How cute is that?

Real quick, I don't have a lot of time. Martin is crying and Emma is sleeping. Emma Katherine is here! She arrived at 1:01pm on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Jan 21. She is 7lbs, 8oz and 20.5 inches long. I'll post more when I get the chance.

No, stop asking

I'm sitting in here (in the office/sewing room). I can't leave because my Mom is attempting to put martin down for a nap. I am learning some very interesting things while I am home on leave about the way my mother looks after my child, and I can't say that I am pleased with all of it. Right now, they are in there fighting. As anyone with a child under two knows, naptime can be very frustrating. You want the child to go down and he doesn't want to. Martin has also recently discovered that his finger fits perfectly in his nose, and he takes every available opportunity to test his theory. "Hey, it still fits!" I don't like him doing it because his nails grow fast and become little talons, I have recently noticed bloody boogers, so I don't want him to damage the sensitive skin inside his nose. My mom doesn't like it because it is "nasty". Whatever. I think she is just plain mean about it. He will stick his finger in his nose as he falls asleep, and she has a fit telling him to take his finger out of his nose. She also argues with him. You just can't argue with a 20 month old child. Really. So she vents and he feeds off her negative energy, thus the entire putting to sleep takes forever. I also must doubt her technique. Jason and I have had amazing success with bedtime since we have established a bedtime routine. Well, considering the train wreck bedtime was before, it is amazing. I have told my Mom that she needs to do this for his nap, too, but she hates the glider we use at night, so she just sits with him on the sofa, with the TV blasting, to put him to sleep. Once he is asleep, she takes him upstairs. So the question I ask myself everyday is, Is Martin better at home with my Mom, or at a daycare with strangers? What is better. I don't know. I want to believe that being with my Mom is better, even though she has no respect for Martin as a person. She is of the old school, I don't think she even respects me as a person, to be honest. I'm still her kid and she thinks she can order me around my own house. She loves him and would never hurt him. She does try and read to him. I wish she would do more interaction with him, but I that is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black. It isn't like I have been following him around chanting the alphabet and first words to him. Anyway, enough bitching about that. I keep telling myself it will be better after the baby is born. I'll be too tired and busy to notice her. I should also go for a walk, but it looks all cold and windy out there. But I should go. Maybe if I walk long enough my labor will start. Then I can stop sitting at home all day feeling sorry for myself.

No, not yet

She's digging in. It must be comfy in there. She won't come out. I have another pre-natal appt in the morning. I was really hoping that last week was the last one. I can't even bear to put on clothes, because nothing fits!!! Not even my maternity clothes (as if I can wear anything else, except for super stretchy lounge pants than can be squished down under my huge belly) I'm grumpy.

False labor?!?

Exhausted, am I. I was up most of last night with false labor. It was enough to keep me awake, but not enough to really wake up Jason. It finally tapered off around 4am, and I was able to get a few hours of sleep. I was hoping I could get some sleep, the last thing I want to do is go into labor tired, again. So hopefully I will get some sleep tonight, the planets will align, and my labor will start at around 7 am tomorrow morning. We can only hope. With it being a federal holiday, the traffic won't be too terrible, with all the feddies having the day off and what not. We went to the mall today. It was too cold (windy) to go anywhere else, and I wanted to get some walking done. We happened to be walking through, and we passed Gymboree. I love Gymboree, but I really only buy off the clearance racks in the back. Really, I am just to cheap to pay 30 for a cute pair of pants/jeans. I also remembered that I had a gym-buck in my bag, although I had been more than half-hoping that I wouldn't be anywhere near able to go to the mall and redeem it. Oh well. I did get some nice stuff (cute little sherpa jacket, pink corduroy jumper, pink onesie, and two pairs of socks, really we did look for Martin, but they only had winter stuff and he has enough of that already), and all for 28. The woman in front of me spent like 165 and she only got like 4 or 5 things. Wow. Anyway. I really hope I get on the labor bus in the next 24 hours. I am SOOOOOOO uncomfortable. She has dropped even more, and I just have this constant crampy feeling, you know? Ugh. Finally got my bag packed and the car seat in the car. Whoo-hoo.

Not yet

Nothing yet. No baby. It must be comfy in there. Two days past due and counting. on the other hand, I think I am finally catching up on my sleep, and I am getting through my pile of sewing projects. I finished the diapers and covers. Also finished the little fleece outfit for Martin. So I have managed to get something done. It has been nice being home with Martin, although we aren't really getting a lot of alone time, just the two of us. Maybe after the baby is born and I have a bit of energy, we can get out, just the two of us. We do play a lot during the day, and I have been able to read to him a bit more, which is nice. Speaking of the new baby coming, you would think we would be ready. Well, not quite. My bag is still not packed, like maybe 80% there. I still need to pack and finish buying food and snacks for the labor and delivery. I finally got my post-partum supplies, so that is good. We still haven't decided on a name yet. Bad. We are so unprepared for this baby. The car seat is in the spare room. Oh dear. Well, that's all I have the energy for.

My kingdom for a decent night of sleep

Really. I have heard of hugely pregnant women who stopped sleeping in their beds and started sleeping in the Lazy Boy. I won't allow Lazy Boy's in my house, but between the circus and the heartburn, I have ceased getting more than a 2 hour period of continuous sleep at night. Oh yeah, and the crap circulation. I woke up last night to pins and needles on the side I was sleeping on, this wakes me up. Then I realize that the one fluid ounce of pee in my bladder is being compressed by the circus performer, so I have to get out of bed. Getting out of bed these days takes a lot of energy and grunting. Ask the husband, it wakes him every time. So I get out of bed, trying no to fall over because half of my body is numb, stagger into the bathroom, flush the toilet, then I have to wait because I don't want to wake Martin, then stagger back to bed and attempt to find another comfortable sleeping position. Grrrr. I have determined my due date to be Jan 12. My midwives are calling it Jan 17. We'll see whose right. Trained professionals or the Mummy. The good thing about a due date range, is that when I don't go into labor around the 12th, there won't be a big panic for the NST. If I don't go into labor by that weekend, I will find a trampoline. Something. Anything. My last point, I was gently remonstrated because I gained not a single ounce from the last week. The balance gently hovered between the two and the three, just like the previous week. I was generous and called it three. I am not dieting here. Really. It was even over the Holidays. I just have no appetite. How could I possibly? With that circus performer, and the heartburn? Sometimes I get heartburn when I just THINK of eating. Like now. It is officially my lunch hour and I'm still not hungry. Blech. Enough of my incessant pregnancy complaining, it will soon be over. Friday is my last day of work. Until March 13, or something like that. I am hoping to get more sleep, but we will see. I still have to be at home with my mother all day. I expect to be driven mad. I also hope to get some sewing done. I still have some diapers and covers I need to stitch up. I was also going to make a little fleece outfit for Martin. For me I have some lounging pants and a top cut out. Going WAAAAY back, I also have a skirt and a dress cut out. I also have a shirt about halfway done that I think is going into the trash, and another skirt that needs hemming and ties put on. But really, I would really like to get through the diapers and covers (necessary), Martin's outfit (not necessary) and my lounging set (will come in handy for my days of "lounging" at home). That other stuff? Eh, whenever. The nice thing about sewing now (as opposed to sewing then) is my new, lovely machine. A Viking Husqvarna Platinum 730. I love it. Time spent at my machine is now productive time, instead of time spent cursing and picking out birds nests and bunched stitches. Of course, this means I have compensated the other way and have just started making other mistakes to slow my sewing down. I am going to put an applique on Martin's top (an alligator, or a lion head, not sure which one yet). I have never done this before, but I feel confident with my new machine. I am also going to try out my double needle if I can figure out how to thread my machine for a double needle.

Happy New Year

That is all.