean that we just couldn’t use up.  Chris finally decided that it’s never too soon for a baby to own her first pair of pink Wellies:

Our infant car seat had not yet shown its face on the blog.  I know, I know, you were all as stressed about it as I was.  Owning this gave us surprising peace of mind: if she arrives tomorrow, we’ve got the equipment required to bring her home from the hospital.  (The entire quarter mile.)  We’ve already strapped it in to both vehicles to see how it fits and attempted to walk around the house with it.  I’m not sure these bland colors will suit her highly-developed sense to style, but we’re hoping she’s a forgiving baby.

The letters that spell out her name are all painted and ready to be hung…just as soon as she gets here….

The picture below really doesn’t do justice to the beautiful crocheted blanket we received from a family friend, Ginger.  She came up to visit Mom earlier this summer and after hearing about the upcoming grandbaby, she decided to just whip together a little blanket.  As you do, right?  She comes from a family of disgustingly talented people and this probably took her about 38 minutes to throw together.

Let’s see, what else is going on?  Sleep is becoming a little more difficult to come by.  I find myself wide awake and totally uncomfortable in the middle of the night.  Rolling over is a big ordeal.  The extra twenty pounds on my torso makes what should be an insignificant shift into quite a fiasco. 

Irritability levels are at all-time highs right now.  I find that I’m intolerant and uncharitable.  Sigh.

I’m running out of clothes that fit again.  I haven’t found many maternity pants that work well, so I’ve just been wearing pants that are about 3 sizes bigger than my norm.  They didn’t look especially flattering, but it’s not like I’m trying to pick up a date!  Even these pants barely fit now.  Not good, considering that there’s still 6ish weeks before the big event.  I’ll be wearing jeans to work before the end, I’m sure.  (Apparently, maternity clothes makers believe that pregnant women wear jeans 85% of the time, black pants 14% of the time, and miscellaneous other pants for the remaining 1%.)

Baby is very smart.  According to our midwife, she’s already “in position”.  And she’s creating many uncomfortable Braxton-Hicks contractions.  I predict that we’ll meet her sooner than December 20th.

Our nurse midwife also told us that given the amount of activity we’ve seen with the wild stomach undulations, it’s likely that her placenta is behind her, unlike in the picture above.

Baby Momma is very immature.  She insisted on buying diaper rash ointment (a must-have) but was totally sold by the packaging.  What can I say, it made me laugh….

In other news:

1)  Bangor does not sell white gliders with pink cushions.  Anywhere.

B)  Baby really likes to kick.  Hard.

iii)  My heart is racing.  Apparently this is normal given the excessive amount of blood that flows through a pregnant woman’s body.  I dunno, it kind of creeps me out.  I’m pretty sure I’m having a heart attack.  Chris is skeptical of this claim.

4)  Baby weighs about 4 pounds and is about 17 inches long.  She’s losing her alien look and starting to plump out, according to my resources.

I superimposed my week 32 picture onto my week 15 picture.  I’m very amused.  And impressed by how remarkably consistent I am in my poses. 

I made it to the children’s consignment shop in Bangor yesterday.  I’ve found my new favorite store.  Oh, how I love a good bargain!  We’re such planners that it’s been great to get all of these items checked off the list.  At least one of you readers thinks Baby E will be here by December 1st, so we have to be ready!  It’s nice to be able to do it when we have time to spare and not when we’re down to the wire.  Besides, I’m not waddling too badly at this point.  Give me another month and a day of shopping will be really low on my list of fun things to do!

< — Bouncy chair.  $15.  Good stuff.

Adorable shelving unit.  A mere $10.  How could I leave it behind? – >

< — Super snuggly Winnie the Pooh.  $5.

Fun toy.  I’ve almost mastered it myself.  I think Chris is nearing a breakthrough, too. — >

< — Because really, who doesn’t need a brand new stuffed frog sitting in pink life rings? 

