Miscellanea

Item 1: Ultrasound Pics

First off, I have been a real slacker of a pregnant woman. I have yet to post an ultrasound picture, though we’ve gone in twice. Still too lazy to scan, so here is a picture of our recent pictures. Some lovely profile shots that look exactly like all other ultrasound profile shots you’ve ever seen.

While I know it is just another ultrasound pic, she does look awfully sweet, doesn’t she? Sweet and big-headed. (Though I knew the big head was coming. Graham is 99th percentile. STILL.) So far Tessa is more photogenic and mellow and compliant than her brother. Perhaps we should have known what to expect when one of Graham’s in utero pics came out like this:

It gave him the nickname Skeletor for a while. I swear it looks like something that appears in your nightmares. That creepy eye and the creepy smile.

Item 2: I’m Teaming Up with Isis!

In other pregnancy news, I am still doing pregnancy blogging. The Parenting Connection has sadly shut down its blogs, but that did give me the opportunity to start a new relationship with Isis Parenting, a Boston baby shop with an awesome online presence. On our very first trip to Boston I saw one of their stores in the Prudential Center. It’s the place I bought the Bug’s first pair of Robeez. And it’s where my buddy Laura took the pre-natal yoga class she raved about all through her pregnancy. It’s pretty much a local institution.

So I’m super pumped to be their first pregnancy blogger, especially since they’ve just launched a new blog, Parenting Starts Here. It worked out perfectly and I’ve jumped right back into the swing of things. My 1st post is up, all about Tessa’s sudden new interest in kicking and my sudden onset of my old friend, Braxton Hicks. I’ll be posting once a week over there.

Item 3: Time to Panic Continues

As for my earlier “Time to Panic posts” (Part 1 and Part 2) there is no Part 3 yet. On Monday I missed work due to the Bug’s fever over the weekend. On Tuesday I went to work and told my boss the situation and said I’d be happy to come in 3 days a week, possibly working at home the other 2. I said I understood if he didn’t want to switch to part-time or if, given my pending maternity leave, he wouldn’t rather take someone else on full-time in the near future and that I’d be happy to train them.

His answer was, “I’ll think about it.”

On Wednesday I stayed home with the Bug as we were without childcare. On Thursday, the Bug went back to daycare, which he seems to be enjoying. And today he’s at Backup Daycare and I am at work.

Next week… well, no work on Monday. On Tuesday I have a mandatory work meeting, an OB appointment, daycare is closed and backup daycare is closed. No clue what we’ll do. I’m hoping I can get him into backup daycare Wednesday and Friday and just eat Thursday.

Mostly I’m hoping I get a verdict from on high quickly so we can start making regular plans.

As for how I’m feeling… pretty good. Passing the decision off to someone else means less stress for me. And I’m feeling good about both options. Trying to focus on the positive. Cuz I like work. It gives me purpose and gets me moving. And I like being at home with the Bug. I like getting to be there for his therapy. Plus it means I could switch to a more pregnancy-friendly sleep schedule where I sleep less at night and then have a daytime nap. Cuz my hips and back are NOT my friends these days, and sleep at night is not going so hot.

Item 4: 4th Wedding Anniversary

In other news, Wednesday was 4 years that Eric and I have been married.

I love this picture. And while I do love the Judge who married us (I appeared in his Court many many times), I am so tempted to photoshop him out of the pic. We just look so mushy.

Another thing I am still obsessed with 4 years later…

My flowers. I would seriously crop myself out of this photo even though I look pretty darn nice just to have a big pic of those flowers. Sigh.

Oh, and still in love with Eric, too. Of course.

Honestly, the last 18 months or so have not been easy for us at all. I don’t know that either of us expected things to be so tough so soon. But, just like everybody says, I feel like we’re a lot stronger now and that our relationship is better than it’s ever been. There were plenty of times I didn’t think we’d be able to say that. So I’m very happy that we can.

Celebration will be somewhat limited due to (just guess!) childcare! But luckily we’ve roped in a friend to watch Graham for a few hours on Sunday. Sweet.

On our first anniversary we went back to the hotel we stayed at on our wedding night and had an amazing steak dinner. On our second anniversary we had dinner at one of our beloved theaters that serves food (dinner and a movie simultaneously!), and walked over to the hotel next door for our first night alone post-baby.  Last year we did… um… I don’t know. Definitely not a hotel stay. And I checked the box office for those weekends and don’t remember seeing any of those movies at that time in the theater. So maybe we had dinner? Though I don’t recall us going out too often around that time. We had a nice night out at a Mexican place with a Groupon, but I didn’t get that until December. We never did get to the restaurant I wanted to try in Brookline. So. Um. Perhaps we did nothing?

Seriously, last year was rough. It’s not really surprising given our schedules at that time. Our lives were pretty insane.

This year, no hotel stay (unless I find something AMAZING, but I consider that unlikely) so instead we shall hit a movie, eat out and I have a surprise planned for Eric that I haven’t yet revealed so I cannot say what it is. Have to keep things a little interesting, right?

We’d initially intended to celebrate our anniversary on the cheap (and with free grandparent babysitters) in South Dakota on our vacation. But then Eric had to go and get sick. Nothing’s as romantic as a candlelit dinner while your spouse coughs up a lung. So yeah, we’ll try again.

And maybe on Monday, if things work out, we’ll take the Bug apple-picking. So far I hear that this is ACTUAL family fun instead of just sounding like family fun and then turning out to be exhausting misery. And I hear there are donuts. So I guess we’re there.

Related Posts:

• So Long, 2011
• Making Together Better
• Correspondence