my next bedroom set

If I was feeling more ambitious than exhausted tonight, I might plan out one of these 32 uses for a cardboard box. The guitar intrigues me, but it's the bedroom set that was neat enough to warrant a post (since it's oh, so difficult to go from staring at the computer to writing a blog post and all).

Also, after 3 failed attempts I finally allowed Blogger to help me spell intrigues. I'll take that as a sign and go to bed.

when good parenting plans go awry

I've had my fair share of great ideas turn out to be terrible ones. It's much more amusing, however, when it is someone else's plan that doesn't pan out (man, that sounded cruel).

Today, we were shopping for shoes. We were gone for 5 hours and came home with no new shoes. Ugh. That's beside the point, though. After another frustrating stop, we were all a bit cranky. On our way out of the parking lot, we noticed a nearby field filled with 20+ Canada Geese. Josh had the idea to pull over and let Jonah run around the field. This is something that would a) never occur to me and b) never happen if I were alone because I wouldn't want to bother with getting him back in the car. I'm just so much fun in that way.

Cut to five minutes later when Jonah is sprinting through the field (with Josh close by) yelling "Geese! Geese, come here!" They flew away (no surprise there) and he bawled. For ten minutes. I felt for the kid, but not as much as Josh did. He spent most of the drive to the next store regretting his great idea.

The sibling class

We recently attended a sibling class at the hospital. The kids got to hear all about baby brothers and sisters and diapers and ate cupcakes and all manner of sweets. Jonah was engrossed in everything Nurse Nancy had to say.

He was not too pleased about the hair net. I thought it was hilarious.

more than you wanted to know about c-sections

I try not to write really opinionated posts for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons is that a lot of family just check the blog for life/Jonah updates. Another is that the written word has never been the easiest way for me to express myself without sending the wrong impression. So, here goes. This is meant to be neither a tirade nor a woe-is-me moment.

Jonah was delivered via c-section. I have a healthy appreciation for the surgery since Josh and I are both c-section babies. A c-section quite possibly would have saved my uncle's life. I have two sets of twin nieces and am glad my sisters had the option. I know quite a few women who would love the chance at a c-section because that would mean they could have a baby of their own. I am not insensitive to all of the wonders of modern medicine. That said, there are a few things I wish I'd known about the whole thing before I agreed to the c-section with Jonah. Granted, I may have only had a short window before I had no choice, but I did have a choice. None of the following were explained to me, nor did they register on my pre-labor radar when I was reading about labor. I admit I skimmed over the c-section stuff, but even now when I'm more aware, I'm surprised how few articles list the following:

-My incision scar hurt. A lot. For years. In fact, it just barely stopped hurting regularly. It still hurts if I wear the same pair of jeans more than two days in a row.
-C-section babies have a higher chance of respiratory problems, even years later.
-The risks of c-section (and there are many...this is major abdominal surgery after all) increase dramatically with each subsequent c-section. It is not as easy as just not having a repeat c-section, though.
-It's hard to find a doctor and hospital that will agree to a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). The first thing I looked up when Josh got accepted into UA was if there were any doctors in the area that will allow VBACs. There are two practices here that technically allow them. We'll see as I get closer to my due date how much I have to fight to get them to honor that technicality.
-Even if I am successful (and oh, I'm praying that I will be..VBA2C [vaginal birth after 2 cesareans] will be even harder to find an attending physician), every single pregnancy after this will be a VBAC. Every time we move, I will have to find a new doctor that will allow me to deliver the old-fashioned way. Even if Jonah is 12 years old and I've had 7 normals births since (numbers for exaggeration's sake, people, calm down), I will always be a VBAC patient.
-Even though everyone from the WHO to the ACOG pushes for a lower c-section rate (which would be increased dramatically by a higher VBAC rate), the c-section rate in this country is going up, not down. Depending on which study you believe, we're pushing upwards of 30%. Some hospitals have SIXTY percent c-section rates.
-There is a real possibility that our family size will be limited if I have to deliver each via c-section. Each woman scars differently, but the poor uterus doesn't handle multiple slicings too well. While there are women with 5+, many have to stop at 3. Three is a nice number, but I'd like to make that decision with my husband and not my OB.

