My Silly Bandz Nightmare

Have you heard of Silly Bandz? If not, they look like this:

They come in a variety of colors and shapes. The kids like them. They wear them on their wrists. They trade them. They compare them... The kids LOVE them.

I have never purchased any of these and yet my kid has a wrist full. How he talks his friends into giving them to him without a trade, I do not know. I did witness him admiring his neighbors glow in the dark silly bandz when her mom made her give him one... Thus my nightmare.

Later that night, well after Sam had been put to bed, he strolled into our room like it was the middle of the day asking how he could charge up his glow in the dark silly band. We put it on the tissue box right under the lamp on my nightstand. I said, "I'll bring it to you in ten minutes. Don't get out of bed again." He sauntered back to his room. Ten minutes later, I made the delivery and that band, which happened to be shaped like a pair of short, of all things, was glowing good.

Fast forward to 1am. I was dead asleep when suddenly my eyes popped open. I was startled to see Sam standing less than a foot away from me.

Me: What the heck are you doing?

Sam: Charging up my silly band.

Me: The light is off.

Sam: I'm using the light from your alarm clock.

Me:GET BACK TO BED AND QUIT PLAYING WITH THAT THING. YOU MAY NOT WAKE UP TO PLAY WITH THOSE!!!

Fast forward again to 9 am. Sam has been gone for a good half hour. He roller bladed to school since his bike had it's 3rd flat tire in two weeks. I'm relaxing in my bed because my ankles are still swollen from the day before. It's been that kind of week. The phone rings, I answer and hear a tiny voice say, "Hi mom."

Me: (confused because school started one minute before and I can't imagine what could already be going wrong) Hi Sam.

Sam: I forgot my shoes.

Me: Ok, I'll bring them over.

All the way to the school I can't help thinking that had he slept through the night instead of worrying about the glow power of his silly bandz he surely would have remembered his shoes.

To start your own nightmare visit here: www.sillybanz.com

Be sure to watch the featured music video.

Conversations in Costco - Episode 2

Picture us sitting at a dirty "picnic" table with giant hot dogs in a giant warehouse type store.

Me: Sam that guy behind you has a Goonies T-shirt on.
Sam: What does it say?
Me: It says, "Goonies never say die"
Sam: (In a girly voice) I'm not a Goonie.
Me: I dare you to look at him and yell , HEY YOUUUU GUUUYYYSSS!
Sam: (smiles and takes a bite of his giant hot dog)

... A few minutes pass...

Sam: Ok, I'm going to do it!
Sam turns, towards the guy, yells, "HEY YOUUU GUUYYSSS!" in his best Sloth voice. The dude wouldn't even look at him but his wife turned around really fast and gave us a dirty look. Sam and I busted up laughing.
Matt: (looking really uncomfortable) Maybe that guy doesn't feel like being teased about his shirt today.
Me: He shouldn't have worn it then, besides, we aren't teasing him, we are trying to bond with him... He doesn't deserve that shirt.
Sam and I continue to laugh...

100 Days to Go!

As I type there is a little human going crazy inside my belly. I'm no good a deciphering the movements. I can't tell her head from her feet. But there is a lot of movin' and shakin' goin' on. Matt can feel it and see it. I'm picturing either a raging fit going on in there or a dance party. It's hard to believe that somebody who can move so much and be so strong still has 100 days to grow.
I'm nearly 26 weeks and eager to start pushing... But also enjoying these fun feelings at the same time. Feelings I have longed for for eight long years. The moving babe, the planning, the thinking about names (we have one picked out, by the way). The extra ultra sounds - my Ob's office was having trouble seeing all they were looking for, so I go to come back for another at 24 weeks and then yet another this week in the parinatology department. All is well. All fun stuff.
And then there are the not so fun feelings. The joints loosening and the joints stiffening for no apparent reason. The pinching of the sciatic nerve - random and not as bad a the end of the pregnancy with Sam. And don't get me started on the ever threatening charlie horse in my calves. Youch! They always strike in the middle of the night while I sleep. Luckily my trick of flexing my toes up, flat footed still works, but not until after I feel like something took a big bite out of my leg. My hands and ankles still swell occasionally, but my little exercises to fight off edema are still working.
The A-number-one problem, that which I worry about most, is the glow. Several people have told me now that I am glowing. A nice thing to say, but I fear, in actuality the loss of brain cells, caused by pregnancy, is showing in my new found facial expression, which is, blank, and mistaken for a glow. It's proven you know, that women who are pregnant lose brain cells. Also that their feet grow. So after this, my 8th pregnancy I am feeling really dumb, and who knows, by the end I may be wearing clown shoes to match my new brain.
I have been so forgetful. My mind wanders mid conversation. I can't articulate thoughts or ideas. Names escape me. Events go by and I don't even miss them for days. I double book myself. I repeat myself. I ask questions multiple times before the answers start to sink in. It's really annoying for someone who's mind is usually a steel trap of information. Will these cells come back? Will I have the drive and the thoughts to be the blogger I once was? Will I eat my new baby, who I have been so, so hungry for?

