Judecorp.

We have been hustling around here trying to winterize stuff and also get the baby's room squared away. Slowly but surely it is getting better. At least the summer toys and the gas grill are in the shed for the winter, and the linens are on the futon and the crib. There are other things to do but most of the necessities are done. I have wiped down the PnP/basinette with Lysol wipes so it is good to go. There is a lot of dust in the basement. Still have to bring up and wash the bottles, but we have replacement nipples for some.

We took Punk to the pumpkin patch today and you have to take a tractor/hay ride to the patch. Last year when we did it, the tractor just drove us to this patch across the street, but today it was like a 20 minute ride over the bumpiest mud/dirt paths ever. It was AWFUL. Worst idea ever at 36 weeks pregnant. I am so freaking sore and am having BHs from hell. I couldn't hold on well or brace myself well because I was holding Punk on the seat (she fell off a couple of times from the bumps and was very squirmy) so it was not good. Not good at all. Punk, however, had fun and liked going out into a pumpkin patch and choosing a pumpkin. She also found this little tiny gourd that I think is a miniature delicata squash - one decent sized pumpkin and her little gourd were $5 total. And I didn't have the baby in the field, so I guess it's all good. Poor kid's probably got a scrambled brain though.

The weather is getting cold but I am trying to avoid putting on the heat. We have used the pellet stove three times now, and have done a lot of baking to heat the house with the oven. It has been 60 degrees in the house most mornings. Brrrrrrr. I suppose it will be heat time before we know it.

Today is my birthday and I am 35 today, which means that I will be 35 when I deliver this baby, so now I'm officially in a "geriatric pregnancy." LOL and pass the geritol.

I have been wide awake since 5:59am, but I guess that's what happens when you go to bed at 8:30 the night before. I was so ridiculously tired all day yesterday and just couldn't hold out any longer. I am getting all of these stupidly annoying pregnancy headaches and tylenol doesn't really do anything for headaches so they just grate on me until they go away. Good times. Also, I have the major, major food aversions and don't want to eat anything. Unless it is spontaneously something I want to eat, I feel full and can't eat anything. Dinner is the worst - I walk around the kitchen looking for something to make for dinner and then when it is all cooked, I watch Jen and Punk eat it and I just... can't. Sad. I'm sure that's not helping my energy level at all, but when I force myself to eat, I feel crappy afterward. Booooooo.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and I feel like a schmuck for spending most of it inside, especially since today is gray and dreary. We did get out briefly to go to Tasty Top (ice cream stand) with Becki, although that was bittersweet. We ordered Punk her own cone for the first time there and of course she was in heaven, and then ran around with some other little girl who was there and then Becki was doing a lot of holding her upside down and tickling her. And guess what happened when we got home? Yep, she threw up. All over herself and the living room floor while sitting on the potty (I was hoping the potty was the reason she said her stomach hurt). So instead of going out to play we ended up doing bath, early pajamas, watching tv for a while, and sipping juice and water. She hasn't puked again (*knock wood*) and is sleeping well tonight/this morning, so I hope it was just a fluke. Yuck.

She was really sad about it. This was the first time she has thrown up since she was under two and it's like she has a whole new knowledge about it. She looked at me sadly and said, "I frowed up," as we pulled her clothes off, and later in the evening when she got the hiccups she said, "The frow ups are coming again," in this sad little voice. She gets these really violent hiccups and I wonder if she's still got some reflux going on.

I hear a little person stirring who is whining about her belly hurting and needing a cold drink, so maybe I spoke too soon. Adios.

Life as I know it right now is pretty effing awesome, except for the part where we're broke because I'm still building a caseload. It is coming along and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's just a long tunnel and my last (biweekly) paycheck was $271. OOF.

But the job switch has really been an amazing thing for our family and I don't want to speak for Jen but I think we're both really pleased with the situation. Punk is a lot happier and enjoys having more parent time, as I usually get to pick her up somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00. It's still daylight and we sometimes get to have a quick adventure after, like to the library or even outside to blow some bubbles. Today we had a little "snack picnic" on the front steps eating her apple slices and drinking juice.

We've all been eating more homecooked meals and that is improving. We still go out to eat way too much (especially with the aforementioned tiny check) but much less than we did when I was working late. Punk is eating less quick meals for dinner and we eat more dinners as a family. Because we've been cooking more, I've been buying more fresh vegetables (instead of frozen/canned) which makes me happy also. We've also been tossing less food because I try to find different ways to use it up.

The house is more under control and things like laundry and dishes get done on a regular basis. I lack motivation to wash the pots and pans sometimes but the sink is rarely full of dishes. The table is clean. Garbage goes out. I can run a load of laundry at night without feeling like a total zombie because I've been working a billion hours. I try to do most of the chores now since Jen is working 8 hours of overtime a week and I know she is tired.

