Christmas 2011

A few days before Christmas, baby #2 decided to start making Mommy feel really yucky all of the time, making Christmas only semi-enjoyable for our family. Here’s a run-down of what we did because if I don’t record this, I’ll feel bad for the rest of my life.

On Christmas Eve Eve, we decided to take Miles to see the lights at the zoo. And since we had snow a few days before, it was cold. Very cold. But Miles did get to meet Santa in a really smelly building. He was happy until it was his turn to actually sit on Santa’s lap.

 

Oh well. There’s always next year.

Chris has Christmas Eve off, so my parents drove down to meet us at our lot (did  I mention that we’re building a house?) and then to spend the rest of the day with us. After looking at our pile of dirt, we headed to Subway for lunch where I had my first official vomit-in-the-parking-lot for this pregnancy. Yay!

After lunch we headed over to our house for nap time for Miles and for me. I ended up spending the entire rest of the day and night throwing up about every hour. I have a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t morning sickness but instead a bit of the flu. Luckily no one else got it because I was essentially quarantined.

But what this meant for poor Chris was that he spent his night playing Santa all by himself. I had managed to wrap his presents a few days earlier but that’s it. Nothing for my family or for Miles had been wrapped (or assembled in some cases), and I hadn’t done anything with the stocking stuffers (some of which were meant for Chris). This made for some interesting wrapped presents. Like the boxes of deodorants that I had picked up at Costco but had somehow ended up with the pile of presents. It was cute.

Luckily I woke up feeling better on Christmas morning, so after Miles had breakfast, we opened as many presents as we could before Chris had to leave for work.

The only presents Miles cared about were cars, and these are the only toys he has played with for the last month. Literally. He does not play with anything else. Ever.

 

After I took my sweet time getting ready (it’s amazing how little energy I had after a day of vomiting), Miles and I headed to my parents house for the day. I spent a good amount of time sitting in the comfy chair watching everyone else do things. Merry Christmas.

Here we go again

Let’s rewind to 2009 for a second when I wrote some pretty serious blasphemies against Eve in this post. I feel the urge to curse her again. Yes, folks, I’m pregnant again. Which explains my disappearance from cataloging our family life on this here blog. And why do I sometimes curse against Eve? Because I’m sick. And tired. And sick.

I’m only 9 1/2 weeks along, but we had an ultrasound last week (I think it was our doctor’s way of giving another doctor some special treatment even though we have to pay for it), we feel pretty confident in telling the world. We told our families on Christmas (my parents on Christmas Eve because they saw vomiting first hand) and have been telling people here and there, but I guess it’s official once you put it on the internet.

So far this pregnancy has been very different than my first. I’m still sick, but at different times. With Miles, I threw up every morning until like 18 weeks. But this time I get worse in the afternoons and evenings, making dinner time and the “witching hour” very difficult. I remember being tired with Miles (often falling asleep by 8:30 in the couch), but not tired like I am now. I just have NO energy. I do a lot of parenting from the couch. And the floor of the bathroom. I often don’t change out of my pjs until the afternoon when I finally shower during Miles’ naptime, and then mostly I put on another set of pjs when I’m done. I don’t do my hair. I don’t put on make-up. And I don’t leave the house unless it’s to refill my prescription for anti-nausea pills, which don’t seem to be working like they did last time. Oh, and I surely don’t clean. Or cook. I’m utterly useless.

Luckily I have a husband with much patience. He surely doesn’t enjoy this time, but he does a good job at getting things done when I can’t. Like Christmas (more on that later).

But my doctor suggested a prescription bracelet, not the one from the tv commercials of people at the mall, but one he swears really works. Insurance doesn’t cover it, so it costs a pretty penny, but I’ll pay anything for some relief from nausea. Chris was actually at the appointment with me and seemed eager to get it. It’s supposed to be delivered to my door sometime soon, and I’m really hoping it works.

Even with all of the bad stuff, we are excited to add another member of our family, even if we disagree about what gender we would prefer. We might have to find out the sex this time so that neither one of us has a sliver of disappointment once it’s born into this world.

And here’s our little peanut with tiny arm and leg buds:

Not a snow bunny

We had some really good snow a few weeks ago, and although it wasn’t our first snow since moving here, it was the first one that Miles was fully prepared for; it took me a while to collect the essential gear. Side note: it’s really hard to find mittens in his size.

So after I shoveled the drive, I thought Miles might enjoy going out to play. I was wrong.

Just trying to figure out what to do.

Thinking maybe he should touch it.

Thinking that wasn’t a good idea. This kids hates things on his hands. In fact, he wouldn’t move until I wiped all of the snow off.

And no experience would be complete without a toddler tantrum, which only got worse when I made him go around to the garage before going inside.

He did seem to enjoy being pulled on his toddler-sized sled by Daddy, but because I was watching from the warmth of the kitchen, there are no pictures. But I’m sure we’ll have plenty more snow to come.