Noah-isms or how my kid guilts me daily

Example 1:

Every morning when I go in his room to get him up:
"Mommy, is it a whole together day?" (Translation: Do we get to spend the whole day together? i.e. Saturday or Sunday)
"No, bud, it's a school day and you're going to have so much fun in the Yellow Room!"
"No, I'm not. I would have more fun staying home with you."
Sigh.

Example 2:

When playing in his grandparents' suburban backyard:
"Mommy, can I have a big backyard with lots of grass and trees and a swimming pool and sprinkler to run in?" (Reminder: we live in the city, not the suburbs, and don't have a spot of grass in our tiny postage stamp yard.)
"Someday, buddy, someday."
Sigh.

Example 3:

When discussing names for his baby sister:
"Mommy, we don't need a new baby sister. We have each other!"
Sigh.

Example 4:

When I arrive at school to pick him up:
"Mommy! That is a BEAUTIFUL dress! You look so pretty today! Can I have ice cream when we get home?"
Sigh.

He's the master of guilt and manipulation otherwise known as your average three year old. Tell me, does it end or do they just get BETTER at it?

Far too much detail about a trip to HomeGoods and nursery progress

Friday night I was in a bit of a funk. You know the kind...super irritated by everything and everyone, nothing was making me happy, I couldn't stand to be in my house one minute longer. Seconds after Noah was in bed I grabbed my purse and told Tim I needed to get out and decompress for a little while. When he asked where I was headed (because it wasn't the local bar, obviously) I said, without missing a beat, "HomeGoods" like some junkie who needed her fix. Is that weird? Do you go to HomeGoods to walk the aisles and commune with inexpensive, sometimes random, home decor? No?

Let me tell you, HomeGoods on a Friday night at 8pm is the perfect place to decompress. It's basically empty, the shelves are fully stocked in anticipation of the Saturday/Sunday rush to buy decorative baskets and cheap lamps, and there is no rush to get in and get out. I love it and this trip proved to be so much more than time to refocus...I hit the jackpot for the baby's room.

You see, I haven't done a thing to get her nursery ready. Oh, I bought a new crib and scored a matching changing table on Clist, but other than that I haven't painted the walls, found curtains or sheets or a crib skirt, nor purchased anything that could remotely be used to decorate a baby's room. By this point in my pregnancy with Noah, I had his room completely done and ready for his arrival. Poor second baby...she's already getting the shaft. However, this trip to HomeGoods changed all of that.

Right inside the door was a display of new sheet sets that had recently come in and one set was the PERFECT pattern for curtains: x-long twin set with a white background and geometric pattern in a coral-pink which is the EXACT size/color I wanted for floor-length curtain panels. I snagged it so fast and by sheer luck found a second set buried under the rest. BINGO...into the cart they went. My mood was improving quickly.

In the lighting section I found the sweetest lamp painted in the exact same coral-pink and a beautiful fabric shade that looks like a field of watercolor flowers. I grabbed that sucker and threw it (placed it gently) in the cart. With my energy up and my adrenaline pumping, I headed to the art section...you know, the home of generic, yet perfectly pleasing, faux art. I scored a 24" x 24" canvas of a bird in it's nest. It's graphic and pretty and really colorful. I hesitated only because I thought it might be "too much" but then I remembered these words of wisdom from Her Royal Highness Candice Olson and every other designer on the planet: If you love it, it will work in your room. Into the cart it went.

My last score was an adorable owl pillow much like I have been seeing all over Etsy but at half the price (and also not handmade but beggars can't be choosers now can we?). When I got home and laid out my purchases I sensed an "aviary" theme happening and promptly logged into Etsy and ordered fat quarters of beautiful fabrics with a bird theme. I have yet to decide exactly what I am going to do with said fabrics but I have some ideas involving embroidery hoops. And I just now remembered I ordered two white ceramic birdhouses from West Elm to hang on the wall...I must have a thing for birds. Interesting.

