Judecorp.

Some of you asked in comments in the last post what the nursing scene has been this time around. The short answer is that it's exactly as I expected.

( Long with boring talk of nursing. )

We don't have town garbage pickup here, so we contract with a local company and pay them to take our garbage and recycling. There are several companies to choose from.

I called our company to see if they had pickup for Christmas trees, because ours is out in the yard. She said they would take the tree for a $5 fee. No problem! So I made an arrangement to have them take the tree with my regular pickup.

In the past, when I've had tree pickup, they come with some kind of chipper/shredder truck and grind up the dry trees. But this morning I watched him just put it in the garbage truck with all of the other garbage.

Argh! That really, really annoys me. I could have put it in my backyard to rot if I thought it was just going to the dump.

p.s. What a fitting song playing right now, LOL.

I think a toy store threw up in my house. We are now full up on My Little Pony toys and purple unicorns. I guess you can never have too many.

Little Miss has finally succumbed to the overstimulation and is finally taking a nap today. She was just getting more and more clingy, whiny, and off-focus. Actually, the lack of focus is our #1 annoyance these days. She is just all over the place, which I know is normal for toddlers/preschoolers but she has been taking it to a new level. She doesn't pay attention when you talk to her and will actually talk over you to ask the question you are answering. Or will be looking around and just walk into people, into things, off the sidewalk, whatever. Very frustrating. But she is quiet and sleeping right now, after losing the privilege of going to the library with my brother and sister-in-law due to poor focus at lunch.

My little baby is almost 6 weeks old and is not little. He smiles and coos and is generally adorable. He used to have a 5-6 hour stretch of sleep at night but that seems to have stopped or maybe it is starting earlier. I need to re-configure his sleep needs and sync up with them again so we're all happier. It's hard getting up with him throughout the night and then having to get up early with the early-rising preschooler. Yawn.

Jen got me an iPod Touch for Christmas which is super swanky! It is so swanky, however, that my ancient iBook with the ancient operating system can't run a new enough version of iTunes to be able to sync my iPod or add my music. Super sigh. Buying a new computer is not at all on the budget.

Also on the list of things that are not on the budget: the emergency furnace repair that we had yesterday because the ignitor crapped out. Aaah, the joys of homeownership and being a grown up.

This post is bland and sounds like it is being brought to you by the letters P, P, and D. But really I think it is the post-holiday funk coupled with sleep deprivation caused by Bogo-itis.

I am always amused by "all or nothing" ideals, especially about parenting which is NEVER all or nothing. And I am endlessly amused by the "attachment parenting" community on LJ.

Did you know that you can't really be an attached parent if you don't breastfeed? And that an attached parent always keeps the baby in the sling instead of the baby bucket?

I'd love to see one of these "attached parent gurus" pull the newborn baby out of the bucket which is in the warm car, shove him in a sling, walk him up to the preschool for the 5 minute preschool drop-off/pick-up, then cram him BACK into the bucket for the drive home, instead of leaving him sleeping inside his warm little bucket and putting him back without him even knowing he was in a preschool.

But what do I know? My kid drinks out of a bottle so we're not bonded anyway.

/snark

Bogo went to his first movie today, at 13 days old. He saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1). Not bad for less than 2 weeks, you know? He slept through most of it, grunted a couple of times, cried for about 15 seconds, nursed, and had a bottle. Good times. I dropped popcorn on his head a few times (whoops) and he got startled by some of the noise. The movie was very loud, so I covered his ears.

Speaking of the Bogo, he was weighed today and was 10 pounds on the dot. Not yet two weeks old. Punk was 9lbs and change at one month, and 11lbs and change at 2 months. Yikes! Big baby!

We had to take him to the pediatrician today to check weight because he was still under birth weight last week and because of all of the nursing issues I had with Punk (when she lost so much weight and got dehydrated and sick). We ended up meeting with a new nurse practitioner instead because the doc was super busy. She was very nice and very sweet and very pro-breastfeeding. Which is nice, because I'm pro-breastfeeding. But she kind of was crossing that line between "supporting breastfeeding" and "making women feel like they are never doing enough." She just kept hammering me with ways to increase my milk supply and stop supplementing, and was full of "How do you know you won't make enough for this baby?" Because, lady, I /know/. I know like I know that I'm breathing. I know that my kid nurses without swallowing. I know that my kid nurses for 30+ minutes and pops off STARVING. She told me to cut the amount of supplement in half so he would wake to eat more and therefore nurse more and therefore I would magically make more milk. Except I won't. I'm maxed out on galactogogues and I won't. Aah well. She should just be happy that we were proactive and our kid is gaining weight and being healthy and thriving.

