Better!

Finally better. And this morning N and I were up BEFORE THE BEAN! Because she SLEPT TILL 7:00! It was very weird. N was up way before us, but while we waited for her I felt like we were the parents of a teenager and we were waiting to yell at her for coming home so late.

I know better than to think this might happen again. But maybe the darkening shades we put in her room are working?

Hell

I don't know what I did to piss off the Gods, but man have I been paying. It started off mildly enough with a week of poor sleeping due to terrible sore throats. Then, the sore throat turned into a cold, which turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis bad enough to warrant antibiodicts. But the small stomach and all the phlegm I coughed up along with the meds turned into me throwing it all up. So I stopped the meds early (with the doc's okay, of course) but I'd still spent the last week vomiting dinner after these insane coughing fits. Pleasant.

Finally stopped vomiting and coughing so darn much only to wake up yesterday with a most painful, can barely move bruised rib. The smallest movement is soooo painful. This has been going on for WEEKS! I don't think I can take anymore. I just hope Baby Meow Meow holds on so I can heal. Would not want to labor with this pain.

I Hate Sippy Cups (and Some Other Things Too)

1. I hate sippy cups. They're so annoying. We have around a million and have probably lost around a thousand, but they're never where you need them to be. And The Bean is such a water drinker, which is good, but lord above if you go out and don't have a sippy cup. Then you have to buy bottled water at the store, stick a straw it and stop every two feet to give her a drink.

Can I tell you how many times we've run the dish washer because all the available sippy cups were in it? Three sippy cups, one plate, and a spoon and let's just use 10,000 kilowatts of energy. I'll spend 15 mins looking for a clean sippy cup only to find 17! sippys in the car. Well, what's one more?

2. I hate baby socks. They're so little. They're all over the house. They're never together and they're never in the drawer. And you can't send the kid out without socks. How come I've NEVER seen anyone else's kid in two different socks? What do they do differently? You know I'd toss all the current socks and buy 50 pairs of the same sock for The Bean except her feet keep growing.

3. I love Baby Bella, but I kind of hate her too. Baby Bella is the teeniest baby ever and has this hat around her neck that goes on and off and off and on. The Bean LOVES Baby Bella (most babies aren't named and if they are they usually happen to be named after Her Beaniness) and spends about 600 hours day looking for Bella because she's so small and about 900 hours DEMANDING that I (or N) put the baby's hat back on. Today I was really tempted to cut the stupid hat off, but, and this probably the true part that I hate, I was scared. I was scared to cut a stupid hat off a small plastic baby because it was nap time and I thought if the hat was truly off, Miss Bean might never nap again.

Then, after nap (which was nice and long happily), I was just scared of the trauma it might induce if I did snip the hat. The baby cost a $1! Why do have to think about it so?

4. My car. I just want it to be clean and not full of ancient toddler snacks and sippy cups and crumbs and a million kid books and, have I mentioned the crumbs?

Don't You Want to See This Movie?

Mommy and The Bean do! They've watched the trailer 800 times this month!

Should N Buy An iPad?

The poor sleeping has continued here at The House of Bean's. Last night we had to go into her room a total of 6! times. I'm 75% sure it's a combo of molar teething and the rapid rate of her development and the fact that it's still pretty light when she goes to bed. And also I think she's overtired. Not to mention who wouldn't want their mom or dad to hold their hand through the crib rails ALL NIGHT? Today I tried to compensate by putting her down for her nap and bedtime early. I think maybe we've been trying to stick to a "schedule" too much and if a kid hasn't slept well (in a week!) then maybe they should nap an hour early. The nap went pretty well---she yelled for a bit, but didn't attempt to destroy her crib by shaking it violently like she's been doing. I left before she woke up, but her sitter said she slept for just under two hours which is good. She cried for about 10 minutes now, but let us hope this silence is not the lull before the shrieks.

We had a very nice Easter here with N's family. The Bean was very well behaved, but even when she's not people think she's cute.

My due date was 7! weeks from yesterday. I'd like to go early (not too) this time around, but N says I have to stop wishing/thinking that because I'll be in a very bad mood when Baby Meow Meow is 2 weeks late. This week our friends are going to help N move of the office so we can start attempting to make it a nursery. I'm looking forward to it--- since I had to move with Miss when she was 3 weeks old, it will be nice to have things up on the wall, places to nurse, change, etc.

Did you know it's driving me crazy that we don't know if it's a boy or a girl?
Luckily, N and I have agreed to name him/her iPad. We're hoping this gets some media attention so N won't have to shell out $500 for a new toy.

Rain Rain Rain

It's been raining for days up here. Good thing we got The Bean some new yellow rain boots and green rain jacket. She really likes splashing in the puddles, but today it's really too cold to splash. And she was so tired she literally fell asleep in her tomato soup at lunch. Messy!

We were having a good run when day light savings began. She was sleeping till about 6:30, which was so nice. But for the past 3 mornings, she's been getting up before 6! Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, she refused to take a nap, which is probably why she was sleeping in her soup this afternoon. Hopefully this rainy afternoon will help her to take a good, long nap and hopefully get her back on schedule.

Now that she mostly sleeps through the night, I feel worried about the sleep deprivation that's in my future in about 2 months or so. The Bean didn't sleep through the night for 9! months. I hope her sibling does it a bit sooner. I've heard of kids sleeping through when they come home from the hospital, but I don't think that's really likely. That might make me nervous actually....

N and I had a great weekend away since Granny and Grampy were nice enough to come up and provide The Bean with maple syrup and coffee cake along with tender loving supervision this past Saturday and Sunday. N and I went up to this nice inn in Stowe, VT. It was a late bday present for him and a bit of a baby moon. Because it's monsoon season we were able to get a luxury room for the non-luxury price. I think it might have ruined me for chain hotels. It's really pleasant to have a bathrobe when you get out of the jacuzzi! The best part was probably the heated outdoor pool though. That and not having to be on a schedule. It was a revelation to be like it doesn't matter what time it is...we have no one to care for.

My back is still giving me issues, but I suspect it will till Baby Meow Meow makes an appearance. I just need to maintain it so it doesn't go out again. I've been seeing a chiropractor who always says, "a pound in front is a pound in back." This is upsetting because the next few weeks are about Baby Meow Meow plumping up! It's hard to tell if the chiro stuff is working. It kind of depends on the day. I might try acupuncture too.

Any thoughts y'all?

Losing

You know how I wanted to ruin N's TV viewing and have Baby Meow Meow on 5/23 (instead of 5/24, which is the due date)? Well, I had an OB appointment today and somehow this came up. I was all about to explain "Lost" to my doc, when she told she was obsessed with it too! In fact, she said, this was the first season she and her husband were watching it in real time.
Ahhhhhh!!!!! What if they wanna watch it in the delivery room?

Is March The New February?

Sorry for the silence. We just got back yesterday from what was supposed to be a trip to sunny Florida and what ended up an almost week-long stay in New York. We were supposed to fly out of LaGuardia on Tuesday, but on the drive down on Sunday The Bean's little cough seemed to get much worse. And she added a lot of sneezing and most likely a fever. On Monday we were 99% sure we were going to change our flight to Wednesday, but on Tuesday afternoon, when her fever kept going up and her mood kept going down, we took her to the doctor who diagnosed her with "bulging ear drums." Thank goodness we decided not to get on the plane as her drums would have ruptured and she would have screamed till they did. I've never seen Miss Bean so sick for so long. She was just miserable and therefore she only wanted me or N, but mostly me. We couldn't leave her with my parents at all, which is weird. Plus, they both worked so basically N and I split up the days. I stayed with cranky Bean in the mornings while he went and did art stuff and he stayed with cranky Bean in the afternoon while I went to the movies. I know I should have gone to museums, but The Bean was so clingy and draining that all I wanted to do was sit and eat popcorn in the dark for 2 hours.

We took her outside once or twice a day to look for dogs in the park or kids in the playground, but she was so exhausted that we really could only be out for 15-30 mins. My folks have a nice apt, which they nicely let us destroy with all our stuff every time we visit, but I got really sick of it. Remember, the Bean and I were there for ten days back in January. On the plus side, the weather was great when we first got there (went downhill towards the end) and I did get to see my bro, N and I got to go on a carnivous date, I saw movies in the theater and met up with an old friend for a quick lunch, but overall my mood was pretty sour.

N got sick in the middle of the night on Saturday, but managed to drive us home in the afternoon. The Bean was a trooper, but today was the first day I felt like she was mostly better. Then this morning my back went out. We kind of saw it coming: seven nights on a pull-out couch, a very needy Bean, a 4+ hour drive home without much of a stop. Ugh. On the positive side, at least this didn't happen on Tuesday morning when N has to be back at work. And at least it didn't happen before the car ride back home. I'm hoping that since N was able to tend to Bean all day (unlike the other times it's gone out) and he'll be home tomorrow, that I'll heal a little quicker and be more okay on Tuesday. Of course this is the week our babysitter is on vacation!

But you know what takes away all the pain? Or most of it?
The Bean used her potty for the first time tonight! Go Bean Go!

Hooray For March!

Today was a pretty cold, gray day, but who cares! It's March, which means February is over! Last February was the worstest---N was sick for like the whole month, The Bean and Mama were not sleeping nearly enough, we didn't get out enough so we wuz mean and cranky. This February was so much better. No major illnesses except for an annoying night cough from me, which lasted less than a week.

Tomorrow The Bean will be 19 months and I have to say as much as babies are cute and all, I'm digging the whole toddler scene more. I love being able to show her things and to look for things together. Her excitment about birds and dogs and pictures of babies and cake made February 2010 that much awesomer. She's so much more fun and manageable even when her newest fun thing is to run into a bedroom and close door on you or complain about the dearth of raisins in the house. Her newest trick is being able to fill in the words to songs and books. I'll sing "the monkey likes to scratch his...." and The Bean will say, "bum!" That's the most interesting version of this particular song. Trust me, the other lines are really tame.

She's also been walking up and down stairs like a champ. Today she walked up the post office and library steps using only the rail, no parental unit's hands! Go Bean Go! You make your mama and papa N so proud!

3 Months From Today

is Baby Meow Meow's due date!
But I'm planning on ruining N's night and having the baby a night early so he'll have to miss the season--oh wait---the SERIES finale of that show....
Yeah, I'm like that:)