If you've even read this far and thank you if you have, I'm sure you're wondering if I am going to turn said sheets into curtain panels BY MYSELF. That answer is no. Due to time constraints and lack of energy post-6pm, I pawned them off on my mother who is taking them to her local tailor where they will be transformed into beautiful lined drapery panels with a grosgrain ribbon trim. At least that's what I am hoping happens. Instead I plan to make the crib skirt using fabric from the remaining fitted sheets, some iron on hem tape, velcro and a crib skirt tutorial I unearthed online. If that doesn't work out there is this awesome place called Pottery Barn Kids that sells decent crib skirts for a shockingly high price. Or so I've heard.

I've begun painting the walls and the trim, I have big plans for a board and batten treatment on the lower half of the walls, and my house looks like a disaster zone from all the projects we started over the weekend. My mojo is back, people, and IT FEELS SO GOOD.

Pictures to come once things look a little more organized and less like an episode of "Hoarders".

Shameless self-promotion aka I write at Style Lush too!

Hey! Want to come visit me over at Style Lush today? I'm asking for your help with all things baby girl. Where do you shop for baby girl clothes? What is a "must-have"? Where do you find all those adorable hair clips/bows/flowers? Stop on over and tell me all your secrets.

Random things

Thing the first: THANK YOU. For all your lovely comments and for sharing your experiences and opinions on all things induction related. I still don't know what we're going to do but I have a feeling I'll just "know" as we get closer. What I do know is this baby girl is vacating my body somehow, someway by early October (by October 3rd to be specific because that is my 30th birthday and I WILL have a cocktail to celebrate, oh yes).

 

Thing the second: My OB's office informed me that I gained less than half a pound in the last two weeks. Guess who is having ice cream RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE to celebrate?

 

Thing the third: My husband snookered me into agreeing to a boys-only road trip to Florida in a few weeks. He's been so nice and attentive lately that I should have known something was up. And how can I deny a man a last road trip with his buddy, a weekend of wakeboarding, and fun in the sun before he becomes a father of two? Had I known I was going to get knocked up in January I would have FOR SURE booked a girls weekend ahead of time. Drats. (I did inform him that this was the last hurrah because as soon as he gets home he is MINE and he better get his work pants on...Daddy's got a nursery to paint and a crib to assemble and some attic-digging for baby gear to do.)

 

Thing the fourth: It's hotter than hell in Chicago. I don't know about where you live but I am dying here. I am very much looking forward to Saturday when I get to see K and Family for some much needed romping in the lake and sand dunes. Warning to anyone who may see me at the Indiana Sand Dunes: you are not seeing a beached whale. It's just me...impersonating a beached whale.

 

Thing the fifth (and then I am done): MAH BEBE turns THREE tomorrow! How did this happen? Where have the years disappeared to? A photo update of his third year will be posted sometime in the next, oh, month or so. I hope.

Induction? Yay or Nay?

I am currently facing the following scenario and wonder what YOU would do. If your OB told you that he recommended an induction at 39 weeks because of your previous rapid active labor (4 hours start to finish, 5 cm to 9.5 cm in 20 minutes, 3 pushes aaaannnddd here's  baby!), would you consider it?

I'm concerned about "forcing" the baby out a) earlier than 40 weeks, b) that an unsuccessful induction on a body that is not yet "primed" may lead to a c-section and c) I had such a good, relatively easy delivery the first time that I don't want to mess with nature. However, I am TERRIFIED that this baby could be born in less than two hours and that there is a very real possibility that I could not make it to the hospital in time. Last I checked, Tim did not complete a medical degree and is very unqualified to deliver a baby. Also, I don't have epidurals at home.

I also hope that my OB is not suggesting this for the benefit of his vacation schedule but I am too much of a pansy to ask. Obviously this is our decision to make but I want to know what you think. Would you consider it? 

Ah ha! Here's the crazy!

Wow, so I totally forgot how mind-blowingly CRAZY I can get during pregnancy. Why didn't you remind me? One minute I'm wringing my hands over the complete lack of planning for Noah's 3rd birthday party and the next I am crying hysterically that we have made no progress on the baby's room and I'm an awful mother because I don't even NOTICE that there is another baby coming in WEEKS and she doesn't even have CLOTHES...apparently long, run-on sentences are also a hallmark of my pregnancy-induced psychosis.