And that is that. None of this is a drop in the bucket to how grateful we are to have a happy healthy toddler. Still, since there was no emergency at his delivery, I wish I'd been more informed or the doctor had done more than say "I'd say there's a 75% chance you'll have to have a c-section anyway, so why not just do it now?" Meanwhile, this fetus and I have many a long talk (one-sided, of course) about how grateful I will be if she decides to be come out the regular way.

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas decorations were in the laundry room in the old house. The laundry room that went missing, along with its contents, during the tornado. Even though they are just things, there are a few things that are irreplaceable that were in that box. I miss them this year:
-Two nativities: the one I played with as a child and the one Rosalyn and I found the day after Christmas three years ago.
-A wooden Christmas tree with removable ornaments my sister Toni sent last year. The tree was German and while we loved it last year, I just know Jonah would have eaten it up this year. He's very much in to taking things on and off the tree.

Then, my mom sent me a kid-friendly nativity for my birthday. She was apologetic that it was more for Jonah than for me, but she knows how much I love nativities and how much I enjoyed rearranging the figures all Christmas season. Watching Jonah play with it this year, even if it's just the donkey and cart, makes me happy. And then, we found a box in our stuff that must have been somewhere else in the old house. One box of Christmas things! It was mostly Christmas lights and a cheap wreath, but it was better than nothing. The best part is that it had our ornaments in it: the ornaments we bought our first Christmas married (cheap blue and green things that I don't even like very much, but still), an ornament Katie and Erin gave me in high school, the ornament Jonah "made" at church last year (with quite a bit of help, I'm sure), an ornament we bought our first Christmas back when we were going to buy a new one every year (yeah, I'm not so much of a shopper, so it hasn't happened), and a few others that mean something. Even the random cinnamon sticks meant more to me this year because they were familiar.

Jonah's loving the lights on the tree and has raided any presents in bags. He understands that he must wait for Christmas to open them, but he insists that looking at the stuff inside isn't opening anything. Since the only bag we have under the tree is full of candy, I don't mind so much. It's still pretty funny.

-

forward my mail to the loo, please

Jonah fell asleep at 5pm. He's had a weird few days sleep-wise and we're all feeling the strain of a grumpy, tired child. Anyway. He fell asleep right after I left to get things ready for mutual.

Then he woke up at 10:00. And was a punk. And after an hour of trying to get him to sleep again, I locked myself in the bathroom and let Josh deal with it.

He has declared that he will simply play in his room until the sun comes up. I hope that works out well for him.

I didn't take any pictures (clearly..it's almost midnight!) but this is about what he looked like when I told him he had to go to bed:

In happier news, he learned today that "a couple" is another way of saying "two" and has run around pointing out everything there's a couple of: Dixie has a couple front legs, he wants a couple bowls of cereal, he has a couple pillows... I can remember this nicer side to the day because he's quietly playing in his bed. If he doesn't fall asleep soon, I may take up permanent residence in the bathroom.

Ew

Two cockroaches, one evening. I shall now retreat to the safety of my bed and pretend that they can't climb.

I thought these things were supposed to DIE in the winter.

where the sidewalk ends

Josh drew a heart in the window fog of Jonah's window after we dropped him off at school.
Jonah: Daddy drew me a heart!
Me: Is that because he loves you?
Jonah: No, it's because he likes to draw hearts.