Literary masterpieces.  It’s never too soon to get these books under one’s belt.  We’ll be noting this on college applications: she read her first bestseller when she was only three days old.   — >

< — I don’t know exactly what this is, but for $6, I had to have it.  (Spoken like a true shopper.)  There are finger puppets and other interactive things.  …it stimulated my mind, anyway….

Robe and slippers.  Adorable.  $6.  I wish this came in my size. — >

< — I’ve heard a disturbing rumor that babies do not come with owner’s manuals.  I find this hard to believe.  How will I figure out how to program it?  How does it recharge?  What is the battery life, anyway?  Is there a return policy?  What’s the warranty?  I’m glad I stumbled upon someone else’s discarded manual — I might have been in big trouble, otherwise.

The Eurobath Primo.  Anything with “primo” in its name is obviously good.  $12.  Love a bargain! — >

< — Baby mobile.  (Like the batmobile, only different.  Really, quite different.  In fact, not like it at all.  Let’s move swiftly along, shall we?)  It has Flutterbys and it plays music.  Uber sweet.

Perhaps this was the best buy of the day: it had just arrived as I walked into the store.  A brand new play-yard / bassinet!  It folds down into a compact duffle bag, so it can go on trips to Grandma Ann’s, Grandma Jane’s, and Grandma Mary Ann’s! — >

< — The dogs were so excited when I came home with a truckload of stuff — they knew there must be toys for them!  We started unpacking things and they tried to de-ear Pooh, wrestle the terrycloth robe, and eat the squishy turtle book.  When I wasn’t looking, Nathan leaped into the baby seat and tried to get comfortable.

I saw this and screamed, “Maggie!”  Chris saw it and yelled, “Patrick!”  If you’re not hip enough to know who either of those creatures are, I won’t even try to explain.  If you do know either of them, I’m sure you’ll see why we had those responses! — >

I’m know that no one believes me when I say that we have a wild baby on our hands.  But we do!  For real.  And now I finally have proof of it:

WARNING:  The video you are about to see is violent and may alarm you.  Potential side effects include motion sickness and laughter.  Viewer discretion is advised. 

(I had to stop taping it because she was so wild that I began to laugh, thereby shaking the camera and making my stomach muscles tighten.  Her antics continued on even after filming ended.)

I can’t believe this is the start of week 32.  For some reason, 8 weeks sounds like a very small number (whereas 9 or 10 didn’t sound all that close).  And if she decides to come earlier than planned, eight weeks is a really small number! 

Thumper is becoming quite the active baby.  I wake up in the middle of the night to a lot of activity.  Apparently, babies are lulled to sleep during the day by your movements, so they’re typically very active at night, when you’ve finally settled down.  I often wake up at 3am to find my stomach doing incredible gymnastic feats.  I’m convinced that she’s decided to rest horizontally across my body instead of vertically.  Her new favorite game is to jut a body part out under my right rib — a rather painful occurrence.  And yet I’m pretty sure I hear her giggling each time.  I think we’re in for a naughty baby!

They say I should be gaining about a pound a week right now, and baby uses half of that for her own plumpening.  She supposedly weighs about 3.75lb now and measures 16.7 inches.  Other fun facts: she has toenails, fingernails, and hair! 

Speaking of fingernails, I made quite the sacrifice for the youngest Young: I stopped getting my beautiful “pink and white” nail treatment.  I’m surprised by the number of people who noticed when I got rid of them — they were apparently a statement!  But eh, I couldn’t justify spending $15/week on them.  They look pretty tragic right now, but after they grow out past the sections mutilated by having acrylics applied, they’ll be fine.

