Valentine's Day - Take 2

This year, Valentine’s Day was completely spoiled. Esteban worked late, for the third day in a row. Since he usually cooks when he gets home, that meant no dinner for us. We were both super tired and so was Jayden. He had only napped for 50 minutes at the sitters and was completely cranky. I thought that a bath would help him settle down, but he was even misbehaving there. Then, it was time for nighty-night and he wouldn’t go to sleep. This was the third night in a row. Finally, I decided to move him to our bedroom instead. Finally, he settled down. We put him in his crib and he fell asleep. Esteban ate leftovers and I had a bowl of cereal. I looked at him and he looked at me. Well, that was romantic. Not!

Jayden, Daddy and I decided to have another go at Valentine’s Day. When I got home from work, we all went to Carrabba’s for dinner. The wait wasn’t bad at all and we had such an enjoyable dinner. Great Food! Great Service! And Jayden was so well behaved for his age. He ate from every plate that was brought to the table. He had calamari for the first time, which he liked. He had salad, even though it didn’t have ranch dressing on it. Then he had spaghetti, which he loved. And of course, he helped me with my dessert. It was such a great evening. Thank God for second chances.

Play Group: For Jayden or Me?

After being part-time for about a month, I really started to get into a routine with Jayden and the house chores etc. I got to thinking about finding a playgroup for him to participate in. I thought it would be great for him to interact with other kids and nice to get out of the house, plus I could meet other people as well. Good times, right? As time went on, I had a hard time finding a group. I became more and more desperate. I was going crazy with Jayden in the house. No! Stop! Come here! Jayden! It was and is never ending. PS It’s especially great now that Jayden says NO when I ask him to come here.

I felt this overwhelming need to find other women who could relate to what I was going through, plus I feel really bad for my girlfriend Maria who has to listen to my every complaint. Trust me, being naturally emotional and pregnant to boot, there are plenty of complaints. To be honest, I even forgot why I was looking for play group to begin with. Hello? For Jayden. Oh, yeah. But what about me? I need to have other women friends. I need allies. I need to be around other moms of toddlers. I need support, guidance, and reassurance that I can do this. I can be a good mom too.

Finally, I caught up with my neighbor and shared with her some of my frustrations. To my surprise, she said she was interested in the same thing too. Really? Someone else who feels like running in the opposite direction of their child? I was so excited. I could barely contain myself. We set it up and today, we had our first play date. All week, I was looking forward to it. Was the play date for me or for Jayden? Don’t answer.

We took the kids out to the park. Her daughter is just 6 months old, but sat in the swing happily, next to Jayden while we chit chat. Then, we fed the kids. Jayden was done with lunch really fast. He was more interested in running and playing. So I chased him around for a good couple of hours. He ran in the grass, looked for sticks, tried to run away from me, and made his way to the swings. He’s improved so much. He climbed the stairs almost all by himself and went down the slide about 5 times before I dragged him back to the swings. Mommy was tired. There, I joined my neighbor where we chatted some more while I pushed Jayden and she rocked her baby to sleep. Finally, we gathered our belongings and I dragged Jayden away from the park. I had to carry him of course because clearly, he did not want to leave.

When we got home, I was ready for a nap, but Jayden was warmed up and ready for more action. How did that happen? Good thing Daddy was home and took him out to the yard to play for a while. I recharged my batteries with a shower and a quick rest on my recliner. It felt so good to have someone else to talk to while I ran around after Jayden. I can’t wait to do it again. We’re shooting for next Monday. I also finally got a hold of a Mom’s Club chapter in my area. They are sending me more information. I can’t wait. Finally, I am creating a win-win for both Jayden and I. Jayden gets to run around and play and I get to meet new people in my area. What a relief, for us both I’m sure.

Playing and Laughing, Kicking and Screaming

Today, I was putting in a load of laundry and Jayden followed me out to the garage. He immediately went towards his Radio Flyer Bike that he got for Christmas from Titi Mari. The last time we tried to put him on it, he just didn’t get it. He wouldn’t keep his feet on the pedals and then he wanted to drag his feet on the ground and finally he wanted to hop off so he could push the bike instead of ride it.