Also, I like the longer stretches of sleep when we give him formula bottles at nighttime. ;)

In labor. Probably early labor. Hoping to hold out here until Punk goes to bed (so I can tuck her in) and then call the midwifery.

Ow.

Still here. Still pregnant.

It's gotten to the point where Punk is asking, "When is the baby going to come out?" because we had told her "after Halloween" and to a 3 year old, Halloween was like a million years ago.

It's been a million years for me, too.

I just wish something exciting was going on. I'm still sick/tired/weak so it's probably not the best time to be in labor or whatever but I want to meet this baby already!

I haven't posted here in a million years. Don't worry, no baby yet.

Things are chugging along. Yesterday was my last day of work until March 1st. I bet that will come around quickly. I am trying not to think about it. Or about not getting paid until March. (Whoops.) It will be a lean Christmas around here, which is probably for the best since I don't like all of the commercialism anyway.

Things are moving smoothly through this pregnancy. 38w now, haven't had a speck of a complication, knock on wood. BP is fantastic, weight is up to a scary number but in reality is only 20lbs up. I've just never been this heavy before. Looking for a milk donor, hoarding formula checks and samples. There is a crib in our house again. That's weird. Kid has been riding the 55th percentile forever, so I'm guessing he's set to be Joe Average Baby. It still seems big to me though because Punk was always teeny, in the 20s as a fetus and newborn. She had cord and placenta stuff though. Who knows?

Punk is a very big girl who is excited to be a big sister and is more excited to go to preschool. She loves school, loves the kids at school, and has made some friends. She has picked up some annoying 3 year old habits and I'm sure it's extra hard for her these days because my mobility is non-existent and my patience (and energy) is thin. This too shall pass.

We have bits and pieces of baby stuff in the house now - a swing is set up in the living room, the crib is in the baby/guest room, and we are collecting stuff. We'll set up the PnP in the bedroom soon, I'd imagine, and then we'll be done for a while. We should probably get some newborn/size 1 diapers because the pockets will be too big and bulky. Last time we borrowed a lot of infant prefolds which were a godsend, but we lost our hookup. :) Gotta wash bottles and get those ready also. There's gonna be a baby up in here!

Happy Halloween, everyone. Punk and Jen are trick-or-treating at the library right now and then we will run a bajillion errands. Can't wait to see all the kiddies in their costumes tomorrow. :) Have a great one!

I have the weirdest, roundest basketball belly ever.



34w6d. 35 weeks tomorrow. I wish this baby would drop some because he is SO far up my ribcage it is not even funny. I am exhausted. Working is hard. Preschool drop-off/pick-up sandwiching working is harder. Running all the post-preschool errands and then making dinner and cleaning the house is damned near impossible. Tonight I was standing on a rickety folding chair to change the battery in the smoke alarm down in the basement and I thought I was going to fall to my big, round, death.

I am at the end of my rope.

I feel like all of my best laid plans are a total waste these days. I suppose it is enhanced by today's work experience.

I put our queen-size guest bed up on freecycle last week in an effort to get it out of our house. It was thatpatti's bed way back (thanks, Patti!) and it has served us well... we just need to ditch the guest room. So anyway, I had a taker that swore they were coming to pick up the bed yesterday at 1:00. And of course, they didn't come. At all. All day. Didn't call, e-mail, anything. Nada. So I sat around for nothing. And the bed's not gone. And I can't do the big furniture move until it's gone. Bleh.

Today was my first day of the "doing intakes in the office" thing at work. I had four offered intake times and all four were filled. Score! First my 9:00 cancelled, then my 10:00. At 11:10, I called my 11:00 and she had forgotten and was at the grocery store. Then my 1:00 cancelled. Are you effing kidding me? I left work around 11:20 and drove home to eat lunch. Today's paycheck - $0. Today's potential paycheck - $175. OUCH.

It just feels like I'm sitting here spinning my wheels in the mud. I have this intense urge to nest and plan, but can't get rid of the bed, can't move the guest room furniture to the basement (we need someone to help and I don't have anyone), so can't move the baby furniture out of Punk's room, so can't assemble Punk's furniture, can't get the baby clothes out of boxes and put them in drawers, can't steam clean the rug, etc. etc. Get up and get ready to go to work, prepare for work, pack lunch for work, and then... do no work. It's such a waste.

I am so freaking frustrated. And broke.