Hey!  WordPress has added a new feature to their blogging options.  Obviously, I have to try this out immediately:

I’ve spent the last two weekends in Bangor, shopping voraciously, and I must admit that even *I* am tired of spending money.  Clothes and cute things were fun to shop for, but when I had to get into the ”real” stuff, it was totally overwhelming.  How is it possible that there are 90 different types of baby bottles?  Disposable, latex, lined, glass…oh dear!  After I finally selected a set that looked aiight, I then had to buy some formula (just in case she refuses to breastfeed).  Do I need lactose-intolerant formula?  Extra iron?  Tastes like bananas?  Comes in a pink bottle?  Needs water added?  I came home at the end of my trip last Sunday totally exhausted.  It took me most of the week to recover.  And yet we still have more that we need!  The good news is that she has all of her bedding, an incredible amount of clothing, some starter diapers, and a mostly-decorated nursery.  I found a children’s consignment shop in Bangor that I need to check out: maybe I can get some good deals on the last items I need.  (Like a stroller, or a playyard, or a sling.)

Cleaning out the nursery has led us to a new and disturbing issue: we have too much junk.  Since we combined our lives, we had many things in duplicate, and then we’ve upgraded a lot things, so we now have items in triplicate.  Pre-kids, there were extra rooms to stuff things in.  Now that one of those bedrooms is being emptied out for Baby Shaquandrineesha, we don’t know where to put all of our stuff.  Another trip to Bangor (or five) is probably in order so that I can start bringing 98 lamps, 4 telephones, 52 pillows, 18 toaster ovens, 5 rugs, 7 coffee makers, and 2 chairs to Goodwill.  We currently have our spare bedroom overflowing with our excess.  We look around in dismay, then move on to a different project.  Baby E is forcing us to do some serious work!

Man, time just flies by sometimes!  I have this list of things that I’m supposed to have input on the blog, but work has been sapping the life out of us.  (The stock market freefall and recent bank collapses haven’t provided a lot of comfort and stability for our customers, as you might imagine!)

So.  Let us get started.  First there was the kitchen leak.  It was the strangest thing: we thought our terrible dog Nathan kept peeing in the kitchen because the little rug under the sink was soaked.  He does like to mark things…a lot…so it’s not like we were being unfair or uncharitable.  We sighed and cleaned it up.  But he kept doing it.  The nerve!  And in the same place!  Doubly cheeky!  I finally opened the cabinets up, just to make sure we didn’t have a leak or something, and was totally surprised to find that our sink was no longer attached to its pipery.  How does this happen?!  I was so amazed that I had to take a picture of it.  What eats through pipes like that?  I know it’s been a long time since MacGyver aired on TV, but I still remember watching it religiously with Dad, so I knew just how to fix it: I chewed up some gum, stuffed it in the cracks, and wrapped it all with electrical tape, meanwhile utilizing the Swiss Army knife that I happen to keep in my back pocket at all times.  (The same knife that airport security has absconded with every time I fly.  You’d think I would learn!)

 Our friends Cindy and Michael talked us into going for a hike with them last weekend.  Actually, it’s more like they shamed us into it.  They love to hike and were appalled that we didn’t do a better job of taking advantage of the natural beauty of Maine.  They took pity on us, though, and took us on a hike that a 7-month-pregnant woman could do, plus it was totally beautiful.  AND they brought tasty snacks — always a good way to befriend the E.  We went to West Quoddy Head in Lubec, Maine.  It’s claim to fame is that it’s the most-Eastern town in the US. 

There seems to be a small war being waged over which sports teams Baby Quandrella will support.  Sister Sarah sent her a veritable bounty of baseball-wear last month (as seen here: http://youngbabyyoung.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/sister-sarah-hits-one-out-of-the-ballpark/) and we were pretty sure Q would be styling for the next 12 months of her life.  Then Grandma Charlene bought her some pajamas to round out the set.  In the mail a few days ago, we found that Sister Amy also had a contribution to add: Cleveland is now in the hizouse!  Word.  The Indians are representin’, yo.  Q kicked with delight, then stomped on my bladder for good measure.

As mentioned earlier, Baby Qu’anishga (silent g) is getting a fabulously cute bedroom.  Sure, it’s recycled furniture…but that’s a sign of our eco-friendly natures and not of our cheapness, right?  We’ve been hard at work, painting existing furniture and getting fantastic results:

Isn’t it adorable?!  Don’t you just want to eat it??  (Kate and Hugh, the unfinished dresser above is the one you guys had in NH!  Who knew that it would see such a long and illustrious line of owners?)

It’s early October in Maine, which means it’s time for foliage change.  It’s been beautiful here for the past few weeks.  In the past couple of years, we’ve been shortchanged because whenever the leaves start to change, a big storm comes and knocks them all off prematurely.  This year, we’ve gotten to enjoy them. 

Baby Sha-quan’drah has herself some godparents: Carrie and Dave have happily agreed to take on this most-revered role.  They just sent her the sweetest picture for her bedroom.  She’s going to love it!  The little ear that’s flopped over is ever so sweet. 

And lastly: I never had a chance to showcase all of the loot that Grandma Charlene and Grandpa Nolan sent back with us from our trip to Washington.  Charlene and I went into the outlet mall and went to Carter’s, a baby clothing store.  They had the cutest clothing in there, and all at excellent prices!  Charlene started filling her arms with loot that Baby Raquelle will need over the next 9 months of life.  The menfolk saw our serious shopping intentions and a look of absolute terror crossed their faces.  ”We’re outta here!  See you in an hour.”  We were especially interested in warm fuzzy clothes, given that she’s arriving in December and rumor has it that Maine tends to be cold in the winter.

This is her fleece snow suit.  Aren’t the ears funny?  I didn’t notice them until after we had bought it and brought it home.  Imagine my added delight!

Pink and green hearts…she’ll be so cute in this!

Ooooh, purple elephants.  And footies!  Natalie also thinks it’s wunderbar.

 LOVE.  Look at the bear feet!

Look at this sleeping bag o’ cuteness!

And then there’s the yellow sleeping bag with little duckies on it.  My senses are overloaded with all of these cute things in my presence!

I spent some quality time in Bangor over the weekend, shopping for Baby E.    I was totally overwhelmed by the important purchases (like, oh, I dunno, a car seat, a stroller, bottles, baby monitors), but I was quite comfortable with the accessories!  As a result, her room is looking most adorable.  We’ve recycled some old furniture (a coat of paint gives anything a new lease on life) and since we don’t have a theme per se, it’s easy to just buy whatever suits our fancy at that moment.  We think it’s all coming together amazingly well, too.  I have a scrap of wallpaper that I keep in my purse at all times; I bust it out whenever I want to see how something will look in her room.

Note Winnie the Pooh’s head in the foreground — that was Chris’s rug when he was a child!  And see the bedskirt?  Her curtain valance will match.  That will be my only sewing contribution to this room.  I should be able to handle a simple valance, don’t you think?  (I’m worried that she’ll be sending me back to Mommy Training School just as soon as she can.)  Above her bed will be letters spelling out her name.  Now, obviously we can’t hang those up yet because then her name won’t be a surprise!  I’ll just tell you that the letter Q was not easy to find in baby block lettering.  Go figure.

Her bed is pretty darn sweet….

(Her first piece of artwork.)

There are still more changes afoot, but they weren’t photo-ready yet.  We still have two dressers that are in various stages of being painted and we’re trying to decide what kind of seating to put in the room.  There’s currently a futon couch in there, which the dogs love, but it doesn’t look great.  We’re thinking about slipcovering an old armchair/recliner instead, which will be very comfortable, but it only seats one.  Dogs will not love it nearly as much.  While we try to decide, we work on the other projects and spend a least thirty minutes every night in her room, enjoying the feel of it.  We can’t wait to meet her!