In other news, Matt and I celebrated our 10th anniversary by going to see The Lion King Broadway production at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. We had plans to stay at the Little America, downtown, but when we arrived they gave us a complementary upgrade to The Grand America. It was such a fun little trip. The show was fabulous, though the over abundance of children in the audience was very distracting. The hotel was beautiful, though haunted. A totally great weekend.
Sam started 4th grade last week! I can't believe it. He is more than half way through elementary school. But he's just my little boy. I have vivid memories of 4th grade. It was my best year. I moved up to the upstairs class rooms with the 5th and 6th graders. And I was so mature and totally awesome to the max. I had the most radical biker shorts with neon strips on the side and a grown out mullet. I wonder if Sam feels as grown up as I did... I kind of hope not.
Things are going well so far. He likes his teachers and he comes home happy. Something new this year, Sam has been riding his bike to and from school with a friend. They love it!

The Results are in...

After a few anxious and painful (for me anyway, that lady was DIGGING with her magic ultrasound wand) minutes the baby showed us it's business.

It's a girl! She was being modest and we hope she stays that way.

I admit, I shed a few tears. Though I'm not sure why. Sam is a little disappointed, he kept saying on the way that he hoped it was a boy. But he says he is happy. Matt and I are feeling relief that it's a girl. The weird fact that I have felt like it was a girl all this time was putting pressure on us. If it had been a boy we might feel like we HAVE to try again and at this point neither of us have been feeling up to that. So, sweet relief.

Now to agree on a name.... I'm determined to get my way!

This one is for Anj!

I've been called out on facebook, and told it is time for an update. I don't know where my blogging spirit has gone.
We are having a wonderful summer. I no longer have employment, except of two hours a week at the Rec Center Day care, so we are feeling super poor. And hot. We have decided not to turn the AC on this year to keep the electric bill as low as possible. Luckily it has been a fairly mild July... so far. There have been a few days that were hot enough to make me miserable but it has pretty much cooled off every night so far. Sam and I cool off at the Rec pool and the Library.

On July 3rd Matt and Sam went to help Pete and Whitney move. When they came back Sam noticed a large flag stuck in the grass at our neighbors. He asked Matt what it was there for and when Matt told him it was there for the 4th of July, Sam said, "But that's in August." Apparently Sam's momma needs to review the basics of the calendar with him over the long summer break.

Another funny thing I heard from Sam was when he was singing to himself. This is what I heard:
"Shot through the heart,
and your to late,
You give love a band aid."
When I think about it, it makes total sense to give a band aid to someone who's been shot.

Still pregnant! 18 weeks! I am feeling good. Some of my energy has returned, which I am really happy about. Despite having lost 20 pounds, most of my pants are starting to fit very snugly and some of them just plain don't fit. So my constant mantra of "Grow baby, grow!" must be working. We go to the doctor again on the 28th, when we will have an ultrasound and find out if my instincts are right or wrong about this baby being a girl. I'm not hoping one way or the other, I just want healthy, but I still think it's a girl for some reason. I could be wrong, of course, we'll see.

Today is Matt's Birthday! So if you see him wish him a happy day.
Happy Birthday Matty!

My poor neglected blog.