In other news, the City of Tuscaloosa is putting in some nice sidewalks! I'm so excited. This has been a major complaint of mine here. The bad news is I've only seen the new sidewalks going in next to the few existing sidewalks. I'm hoping there will be new ones to connect them as opposed to just wider versions of the 3 lengths of sidewalk in town. Please, oh please let there be some common sense going on here. Am I crazy to get my hopes up?

living in timbuktu (no offense to the real Timbuktu, of course)

It's 3:30 and I'm up for a snack. Well, I'm really up to change sheets (first time he's wet the bed and I'm glad to have extra sheets to speed up the process. If I'd gone back to bed instead of turned on the computer maybe it would have done me some good!) and w hat I'd really like is some In'N'Out. What I'd really like after delivering this baby is a protein-style IN'N'Out burger and a chocolate milkshake. That's what I had after Jonah was born (courtesy of a very attentive brother). I know there's no In'N'Out here. I know there's none in Nashville either (yep, I checked once when I was headed that way), but surely Atlanta would have one right? I might not get it for my first meal postpartum, but I could add it to IKEA and H&M for a trip to Atlanta list. No, wrong! The closest In'N'Out is 9 1/2 hours west of here in Rockwall, TX. On that sad note, I will finish my stale cereal and go back to bed, dreaming of delicious burgers and not-so-bad fries. Q says they're much better well done (which is apparently an option). I guess I'll find out this summer.

Ode to Janssen

It should be no secret that I value the opinion of my friend, Janssen, especially when it comes to books. Anyone who reads this blog and her blog will notice that just about every book I write about comes from her. Granted, she's a more prolific reader than I am, but she also has great taste. While I read a few books she doesn't in a given year, the best ones are generally her recommendations. Even when we disagree (I loved Sunshine, for example. She did not.), I can read, gift, or recommend any book she does knowing that it will be well-written and not so crazy or raunchy that I have to preview it before passing the suggestion along. I could write a whole post about some of the gems I've discovered thanks to her. Instead, this is a "why was I surprised" ode to the things she's suggested that have changed my life:

This sound machine. I picked it up on Amazon a while back in preparation for child #2, thinking it might help since we're going to put both kids in the same room. Josh was skeptical. He actually threatened to take away my credit card after a few days of Amazon boxes in a row (shopping online is so much more appealing this Christmas!), but when this thing arrived he laughed. He makes fun of the noises. That said, it's already earned it's price back because it's the same thing Tempe uses in her room and helped her sleep better here. Score one for the sound machine. We'll see how much I love it in another month. I'm guessing quite a bit.

These caramel chocolate crackers. I was curious but never curious enough to make them until last week. First, I was worried there wouldn't be enough for the baby shower. Then after tasting them, I was worried there wouldn't be any leftovers. When there were some left over, I was worried there would be too many and I'd eat myself sick. They are really addicting. While I'm sure they do last a week stored properly, ours lasted 3 days. I think they were the absolute best a few hours after making them because the crackers were still crunchy. That didn't keep me from devouring the leftovers 3 days later, though, so they were clearly good then too.

These three books. Yes, yes, these are books. But these are picture books that I was skeptical about. Either I thought Jonah wouldn't like it or I didn't think Jonah would appreciate the humor or understand the division between story and illustration. Still, all 3 of these have been repeat check-outs because he keeps requesting them. Why was I surprised? She's not let me down before. Who am I to ever doubt the children's librarian again?**

Thank you, Janssen. I'm glad we met in college and I'm especially glad for your blog.

**As I finished this, Jonah saw the Duck, Rabbit post on her blog. I didn't include that book here because it was an instant hit with all of us. Still, it's worth mentioning now that Jonah is asking to go to the library and check it out again.

perhaps another one won't be so bad

I'm starting to realize that our life is about to change forever. For the most part, it will be a good thing, but babies are a lot of work! Panic!

Then I found this picture from a year and a half ago. Look at my sweet baby! I guess it will be okay to have another little one around.

I'm not as fun as a 6-year old, clearly

Our friends Scott and Jenny drove down with their kids (Mat, age 6 and Tempe, age 2) for Thanksgiving. Jonah and Mat spent the weekend alternating between loving each other and terrorizing each other. With that back story, here is what took place this morning.

