Archive for February, 2010
We didn’t forget the blog, we just finally had a baby!
Feb 26th
James Victor was welcomed into the world on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010. He weighed in at 8 lbs 14.4 oz and was 20.7 inches in length. Since then we’ve been visiting with friends and family, getting the hang of fun things like diapers and feeding, and taking advantage of all the helpful people at the hospital before the big adventure moves home.
Poor, neglected blog. Also, no baby yet.
Feb 19th
It occurred to me that we haven’t updated the blog in a while, and if I was reading a blog and someone was expecting a baby at any minute and they didn’t update for days I would assume they had it. I would hate for you to assume that, because you would be disappointed, so I’m here to let you know that no, we have not yet had the baby. Although we have been trying to convince him that it’s pretty awesome out here and he should come join us. No dice so far, though.
I’ve been a little “nesty” although not much. I have lots of plans of things I would like to get done, but my motivation doesn’t last long. I warned my mom that if we have the baby this weekend there is a good chance she will come to our house and there will be boxes of books everywhere (we sorted through them and are donating/selling a bunch).
Work has been kind of crazy lately; we switched over to a new system for managing customer information, but we were “down” for a month in between systems and the new one is very different from the old one, so it’s a learning process while we try to catch up with all the stuff that got done but not entered in the system during the month. It’s been pretty stressful for everyone, and that’s part of the reason that today will be my last day at work until May. My blood pressure has been just a little elevated at my last 2 appointments, and I’m pretty sure that the work stuff had at least a little to do with it. Our pay period ends on Monday, and I have a day of vacation left, so I’ll be taking it to get my full paycheck, but I’m technically done as of today. So that’s exciting; especially because it means that besides the donuts I brought to work there are more donuts from someone else and cookies from another person. We like sweets around here; what can I say?
I have a doctor’s appointment scheduled for Tuesday, and if I make it that far we’ll be scheduling an induction for later that week. Hopefully it won’t come to that (do you hear that, baby?). I don’t mind the waiting; I just don’t want to be medically induced if I don’t have to (but I don’t want to be pregnant for another 2 weeks, either). All that is to say, we should for sure have a baby by next weekend!
None of this seems real; even with the baby stuff everywhere and this huge belly and the weekly appointments and putting the car seat in the truck (it’s that or I have to drive everywhere and Ryan has to sit in the back seat of the car because the seats need to be so far forward)…even with all of that it doesn’t seem real. I’m sure it will become real very shortly, though. And I can’t wait!
No baby yet, and my favorite quotes from this morning’s weather guy:
Feb 12th
There’s no baby yet. Ryan and I feel like we need to clarify that right away with whoever we are speaking to (unless we see/talk to them every day). He called his parents last night, and I think he said “No baby yet” before he even said hello. I have a feeling that will continue until he shows up.
I had to laugh at the weather guy this morning. I like this guy; he doesn’t have a weird shtick or make lame jokes (usually), and he can speak well on television (no small feat for some people). The reason he cracked me up was more about our expectations and feelings about what constitutes “nice” weather in Minnesota in February.
*While the television is showing that the current temperature is -5* “It’s going to be a nice day today!” – Why do I have trouble believing this right now?
“The wind is blowing a little around the lake shore, causing windchill factors only 5-10* lower than the actual temperature, so we aren’t getting into the -20′s, -30′s, or even the dangerous -40′s.” – Yes, -40′s are dangerous, but he made it sound like the other temperatures were decent as long as you didn’t get THAT low. And the fact that we wouldn’t be surprised if the windchill factor was that bad…well, I don’t know why we all continue to live here. My coworkers say it keeps the riff-raff out. I have my doubts.
“The air is trying to move toward the lake because the air above the lake is in the 20′s and 30′s due to that NICE WARM LAKE WATER.” [Emphasis mine] HAHAHAHAHAHA. The same lake that in August will turn your feet blue in seconds and has people surfing and using jet skis in wetsuits all summer long. Compared to the air temps I guess it is warm, but the fact that anyone says Lake Superior ever has “nice, warm lake water” cracks me up.