It's been over a month! I can't believe it. And the last post was a bit of an announcement. Do I have you on the edge of your seat?

My OB says he get nervous when ever he thinks about me. His nurse says she holds her breath every time she sees that I've left a message for her. I call her a lot. We have years of history together and now we are starting a close personal relationship. And I don't know how much more personal I could get with my OB, poor guy. He's got a vein that bulges out of his bald head when ever I'm around.

So, I have made it to week 13. And I'm feeling really good. I never got sick. Sure, I was nauseous a few times and threw up about 20 times total - so far, but compared to my other 7 pregnancies, this has been fairly easy. I am so fooschnickin' tired it's not even funny. And I'm still eating every three hours during the day. But I put an end to my night time feedings. After two months of it, I just couldn't take it anymore and so far so good. Stopping hasn't made me sick and if I find that it does I'll have to go back to it. But I think I'm in the clear for getting the hyper emesis. And I still mananged to lose 20 pounds.

And speaking of night time feedings, I fully expect this baby to be born sleeping through the night. I'm feeling really old. I don't know if it's because I'm 32 and I expected to be done bearing children by now, if it's the idea of starting over with diapers and potty training and baby proofing when we haven't been there for a good six years now or if it's just that I really was pretty young when I had Sam. 23 seems like so long ago. Or maybe it's just because I'm so tired and don't really feel like myself. I'm looking forward to getting some ambition back, but right now I have none. Not even to blog. Several people have gotten after me so here I am.

Thanks for all your prayers and phone calls. I appreciate them so much. And please, keep them coming. At my appointment last Thursday we saw the little peanut with it's healthy heartbeat and it's HUGE HEAD. I asked my OB when he thought I'd be "out of the woods" and he said, "Uuummm, 38 weeks.... when you're breast feeding.... when this kid goes to college?" So, while I feel like this child will be born (and that it's a girl), I still need your prayers.

Bun in the Oven

Yes, my oven.

There are some things we are doing differently. I want IV nutrition this time. There was a internist in California who did it for me while I was pregnant and terribly sick with Sam. I think it may have been the difference between Sam and all the others. I'm the first to admit it may not be the magic bullet, but I think it's worth a try. My OB said he would go along with it if I could get the perinatologist to recommend it. We went to a perinatologist before I was pregnant, and we pleaded our case. She wouldn't recommend an IV or a pic line, but she will put a feeding tube in my nose, through my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines when I get really sick. I'm nervous about this because it will be dangling at the back of my throat for 10-14 days and, as we well know, my gag reflex has a hair-line trigger.
She has three criteria for this to be a viable option. First, I need to be at least 8 weeks because they will need to do an x-ray to be sure the tube is positioned properly. She doesn't want to do an x-ray before 8 weeks. Second, I need to have lost weight from the throwing up. And last, there has to be ketones in my urine. This is a toxin released by the body when it's breaking itself down and burning itself for fuel.
In the mean time she has me eating every three hours. Even in the night. We're trying to trick my body into feeling busy, rather than sick. So far, it seems to be working. I usually get sick between 6 and 8 weeks, being full blown sick by 8 weeks. I'm 7 weeks now and I have felt a little nauseous a few times, but as soon as I eat I feel better. I think it's the eating in the night that's making the big difference. So every night before we go to sleep, Matt says, "When was the last time you ate." I tell him and then we count on our fingers three hours ahead and he sets the alarm. Then he walks over to the desk and counts ahead three hours from the alarm clock, and sets another alarm clock. Then he goes to his alarm clock and sets it. When he wakes up he resets his alarm clock to three hours after my second one, so I'm sure to wake up in time to eat again. So in short, we have three alarm clocks in our room going off four times in the night. It's so fun.
I also went on a short little road trip to Idaho with some friends. We had a visit with a muscle therapist. He taught me how to stimulate my kidneys into flushing fluid more efficiently. My legs had been swelling since the fifth and sixth weeks. It's different and not something I'm familiar with or used to, but it's working. It has kept the fluid out of my legs all week.
My poor body does not like to be pregnant. But I'm hoping 7th times a charm and things all work out. Whether we have a baby in December or not, I know I won't regret trying. So, please, keep us in your prayers.