As I clean the room with all of Jonah's toys, he finds a wind up car and takes off to drive it through the dining room.
Jonah: Mom, come here and watch me drive this and it will hit the wall and I'll say "oh!" and then you say "oh!" and then we'll laugh.
[Off I go to watch and laugh.]
Jonah: No, I have to say "oh" first and then you do and then we laugh.
Me: Oh, okay, let's try again.
[Car hits the wall again. I follow his lead and we both say "oh!" and laugh.]
Jonah: You don't do it like Mat does. He got more excited and laughed a lot.

I think he misses his friend.

6 something am

This is what happens when Jonah gets himself up and makes breakfast:

At least he has good taste.

Roll Tide, Roll

It's serious business around here.  Football, that is.

I have this water bottle:

I still get dirty looks at church and around town, even though I'm sure the whole ward knows now that I bought the bottle before I knew those were Auburn colors.

Jonah has two sets of flip flops. One in orange and one is blue. He often wears one flip flop from each. We get dirty looks. Yesterday at the Children's museum, a lady came up to us and asked if he was an Auburn fan. I explained that no, he's a Bama fan, but he has flip flops in the wrong colors apparently.  Not only did she end the conversation with, "well, as long as he's with two Bama fans" (I was wearing a red shirt and Josh had on his Alabama sweatshirt), but she went back to the front desk and relayed the conversation to the other museum worker. Who knew we were causing such a stir?

Today is the big rival game. Roll Tide!

my obsession with stamps

A few years back, my parents started collecting stamps. Not worth-a-million-dollar stamps, but clipping the used stamp off an envelope and hanging it on a poster-sized city map that used to hang in their dining room. (Incidentally, have you noticed how few letters even arrive with stamps anymore?) It was fun to watch the stamp collection grow. While I didn't send them a ton of mail, it got to the point that I would always run to the post office to buy some other stamp (or even better, something that came with multiple designs per sheet) when I had mail to send home. It's habit now, and I just can't bring myself to buy the plain kind (usually, that is. I do have a book of 20 in my wallet right now of the regular flag stamp--keep reading). I bought two different varieties when I was in AZ last and used them to send thank you notes and first bills and things as we moved in. Then, mysteriously, the stamps went missing. I wonder what else is missing with them. I have no idea where they are. I'm irked. I liked my stamps. Fortunately, one of the kinds was a Forever stamp. If I ever find that sheet, I'll be good. The other was a literary stamp and is not a Forever kind. Grrr. I finally had to break down and buy some at the grocery store because I had something that needed to be mailed and I wasn't going to the post office for one little letter.

All this to say: today I found out that you can order stamps online from the Post Office. What? I can choose any kind they have online (which is much more than they have at the P.O. here, trust me.) and have it delivered with my mail? I don't have to wait in line at the Post Office which is my very least favorite place to go with Jonah in tow (something about the combination of the wait time, the staff, and the mess he can make)? Yes, please.

So as I contemplate ordering Christmas cards, I spent an embarrassing amount of time looking at each and every stamp option. And thus, the question of the day arises. Should I get these, or these, or actually get something Christmasy like these? Maybe all three?

an experiment

Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement. Getting them to waive the fee would require actually calling the water company and I get ulcers about that sort of thing. That said, I'm also quite careful with our money, so I'll either get up the courage or make Josh do it. All things considered, though, it's not the fee that irks me. It's the fact that I was late! I hate that sort of thing. I also apparently paid the internet bill twice this month. The good news is that we won't have a bill next month. The bad news is, this baby appears to be sucking out my mental power. At least I hope it's the baby...otherwise the mind blank might be permanent!

So on to the experiment mentioned above. I'm excited to see if this will work: I'm making a whole chicken in a crockpot.

bummed

I've been waiting for the water and gas bills to come so I can finish paying bills for the month (that sounds funny on the 15th, but most of our bills come out before the 10th). Our old water bill has been hanging on the fridge forever as a reminder that our trash collection day has moved from Thursday to Monday.

Not the old bill. The current bill. The one that is now 2 weeks past due! Ugh, I'm never late on bills and now I'm ticked. I paid it online just now but I'm already dreading the grief of a late fee next month. [insert incoherent mumbling] My only consolation is that if Josh paid the bills they'd probably all be late.