Going all pioneer in Pocatello

From Emily's yummy life

Yesterday, I got to feel like Mrs. Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. Our dryer broke, and Anne Marie and I hung our clothes out to dry. Thank goodness we have a house with a clothesline. I'm guessing not everyone has such things anymore. We're going to get a new dryer, but I really love the smell of my clothes when I take them off the line. They are less wrinkled and smell super-fresh.

Of course, my self-sufficient pioneer woman life was short-lived. I put a pork tenderloin in the oven, left to go look at dryers, and when I came back, it was burnt almost beyond recognition. So, in very un-pioneer like fashion, we went to Wingers.

In other news, it's the season of sickness again. After being well the entire summer, Anne Marie got her second bug of September, and it turned into a nasty double ear infection. The dr. said her throat looked bad too, but there wasn't much point doing a step culture because he was giving her antibiotics anyway.

I've come to the conclusion that it's the college students that bring sickness to her daycare. She went to daycare all summer, and never got sick. But the school year starts, and her entire classroom is sick. They should put a sign up in the Student Union Building - don't cough on the toddlers if you happen upon them on campus.

Drugs are amazing. On Saturday afternoon when I took her to the doctor, she couldn't really even stand on her own, and she cried nonstop with pain. One day on antibiotics, and the girl seemed completely cured. She slept all day Saturday, however, and I am feeling the aftermath. Last night she was up until well past midnight. I want her to get well, so I let her sleep in. Wouldn't you like to be doing this at 10 a.m. ?

From Emily's yummy life

Belly photos

Admittedly, I was about 20 pounds heavier when I got pregnant with Bean than Anne Marie, so I was a little chunkier, but this pregnancy, I started growing much faster. Although nobody else probably noticed, I started noticing clear back in July. Behold, the evidence.

18 weeks, Anne Marie (then known as Stubby)



19 weeks, Bean


I just noticed the shirt makes it look like my chest is crooked. I assure you, they are still in a somewhat normal position.

18 weeks, me trying to show as much belly as possible with Anne Marie (stubby)



With bean, not trying nearly as hard:



I hope this helps, Jeni! It's funny. I have photos of me every week practically from 12 weeks on with Anne Marie, but this is the first documentation for Bean. I'm a bit less camera excited now, I think.

Bean update

I still don't know what Bean is (known by Matt's mom as L.L. Bean, and as "the bean' to my grandma), but at last I have a set appointment! So I will let the world know Oct. 7 as long as Bean lets me know. I think I'll just die if he/she does not carry my exhibitionist gene.

Jeni asked for photos, and so I'll take some tomorrow. This time around, I am a house! I've gained five pounds, compared to 15 this far with Anne Marie, but it looks more like 40. Hopefully people know I'm pregnant, not just fat. :)

At the doctor's today, everything looked pretty awesome. Usually she tells me the heartbeat is "cute." This time, when it was between 130 and 140, she agreed with me that it sounded like a boyish heartbeat. I honestly don't care whether it's a boy or a girl (although I wish I knew now), but I have this weird idea in my head that two girls would be easier than a boy and a girl. The only other gender issue is that Bean will be a tiebreaker. Counting animals, we are tied. We have a girl dog, two human females, one human male and two male cats. Bean will give one gender the majority. It probably doesn't help on the male side that the cats are both neutered and incredibly effeminate though. They also have a love for each other that goes WAY beyond brotherly love.

I'm not coherent anymore, so I'll go. More later!

Memories and prayers

One of my best friends had her first baby yesterday morning. It's a boy, named Anthony, and both mom and dad are excited. But a September baby definitely wasn't what they were expecting. Anthony came 13 weeks early, and measured in at 2 pounds 3 ounces, less than half the size of Anne Marie. There were some tiny babies in the nicu when we were there- I remember a set of twins that didn't seem any bigger than their parents hands- but they were 3-pounders.

Mom and dad say the baby is fine. I had to smile when I told him I'm sure he had a rough day, and he said, "Yes, but it was wonderful in retrospect." They both have a great attitude. They have a small baby, but he is alive and doing well, and she is absolutely fine now. That's what they see.

If everyone could say a few prayers for them, it would be great. They are in for a long haul, and they don't even know it yet. Anne Marie was only in the nicu for 18 days, and it felt like an eternity. This little guy is going to have to grow a bit longer.

There's all sorts of things you aren't ready for when you have a baby early. You aren't prepared to cry when you leave the hospital with balloons, flowers and no baby. You definitely aren't prepared for the coma-like constant trips to the hospital every three hours, or the guilt you feel when you skip one because the nurses tell you to stay home and sleep through one. There's the pumping at 2 a.m. because there isn't a baby home to take milk straight from the tap.

There's also all this stuff you don't know. I remember visiting Anne Marie in the morning after she was born, looking at all the blanket-covered isolettes with unseen babies inside and thinking, "at least she wasn't bad off enough to go into one of those." I had no idea that those isolettes are a sign that your baby can breathe completely on it's own and no longer needs the constant eye of a nurse. Anne Marie got to go to one after four days.

Listening to Tanna yesterday brought back a lot of memories. She seemed really happy, and I'm impressed by how much stronger she is than I was. I'm hoping all goes well for her, and I'm really hoping her little boy gets to come home soon. They are already outstanding parents.

Potty training

 

I'll be the first to admit that I have NO IDEA how to potty train. But Anne Marie has been telling me "I poop," right before she poops, and seems excited about her little potty, so I thought I would at least make an attempt to change the potty from a place to store toys to a real potty.

Last night, we were upstairs when Anne Marie said, "I poop," and grabbed her butt. So I ran down the stairs, grabbed the potty and ran back up. She had already gone, but I thought I would stick her on the potty in case she had some more business to do. She sat for awhile, got up, giggled and pooped right on the floor. Matt caught her mid-poop, and stuck her on the potty. She sat for a bit, got up, walked around for a minute, then did it again! Uggh. I'll potty train again later when I have a stomach for it.

Anyway, here's a recap of the happier parts of our week. We went to the fair and had a mother-daughter hike.