Esteban was going to feed Rio and let him go out to take care of his business so Jayden and I quickly followed with the bike. We put Jayden on it and this time, he kept his feet on the pedals the whole time. I pushed him up and down the street until I got tired. Then Esteban took over. He pushed Jayden until it got dark and every time he pushed Jayden back up the driveway, Jayden would say, “No.” It was hilarious. Finally, we dragged him in, kicking and screaming, but I as all smiles. Jayden is a great joy to be around and I am blessed to have him.

I just can’t wait for Maya’s arrival. I know she’s going to complete our family and I can’t wait for the four of us to be out playing and laughing and kicking and screaming. She’s going to fit right in. She’s so active. Poor thing is running out of room and moving in ways I never experienced with Jayden. Sometimes she’s dancing and other times she’s boxing. She pushes and stretches all the time and my belly looks like something out of the Aliens movie. Esteban finally saw my belly in action tonight. I have been hoping for Jayden to feel the movement, but so far, that has proven to be impossible. Most of the time when I am holding Jayden, Maya is sleeping. When she moves, it’s so quick and unexpected that I can never get Jayden to see or feel her.

I’m getting ready to have another growth spurt because last night my stomach was super itchy and this morning I found a new stretch mark. I think it’s so interesting how different this pregnancy has been from Jayden’s. With Jayden, I had a few stretch marks under the belly close to the bikini line and a few on the side. Now, my belly looks less like a basketball and more like a lump. It seems that she’s stretching more to the sides so I’m seeing more stretch marks closer to the belly button. It’ll be interesting to see how my stats change at my next visit.

32 Weeks (8 months)

Today was my check in at the OBGYN. I am going on 32 weeks, so that leaves 8 weeks to go. Two months seem like a long time, but at the same time, it’s going to go by so quickly. We still have to pre-register at the hospital, pack my hospital bag, and make arrangements for Jayden when the time comes. We’ve got to get the car seats installed, bring down the bassinet from the attic and get a toddler bed for Jayden. I guess we’d better get crankin’.

Now for my stats! Thankfully, even though I failed my one hour glucose test, I passed the three hour version. Thank you, God. I was worried about that. I just can’t help myself. I have such a sweet tooth with this pregnancy. It’s incredible. Of course, Dr. Casavant says I should still watch my sugar intake. I’ll try my best. My weight was at 217 ½ which was down a ½ pound from my last check up 2 weeks ago. At this point with Jayden, I was weighing 213 pounds so I’m over my target weight by 4 ½ pounds. I’d like to give a special thanks to November (Thanksgiving) and December (Christmas), which was when I gained 6 pounds each. Anyway, the baby’s heart rate was at 140 and she was measuring 32 weeks, or right on track. At my last visit, 2 weeks ago, she was measuring 1 week ahead.

I asked the doctor under what circumstances would he schedule a delivery. He’s pretty much open to scheduling it as early as 39 weeks. I am not sure how I feel about this. I’m just tossing it around for now. In a way, I’d like the baby to come when she’s ready, but on the other hand it would be nice to know in advance and plan ahead who is going to stay with Jayden and who we’d like to invite to the birth etc. On the other hand, with Jayden, he was three weeks early. Scheduling would have done us no good and if we had invited someone to the delivery, they would have missed it. I am not sure what to do.

Jayden's Ears and Words

I ended up taking Jayden to the doctor this morning. He slept pretty poorly last night. He still had no fever, but it’s been three nights of runny nose, coughing, sneezing, and cranky baby. Enough. Good thing too ‘cause it was the beginning of an ear infection. This is his fifth one this year. Dr. Jill says one more infection and he’ll have to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist. We’ll see what happens. We also talked about Jayden’s speech, or his lack of speech, but she’s not concerned.
1.) Boys take longer to develop their words.
2.) Because we are teaching him Spanish and English, his speech development could be slow, but now is the perfect time to learn both languages and she’s fully supportive of that.
3.) Repetitive ear infections could damage hearing and slow learning, but that’s yet to be seen.
Bottom line is that she’s not concerned and she will re-asses at his two year check up. Right now, Jayden is going on 21 months are his words include:
* Mama
* Dada
* Ni-ni (Night-Night)
* Gracias (This used to be his standard response to everything, but now he only uses it once in a blue moon.)
* Yes
* No
* Yeah!
* Ok.
* Uh-oh
I guess that’s not too bad. I was just worried that if he was behind the other kids, when the baby was born, he could slow down even more or worse go back to baby talk. Oh well, I worry too much I guess.

Another Sleepless Night

I didn’t have my afternoon nap yesterday. That sounds crazy right? With Jayden, I stopped feeling the need for morning naps right after the first trimester. This time around, I still feel completely wiped out so when Jayden goes down for his nap, Mommy goes down for hers too. I got tons of things done and I thought for sure that when I went to bed in the evening, I would fall asleep quickly, but that wasn’t the case. I ended up channel surfing until I was tired and eventually fell asleep.

When Esteban's alarm went off, he didn’t wake up, but I did. I was much too aware of the fact that he had to get up for work earlier than normal today and yet, there he lay sleeping soundly. Finally, I got up to wake him and then couldn’t fall asleep again. I lay here, sleepless for quite sometime. I decided to get up and write for fear that I might eventually fall asleep only to oversleep in the end. Today is a work day, after all.

I was not the only one who couldn’t sleep. The baby was up too doing all sorts of baby dances inside. She is so active compared to Jayden when he was in the womb. I have been feeling consistent daily movement since Thanksgiving weekend. I love all the jiggling inside. It’s like a constant reminder of how special a bond a mother and child have.

Lately, I’ve started a count down. At times, I feel so ready, like I’m about to bust. I have 9 weeks left. But just this week, I have become painfully aware of the fact that this will be the last time I feel a baby’s movement inside. When Jayden was born, I missed him so much inside of me. Even when I sat in the rocking chair next to his bassinet and watched him move about in his sleep, I would reminisce about what it was like to feel those movements from within. I missed him so much and I know I will miss Maya in the same way. Esteban and I decided two was our lucky number so, I only have 9 weeks left to enjoy this wonderful feeling. It’s funny how things change, when your perspective changes.

Tonight, my belly is so itchy too. I can’t stop the desire to scratch. Lotions don’t work, but lately I’ve discovered Calamine lotion and that has been wonderful. Today, I was admiring the growth of my belly. I seem to be carrying so differently than with Jayden. I noticed that I have new stretch marks. I can tell because they are pink. I had very few stretch marks with Jayden and those now blend in pretty well. It seems like my stomach is stretching in new directions to accommodate the baby. Instead of being perfectly round like a basketball, my belly is stretching out to the sides and looks a bit flatter. I guess that’s why people made comments such as, “Looks like you’re carrying like a girl”.

I wish I could forget my itchy belly and the fact that I have to get up in 30 minutes for work and just curl up in my bed. But that is not the case. I haven’t slept in my bed since Christmas week. I have been having some sharp pains that have become more and more consistent. I can only attribute them to poor circulation. I can barely get anything done with the constant reminder that it hurts. I had this pain with Jayden, but never to this extreme. Of course, the doctor says it is part of the pregnancy and there is nothing he or I can do about it. What a surprise. Because of it, I can’t lie on either side and since I have a tendency to twist and turn, I wake up crying out in pain. So Esteban got me a recliner and it put an end to the discomfort and most of my insomnia. As you can see though, I wasn’t completely cured because here I am. And since my alarm clock just went off, I guess I should sign off now and start getting ready for work.

A Name for our Baby Girl

I am 31 weeks pregnant now. I have 9 weeks left to go and feel ready for the birth of our latest family edition. I've had my heart set on the baby's name for about 3 years now. The problem is that my husband is not 100% sold on the name. Last night, we talked about for the first time in months. He said he felt it was weird. What does that mean? I surely don't know. I don't bother with trying to get an explanation from him because he's not a man of many words. So instead, I try my approach which is to bring up the subject every now and again and see if he sheds any new light on his thoughts.

Last night, I showed him the makings of this blog, which is titled "The Many Adventures of Jayden and Maya". He smiled. I mentioned that I hadn't as of yet shared with anyone that I'd started a blog because I'd openly shared the baby's name on the site and he agreed it was a good idea. We would both like to keep the baby's name private until the birth. (At least we agree on something.) I thought the fact that there was no mention of his aversion towards the name was a good sign. I don't think he's sold on the idea, but I think he might be willing to go for it. Is that wrong?