One day a couple of weeks ago, I had gone out in the evening after putting Punk to bed for a quick run to the grocery store. I was thinking on what I had done after work and it involved several hours of playing with a toddler, a couple of loads of laundry, some dishes, a homecooked meal, bath and bed for the toddler, and a few other things... and I looked at the clock on the way out the door and realized that in my "old life," I would have just been getting home about 15 minutes before. It was staggering.

Things are good. Just really good. Of course, the spring-like weather and the imminent arrival of "spring ahead time" is just icing on the cake.

Today I feel like SuperMom. Not bad for my first day back at work after a week of sloth.

I stayed at work until 3, then drove to the office to take care of some paperwork and schedule with my supervisor, then went to pick up Punk. (Who, by the way, is now wearing underwear to day care. !!!!) We came home and I read approximately 98943890123890 issues of Babybug and Wild Animal Baby. I then set her up with a huge stack of Sesame Street books and went to make some dinner. In between I also did a load of laundry. Punk likes to "help" with folding, and she matches all the socks.

It wasn't the most amazing dinner - some cubed and sauteed chicken, cheesy rice (using up some of that velveeta left over from the SuperBowl), and some leftover vegetables - but it was tasty and filling and not terrible. I procured some applesauce for the toddler and put the leftover food away for Jen and rinsed out the dishes.

After dinner I let her watch the Veggie Tales video we borrowed from the library while having some snuggle time, and then we did bath and then bed prep. While running the bath, I also emptied her laundry hamper and wiped up some sort of spill/leak on the bathroom floor that I believe is coming from the diaper sprayer. Now the child is in bed (though I doubt she is sleeping, she IS quiet at present), I did another round of Laundry Switcheroo, and am now about to indulge in a little internet and eating of PEZ.

Somewhere in there I also realized that I forgot to pick up my prescription this afternoon, so I managed to convince a former coworker to pick it up at the hospital pharmacy and then - get this - drive it to Jen at work. All while cutting up chicken and switching out laundry.

SuperMom.

Today was a very full day.

TV with the toddler
Dishes/Clean kitchen
Breakfast
Dressed and out the door
Mailed the Santa letter
Spent the morning at the children's museum
Came home for lunch
Kid down for nap
Laundry
Online shopping
More laundry
Kid up from nap
Snack
Grocery shopping
Groceries away
Cooked dinner
Ate dinner
Bathed the kid
Bedtime routine
Kid down for the count
More laundry
More online shopping
Baked cookies
Ate cookies
Chillin'

I feel productive when I am at home. Maybe Santa will bring us a big pot of money so I can be a SAHM.

We're thinking of hitting up Dorchester for some dim sum on Sunday - probably at 11 or 11:30? Actually, not just thinking. It's a definite that we will be there stuffing our faces.

Who's in?

I just ate a quickie lunch of turkey pepperoni and nearly half a block of cheese. Oof.

If it wasn't for breakfast and potatoes, I could totally be an Atkins freak.

~//~

Laundry's in the machine, corned beef in the crock pot, suitcases unpacked from the weekend (oh, didn't you know we were away? we were in Ithaca with the lovely tea_soaked), kid toys picked up. We spent the morning at the Parents' Center and then ran an errand to the bank, had lunch and then off to nap. I am SUPER MOM.

We packed a lot of fun into a short span of days, and now I am tiiiiiired.

artjax graciously offered up her spare room for sleeping and we packed up the car on Saturday after Punk's lunch and took off for Maine. We left a little later than planned but really didn't have anything to do until 5:00 or so when we met rizzo41 at Governor's for unhealthy food. And dessert. And I was already full but I had strawberry shortcake and I thought I was going to explode. We had the worst server ever and were there for something like 2.5 hours which is pretty staggering considering it's basically fast food. But Punk got a balloon and it was all good, and Jodie brought Punk some puppets and some other stuff and she was in hog heaven. Punk basically calls any person whose name she doesn't know "this," so she kept ordering Jodie around by saying things like, "this color," or "this drink."

That night we stayed up talking with artjax while Punk tried really hard not to go to bed. I don't think she fell asleep until after 9. But she slept until 7, which means I love her.