 

This is hard, y'all. I'm laying myself completely bare when I say this because I don't want you to think it's all sunshine and rainbows over here. I have good days and bad days, happy days and sad days. I know this is mostly due to the raging hormones but I also wonder if it's partly because I feel apathetic towards the arrival of this new baby. (I am SO SORRY baby! I promise I will be so happy when you get here!). People ask us what we're having and I say "a girl!" followed with "we're so excited and can't wait!" when truthfully? Her birth day is bearing down on me and I feel overwhelmed by the things that need to get done and how will I ever wrangle two children and go back to work 12 weeks later and afford childcare for two kids, etc.

 

Don't get me wrong: we want this baby. We have wanted her for a very long time. But wanting her and the reality of her coming are two very different things. I look at Noah and realize he is no longer my "baby". That makes me cry. He's less than three months from being a big brother and does he even understand that? Probably not. I worry how this baby, this stranger to our family, will affect him. Maybe that's the problem: she's still a stranger to us. Maybe that's why she doesn't have a name...we don't know her yet. How will she fit into our family? Will it be as seamless as everyone tells me? Will it just "happen"? Those of you who have gone before me..tell me how it all works out.

 

This is all the same (see: crazy) as my pregnancy with Noah and yet so very different (see: apathy). When I was pregnant with Noah all I could talk about was him and I counted down the moments until his arrival. His nursery was done and ready for him well in advance of his birth day. He was all I could think about for hours at a time and I moved in a dream-like state toward July 2008. Fast-forward to now and it is all so very different.

 

Ok, I feel better just getting all of that out. Hooray for blog therapy! Carry on!

Updates and 26.5 Week Belly Shot Because I Forgot the 24th Week

Bullets, hooray!

• Noah got his BIG big boy bed last weekend. The crib made its final transformation from toddler bed to full-size bed and we’re lucky to be exchanging our guest room nursery queen size mattress with my parents’ full size mattress. For some reason, the full size seems so much more manageable than a queen. And have you noticed that adorable sheet sets for kids don’t come in queen size? It’s twin or full, baby. Speaking of sheets, I have spent far too much money at PBK and Target on shams and sheets and waterproof mattress pads and pillows to outfit his new bed. That doesn’t even include the duvet cover that I have yet to purchase because I can’t make up my damn mind about what I want. So he’ll have to survive with an uncovered down blanket for the time being. I don’t think he’ll care. It’s me I’m worried about.

• Also a problem is the fact that I keep falling asleep at 8pm in his bed with him, twin rivers of drool coming out of our mouths. Noah loves this, I don't. I must nip this in the bud lest he becomes too accustomed to having Mommy sleep with him. Even if his bed IS far more comfortable than mine.

• The bigger bed means I have to rearrange the furniture in his room. I don’t know if I can properly explain my love affair with rearranging rooms. It is borderline sick and obsessive.

• The stairs are FINISHED. One year, people. That’s how long it took our lazy asses to rip up the carpet (June 2010), stare at the remaining beat up wood stairs (June 2010 – March 2011), decide the hell with refinishing and just paint the damn things all white (late March 2011), begin the process of screwing down a hundred years of squeaks, wood-filling, sanding, caulking, priming, painting and painting and painting (April 2011-June 2011). And ta-da! Squeak free, smooth painted gorgeous stairs.

            From this:

           To this:

           To this:

Lesson to impart because I am nothing if not helpful: gleaming white stairs + husband who forgets to remove shoes + preschooler who is perpetually grimy + cat who sheds a pound of fur a day + dog who shadows every human going up or down = constantly scrubbing the no longer gleaming white stairs. We may be investing in a runner at some point.

I hope this goes to show you that, while handy, we are slow moving when it comes to home improvement. I wouldn’t hire us to do any work in your home, just sayin’.

• Behold the belly in all its 24 26.5 week glory: