Life of Val » motherhood

Symptom

Val — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:16:09 +0000

During this pregnancy, a lot of my symptoms have been much different than they were with Carver. I didn’t feel very nauseous this time, but did have extreme food cravings and aversions (“If I don’t eat a chicken caesar wrap right now, I’m going to throw up!”). And although I know I was tired last go round, I think exhaustion plagued me much more this time. Thankfully, I’m starting to perk up, and with that, a very familiar mark of pregnancy has emerged- nesting.

I laid down for a nap a couple days ago and played out the Pottery Barn Kid catalog in my mind for 2 full hours. I spend all my free time on Apartment Therapy’s children page. We don’t even know the sex yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ve nailed down a color scheme. I know it might sound ugly, but trust me, in my imagination, these colors are coming together beautifully: yellow, brown and cream. If its a girl, I’m going to throw in pink. I have a quickly-growing list of projects to tackle, and I’m so glad my energy is picking up almost as quickly. I can’t wait to get started! I know, realistically, I probably won’t be able to start until after the holidays, but I can keep scheming!

Babysitters are people too

Val — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:53:26 +0000

One thing I love about Ethan is that he calls me pretty during some of my most flustered, frizzy-haired, strawberry-stains-on-my-shirt moments. Today when he got home from work (which is at lunch time these days) he said “Hi, cute lady.” I guess my look told him I didn’t feel too cute because he asked me if I was okay. “Yeah, I just want to feel like a person, not a babysitter,” I said. He responded, “Babysitters are people too.”

Despite a little fluster which happens everyday right before Carver and Kennon’s nap time, I have felt very much like a person lately:

A person who runs half marathons (1 2010 goal checked off!)

A person who gets pedicures with her little sister who could go into labor at any moment

A person with a 1 year old who can walk!

A person who gets butterflies when I think about moving in 3 months…

Its Friday and its good to be blogging. If I was going to catch you up, I would tell you about Ethan getting cut to half-time, God abundantly providing for us, Carver’s “cyclical vomiting” for the past 30 days and the calendar I’m making for him, but I won’t. I’m going to go play with my 2 favorite boys.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Almost 1 year!

Val — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:55:14 +0000

I think I should fill you in on some of Carver’s new talents. He now tries to feed himself with a spoon. Although the other parent in this household cringes at the mess, I think its pretty funny and I’m excited he’s taking steps toward more independent eating. Another step he took toward independent nutrition was drinking his first cup of cow’s milk today! I guess that means he has weaned from the lunch time feeding and is now just breastfeeding in the morning (too early-like 5:00 AM) and at night. Surprisingly, I did not feel any physical affects from skipping 1/3 of my daily nursing. Don’t ask me what I’m going to do when we drop that final morning feeding and Carver still wakes up. Maybe I’ll plan to go out of town…

Besides eating, he has made some developmental steps, too! Not literally, though. We’re still waiting for those first walking steps. He can stack blocks, give high-fives and stand alone (though, he’s pretty unsure of his stability). We’ve also turned his car-seat forward and let him try some 1 year old foods like peanut butter and honey. Some cute new things he does are blowing on his food when we blow on it, sticking out his tongue when he smiles and making a puzzled face as he tries to figure out how to whistle. He’s the best.

Blurb

Val — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:12:57 +0000

Hi.

I just finished some scrambled eggs, toast and am drinking coffee from a mug with Ethan’s 7th grade picture on it. That’s really the only reason I’m on here, writing. The combo of the food/coffee/laughing at this mug perked me up just enough out of my tired, exasperated-ness to feel like some Friday blogging. The reason for the exasperation is that Carver is sick. At first this made me really sad, now sad, tired and confused. Do I give in and pick him up when he cries in his crib? Or do I let him cry with his miserable cough until he falls asleep so he can actually get some sleep? Anyway, enough of that. I mean, it is Friday, after all. Some blurbs…

I might participate in a craft show in a few weekends. That would be fun. And it would fulfill yet another one of my 2009 goals. Did I tell you we got a new (kind of) dining room table? That was another goal! Thanks, BA! Now, I’m just 1.5 pounds, 1 triathlon and 1 cruise short of finishing the list.

Yesterday we spent $52 at Publix and saved $41! This probably isn’t as exciting to you as it is to me, but we are trying to stick to a $50/week grocery budget and I gotta take my thrills where I can get them folks…

Only 7 weeks left of this crazy semester!

We went to the pumpkin patch

and I have the cutest kid in the world.

Well, I’m looking forward to a weekend without much going on. Hope you’re looking forward to yours!

Differences…

Val — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:52:12 +0000

…between Carver and Kennon

C-falls asleep every morning on our jog (despite Kennon’s efforts to play with him, tell him stories, show him trees and grab his knee; despite my efforts to talk to him, give him toys, keep him awake by making him hold my water bottle, etc)

K-enthusiastically points at every single tree we pass on our morning jog, talks to people we see, bounces his feet on the stroller

C-puts everything in his mouth, including mulch, shoes, dust, toys, books, paper, the playground swing

K-points at everything, including people, trees, leaves, plants, windows, vans, buses, bikes, me

C-naps for 45 min.

K-naps for 2 hours

C-loves to snuggle (he even gives kisses now!)

K-loves to dance

Its crazy how much personality these boys have and they haven’t even tasted their first birthday cakes!

Highs and lows

Val — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:10:42 +0000

6:40 AM- Carver wakes up (much better than the 5:30 wake-up time yesterday).

9:00 AM- Water goes off in our apartment building.

10:30 AM- Carver wakes up early from his nap and we get to spend some one-on-one time together.

11:30 AM- Lunch time, the most stressful time of my day. Kennon shrieks while I try to feed him milk from a bottle, Carver starts crying uncontrollably, I have a melt-down, I call Lindsay (wonderful friend and neighbor who happens to be a pediatric nurse practitioner) and she comes over with a stethoscope (apparently I made it sound like an emergency… it kind of was…to me).

12:00 PM- Sweet Lindsay calms me down and plays with Carver while I feed Kennon and we all go for a walk. Carver, who was straddling Kennon in my stroller designed for only one baby fell asleep with his head on Kennon’s back.

2:10 PM- Carver wakes up five minutes before Kennon goes down for his nap (I think they planned this).

3:00 PM- Amanda comes over, followed by the rest of play group!

6:00 PM- The water (which was supposed to come back on at 5:00) is still not on.

7:45 PM- Carver goes to bed without a bath.

8:00 PM- Some welcome quiet time…

9:00 PM- Ethan comes home!

Off to a start

Val — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:48:30 +0000

Eight hours of sleep helped me survive (and enjoy) the first day of my new job, watching my friend’s son, Kennon. He is a couple months older than Carver and the differences are enormous (seven pounds, to be exact). Also, Kennon is cruising around and has shown me exactly how to baby-proof the apartment for when Carver is his age. They get along really well, if you can attribute such behavior to a seven and ten month old. They seem to be entertained by each other and are both very forgiving when the other crawls on them. Having two children under of one year old was somewhat demanding and yet in an odd way, I kind of wish it had been more demanding. Demanding in different capacities, I should say. By the time Ethan came home, I was definitely drained of diaper-changing energy, but yearning for some adult interaction and creative release.

You regular readers may have sensed some hinting toward the fact that our little family of three is in a transition time. Well, we’ve got things narrowed down to two very different paths. Path A would mean definitely moving before Christmas, potentially a lower, but sooner salary, the fulfillment of some life long dreams and a hopeful, but scary move for a stay-at-home mom who relies heavily on a community of friends. Path B would entail the probability of staying in sunny Gainesville, a more delayed, but higher eventual salary, shifting of afore-mentioned dreams and a ridiculously hard semester for both Ethan and I. It would be hard for Ethan because he would spend 4 days a week from 6:30 AM to 9:45 PM either in class or at work. It would be hard for me because Ethan would spend 4 days a week from 6:30 AM to 9:45 PM either in class or at work.

This is all to say I want to get a gym membership. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very important decision and if you have any insight, let us know. I’m just saying, if I’m in for a semester of hanging out with two (delightful) babies all day long and I’m not going to see my husband until fifteen minutes before bedtime, I gotta get out a little. Plus, it would help me fulfill one, possibly two of the goals I set for this year, to lose the baby weight and compete in a triathlon. I already crossed “plant a garden” off the list (although I don’t have much to show for that one anymore). We’ll leave refinishing the dining room table for later.