Anyway, on Sunday morning, we went out to a delicious breakfast with Jackie and the most adorable thing ever was when she and Punk were making music together, J on guitar and Punk on the bongos. So freaking cute, I could die. So after a little of that, we took Punk to a playground and when it started raining, we gave her a quick McDonald's lunch before heading to Punk's first baseball game! We took her to see the Sea Dogs and they beat the pants off of Connecticut. It rained for the first half of the game but we brought a big umbrella, and the second half was gorgeous and sunny and it was hard to believe it was the same day. Punk took about a 40 minute nap on me at the park and I was pretty impressed that she actually fell asleep like that. But she loved the baseball game and that was awesome.

That evening we went to a cookout hosted by some of J's friends who have kids, and Punk was completely fried from not napping and from having dinner late, and it was okay but pretty stressful because I was always one step ahead trying to avert a meltdown. And this one kid was kind of being a turd and running ahead of Punk and taking any toy/bike she wanted to go play with and then sprayed her in the face with a water gun. Grump. But then we took Punk back to J's and gave her a bath and put her to bed and she was asleep in about one second, around 8pm.

She got up promptly at 5 this morning (WTF??!?!) and since there was no clock in there I didn't know what time it was and didn't coax her into going back to sleep, so we had a really early morning. Zzzz. We had a quick breakfast at Denny's where Punk ate her weight in oatmeal and sausage links, and then drove down to Kittery to do some outlet shopping. Punk fell asleep in the car on the way down (sigh) and then was all kinds of turned around all day. We did some shopping, got a lunch for her at BK (who knew BK has mac and cheese? score!), and then started driving home where I assumed she would take her nap, only, she didn't. She acted like a crazed jungle child for a good two hours before falling asleep for the last hour. Then we shoved her in a stroller so Jen could get some mandals at the mall and we ended up getting her a bubble mower because we seem to be physically incapable of not buying her too many things. (Gymboree Outlet, anyone?)

So we finally got home, she splashed around in the water table for a long while, got a change of clothes, played in the yard and sandbox for a while, and then we had a grilled out dinner (chicken) where Punk had her first ever corn on the cob which was insanely cute. And then a bath. And now bed.

I am so ridiculously tired right now. But it was awesome. Thanks, J & J!

The weather was amazing today and although a lot of it was wasted running errands and cleaning inside, we did get to spend some time outside doing some yard work. Punk ran around the back yard while I raked and Jen used the leaf blower, and she climbed in leaf piles and had a general good time. Last summer I found a little plastic slide on the side of the road on the way home from a friend's place and it is getting good use right now, which is awesome because it was free! When things settle down I want to get some outside play equipment for Punk but for now she thinks that little free slide is the bee's knees.

The down side to the yard work is that after we came in, I was reading with Punk and pulled a little tick off my neck. GROSSSSSSSS. I wasn't expecting it at all because it is super early for ticks (hello, it's not even April!) and of course I am all paranoid now and will be on the lookout for bullseye rashes. Good times.

I also cleaned out the pantry to see what we have and it looks like we have quite a bit of canned tuna and some fun things like a vegetarian sloppy joe mix. Not the classiest food but we're set for a while. We also got some of those bags of frozen chicken breasts last week because they were buy one get one free. Sweet.

I didn't write much about it before because everything was all hush hush about the job, but ever since I gave my notice on the 17th, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about what God is trying to teach me with this experience. As a social worker, I have never been in a situation to take a job for the money and this was my first real taste of that. I knew it was a bad situation but I let the promise of a bigger salary and more time off lure me in, and I have learned my lesson. I didn't go into social work to get rich, so I guess I should start acting like it.

So we got some snow this morning - maybe 2.5 inches - and it was a pain in the butt. We were all late to work because of the quick shoveling and then there were a bazillion accidents so the highway was totally jacked. Yuck. I'm glad I insisted on getting the driveway and walkway shoveled, though, because it sleeted and rained after and it would have been grossssssss. It's not, though. Yay!

"They" are also predicting a big storm on Friday, 8 inches or something like that. Punk was supposed to have her day care Christmas party on Friday and it got bumped up to tomorrow (also at my suggestion, man, I'm on a roll) so that people wouldn't feel pressured to bring their kids in bad weather for a party/gift exchange. Which meant that I had to bake Punk's "healthy snack to share" (blueberry bread) tonight instead of tomorrow, and wrap her exchange gift (coloring books and crayons). I am hoping that "they" are wrong about Friday, though, because I was planning to use that extra day care day to clean the heck out of my house in anticipation of house guests. So keep your fingers crossed!

I am fighting off a cold something fierce. I feel tired and worn down but so far (*KNOCKS WOOD*) I have managed to stave off whatever it is. I don't want Punk to get sick, especially for the holidays. Boooooo!

I should be in bed right now. I just finished putting the receipts in the check book and paying the credit card bills, and the bread is done, so technically I'm free to go. I just can't shut my brain off.

Yawn.