Rereading this it occurs to me that it’s probably not as amusing to anyone else as it was in my head. I think that happens to me a lot. Unfortunately for you, it’s what I’ve got this morning. I got up at 5 so that I could go into work early because I have a LOT of stuff I want to get done before the baby comes and I don’t want to chance leaving it over the weekend. So I’m a little tired, a little spacey from the last weeks of pregnancy (or maybe I’m always a little spacey – but I’m blaming it on the pregnancy while I can), and already thinking about work. My judgment of what is funny is not to be trusted.
Except for this: this is funny. And I will be printing out her pain chart to bring with me to the hospital so that when someone asks me how much it hurts I can point to one of these faces.
Guessing game continued
Feb 5th
I found a link to this site that will try to predict the baby’s size/gender/hair color/etc. It asked me a bunch of weird questions (What’s the last animal I saw? How many rings do I wear? Do I paint my toes and fingernails?). And if it’s right I’m in big trouble. Not only because we are planning for the baby to be the wrong sex (and his name doesn’t work very well for a girl), but also because he’s (she’s??) apparently a monster baby. Here’s what it says:
The day you deliver, outside will be cold. Your baby will arrive in the early morning. After a labor lasting approximately 15 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 15 pounds, 6 ounces, and will be 22-1/2 inches long. This child will have light violet eyes and curly black hair.
Oh, and considering Ryan is fair-haired and I was blond when I was little and have darkish brown hair now I find it hard to believe our child will have black hair. But this came from the internet, and the internet never lies, right? Anyway, I thought I should give you all the information just in case anyone wants to change their guess. And if you haven’t guessed you can still do so – right up until the baby comes.
In other pregnancy news, there isn’t really any. I think I’ve finally hit the point where I am pretty much ready to be done, although I’m definitely willing to wait as long as necessary (unlike the girl on the forum I read who was asking how to break her own water. Um, WHAT? Yikes…). My back is sore, I can’t sleep or turn over in bed without major issues any more, it’s getting harder and harder for me to get out of chairs/the couch/any seated position, and putting on my socks is becoming such an ordeal that I’ve considered going barefoot. In February in Minnesota. But, all that being said I know I still have it pretty good. My back pain/trouble sleeping is nothing compared to a lot of people, and the rest is mostly just inconvenience. I’ll be ok. I’ll just be very excited to have it all over with at some point.
Question
Feb 3rd
I have a question and I want the internet’s input.
Ryan and I bought a chest freezer from a local appliance store about 2 1/2 weeks ago. It’s one of those ding/scratch places, and the freezer we bought had a damaged lid; it was so badly damaged that it wouldn’t seal (it looked like someone set a forklift down on the lid), but they had one on order to replace it, and they sold it to us for a good price.
We haven’t heard from the appliance place other than when we called a couple times to ask about it, even though both times we asked that they keep us updated. Last we heard (when I called last week) they had gotten a lid in, but the company shipped the wrong color so they had to send it back and were waiting for another one. Today, they called and said that there is a 2 week back order on the freezer lids (apparently they are in high demand??), and they have offered to give us a different freezer instead. However, this one has “some dings on the sides and the top.” The other one, once the lid was replaced, would have looked perfect.
We are going to the store tonight to take a look at the replacement offer, but my question is this; if we decide to take it, should we haggle for a better price, considering it has taken them 2 1/2 weeks to get anything to us and this one is more damaged than the one we agreed to buy? Or should we suck it up and realize that we got a good deal in the first place? We won’t be taking it if it’s too beat up looking, because it will be living in our kitchen until spring (which could be sometime in May the way things go around here).
I’m not a good negotiator, and I don’t have a good sense of what’s fair in these kinds of situations. And part of my problem is that the reason we bought a freezer when we did was so that we could freeze some meals before the baby comes. If we have to wait another 2 weeks it will probably be too late to do much (or any) cooking ahead. But that’s not the store’s fault, so I don’t know if it should count in my reasoning.
So, wise internet, what are your thoughts on the whole thing?
UPDATE: We took the replacement freezer. It was in pretty good shape (just some minor denting on the side; no scratches), and they were selling it for more than the one we bought, but gave it to us for the same price. Obviously (I’m not that much of a pushover). So now our fridge freezer and the chest freezer look pretty empty, but we have the space to make up some extra food. Now we just need to find the motivation to make this food.