According to my sources, Baby E is now about 3 pounds and 16 inches long — approximately the size of a head of cabbage.  It looks more like I’ve swallowed a basketball if you ask me.  My sources tell me that she’s working on her eyesight right now, but that even after birth, it’ll only be about 20/400.  (She could take after either one of us with vision like that!)

They talk about having trouble sleeping.  Yup, that’s been a little harder.  I wake up stiff some days.  I keep a pillow between my legs to keep my hips in decent alignment.  That works well, until you have to roll over….

Oh!  Funny story: I have to get up in the middle of every night to go to the bathroom.  I’m convinced this is Mother Nature’s prep course for mommies-to-be.  The dogs sleep in our upstairs bathroom, and are royally spoiled, so I make the trek to our downstairs bathroom.  On my journey a few nights ago, I suddenly sneezed and got more than I bargained for.  It’s warm, but now it’s cold…what just happened?!  I didn’t — no — I couldn’t have — yes, I just wet myself!  I’M NOT EVEN 30 YET!  This is so wrong…so wrong….  I’m just praying that I can regain bladder control after Baby E is here.  I learned that this episode is a) not uncommon and 2) has a name: stress incontinence.  I sincerely hope we won’t have to buy diapers for two.

They say that I may be feeling clumsier than normal.  I can no longer see my feet, so that doesn’t help, and my center of gravity has changed.  To date, I have not fallen on my face, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.  I do have days where I just feel awkward.

They note that my ligaments are continuing to stretch in preparation for shooting a giant head of cabbage between my legs.  (Well, they didn’t say it like that, but it’s what they meant.)  I can feel that, too, in a strange achiness through my hips.

Some women find that their mood swings have returned.  Things were emotional in the first semester, then stabilized in the second; in the third trimester, the irritability can return.  I think Chris can vouch for the accuracy of this statement.  Everything annoys me.  Stupid TV commercials send me over the edge.  Weird grammatical errors make me irrationally indignant.  Dogs licking incessantly makes my blood boil.   …I think we’re in for a loooong two months.  (Yes, that annoys me, too!)

I’ve been remiss in writing about our trip to Washington.  We went from the 13th to the 20th of September and had a fabulous time visiting Dad and Charlene.  They’re in the process of remodeling their new home.  They have extraordinarily nice neighbors who let us stay at their house for the week while they were out of town.  Nice!

As with most vacations, there was a lot of eating involved.  The weather was beautiful and we got to enjoy some scenic drives around northern Washington.  We visited cute towns like Ana Cortes and La Connor, and we scoped out the excellent outlet shopping that’s about 20 miles from Dad’s new digs.  (Grandpa Nolan and Grandma Charlene hooked Baby E up with some awesome new clothes — I’ll have to save those pictures for a separate entry.  They’re adorable!)  Here’s La Connor, home of a tulip festival in the spring. 

Here’s the view from their new backyard: 

And another:

Here I am on one of my tours of Washington’s public restrooms.  Clearly this one met my high standards.

Chris and I took one day to go into Seattle.  Of course, out of all of the days we were in town, we picked the day that Seattle was totally fogged in!  But no matter, we enjoyed ourselves anyway.  We took the water taxi from West Seattle to Seattle — public transit or not, we thought it was quite the fun ride.

We went on “The Underground Tour” and learned all about Seattle’s past…when the city was 8 – 80 feet lower than it is today.  Then we walked up to Pike Place Market and played tourist.

Before leaving Seattle, we had to make sure we saw my friend Corina!  We met up with her for a late lunch and got to see where she lives.  More importantly, we got to meet her dog, George.

Remember all of those baby clothes that we got from Charlene’s friend Maggie?  Here we are, admiring each piece for the first time.

We spent a fun afternoon going on a boat ride through “Deception Pass”, so named because the original “founder” was deceived into thinking it was just a pass when in actuality, he was on an island. 

We went out for a fantastic dinner near the end of our visit at the new Tulalip Casino.  Each dish was inexplicably better than the last.  Yum, yum!