Home Alone...

Home-alone-selfie

Something happen a few weekends ago that N-E-V-E-R happens. I was home alone for more than two whole hours. Usually my time alone is weekend mornings when everyone else is still sleeping. I can watch what I want to watch on TV (Food Network), read, cook, write, work…what ever I want to do…

However, this pregnancy, I’m exhausted and have been sleeping in so that I really only get a half hour or less…about the amount of time to brew a pot of coffee. I hate to admit what when I hear Brian come downstairs or Mary on the monitor, my heart sinks a little.

Today Brian took Mary to a birthday party. He took charge of the whole thing, bought the gift, everything. And I got to stay home. I tidied up a little, read, wrote, drank tea, listened to my music – it was glorious. What was even better, was seeing these faces when they got home. 

2 hours past her nap time, she was pretty tired :)

I’m willing to bet it will be another few years before this happens again, but that’s okay – I’m so in love with my family, I’m a lucky, mom/wife/woman.

This Pregnancy and other Happenings

THIS PREGNANCY:

36 weeks - 2-22-14

For the past couple months, I lie in bed many nights and mornings…and sometimes even in the middle of the night thinking of this blog post. When I’m driving to/from work, I think I should get a voice recorder so I could get some thoughts that I could type up later – but that has been the issue is finding the energy to just sit down and type it all up. Even before I was pregnant, I haven’t had the mental capacity to just sit down and focus on my thoughts and now that I have the exhaustion that comes with growing another human, any time I have to think of writing an entry is fleeting.

As I start this post, I’m sitting next to Mary on the couch while she watches one of her new favorite movies (more on that later). I’m caught up on work, taxes are done – I could be cleaning or tidying up the house, but – well, that job may never be done.

So! This pregnancy. I suppose since the post about coming to peace with just one, it may seem strange that I am pregnant. I will be honest, we tried for a bit. I felt it wasn’t meant to be, but at least we could say we tried. About the same time the reality of money was starting to hit me, the cost of pre-school, ballet, other activities for Mary, plus needs that house was having. I felt comfortable where we were. The next month, I was pregnant. SURPRISE!

I had mixed feelings at first. Same as I did with Mary. But I realize that clearly this little soul is meant to be since she beat all odds and come to be when we weren’t even trying…we are taking measures that there are no more miracles in our house :)

At times I feel sad that Mary won't remember this time when it was just the three of us and she got all the attention - but at the same time, i think it is a good thing that she will always think it's been the 4 of us. I try to shower her with as much attention as possible right now and she is definitely drinking it up!

Just as with Mary, everything has been pretty text book. Second trimester, I felt great – lots of energy, worked a bunch. When the third trimester rolled around, I was shocked that it all seemed to be going a little fast.

I had my last ultrasound this week and this baby girl is measuring the exact same size that Mary weighed when she was born. This makes me a little nervous. At the time I was 35 weeks, with 6 weeks left and she could gain half a pound a week…so I may actually need some pain killers after this one is born.

I just started getting pretty uncomfortable the past two weeks and really, really uncomfortable last week. Sleeping, eating, breathing, getting out of the car has all become difficult. Heartburn is an always occurring – if my stomach is empty: Heartburn, if I eat too much: Heartburn. At work the agency is on two different floors – this last week, when people say “come on up and see me.” I ask if there is ANY chance they could possibly come down to my desk instead.

I constantly remind myself how after Mary was born, I missed being pregnant, so I’m trying to enjoy all the positive things. This little suger-booger is quite the wiggle worm and seems to be pretty opinionated about how I’m sitting. She Hates when I cross my arms and rest them on the top of my tummy, she kicks like mad until I move them. When sleeping, if I’m lying on a side she doesn’t approve of, again, she wiggles and jabs until I move. I was talking to a co-worker and got a jab so startling, I jumped mid-sentence. For a few weeks it seemed she always got the hiccups at 4am, which I think is pretty cute.

I’m starting to get nervous about her arrival – I need to get my hospital bag packed, download some more music for L&D. Brian is working feverishly to finish the downstairs office/guestroom. We figure baby girl and I will spend some time in that room when she first arrives so Brian and Mary can sleep a little better and leave Brian with the energy to deal with a toddler all day.


CHRISTMAS 2013:

Christmas Morning 2013

I have to say, Christmas 2013 was one of the best I think I’ve ever had. Mary was fantastic. She really “got” the whole thing, from Jesus to Santa, but what was nice is she didn’t get out of control, crazy-hyper about it. It was a wonderful discovery. She absolutely loved the carols and learned all the words to Rudolph and Jingle Bells – two months later, she will still break out into one of these songs in the middle of the grocery store.

NEXT in line to see Santa after a 1 hour wait!

We visited Santa, I wasn't sure how that was going to go, so we wrote a letter just in case Mary didn't want to sit on his lap. After an hour wait in line, she was very excited and actually sat on his lap...not sure if she was thrilled about it at the time, but that is all she talked about for the rest of the week :)

Big Girl bed in the living room - she warmed up to it as the day went on (and she got the other presents she wished for)

 Mary got a big girl bed from Santa, which I thought she would be a little more excited about, but it turns out she really only likes her “tiny bed”. The big girl bed is all set up in her room with pink Hawaiian sheets. Mary thinks it’s great to jump on, but when it comes to sleeping or even reading, she only wants the tiny bed. I’m not going to push it just yet, she has lots of changes coming.

We had our Holiday Open House again this year, and it was a lot of fun. The last time we had it, we really didn’t have any friends of our own yet and it was really just a way for all of my parents friends to come see the house. We had it on a Sunday night for two reasons 1) I wanted people to be able to come and holiday schedules fill up so quickly, I thought Sunday was the best bet and 2) Even though I wanted people to come, I didn’t want them to stay late J. Thinking people would go to work the next day, I thought they would all scoot out – but at 10:30, we still had 12 or so people and I had to excuse myself to bed.


THIS WINTER:

To say the least this winter has been a little trying – in fact, it downright sucks. We started having below zero days before Christmas. A little early in my mind. In the beginning of January we had our first “Polar Vortex” – the first I had ever heard that term in all my time growing up here. -45 degrees with the wind chill. Schools were closed, trains delayed, cars not starting, It was damp the day before, so when it all of a sudden dropped so dramatically, it led to really just disgusting conditions. Thankfully our power stayed on – we stayed inside for two whole days. Since then we have had two other “polar vortex” spells.

On top of that we are in the top 5 in the history of snow accumulation. I think the novelty of snow-blowing has worn off on Brian. There is literally nowhere to put all the snow – Mountains of snow in parking lots and the end of driveways probably won’t melt until April. Unfortunately it hasn’t been fun snow – it’s all powder that turns into ice, so no snowmen inhabit our yard…

In addition to the weather, we have been a pretty sick family since Christmas. Not fun when I’m pregnant and can’t take anything that would really help me. Poor Mary was reeeeeaaally sick a few weeks ago. She got a fever in the middle of the night one night, we gave her Tylenol and she was fine. As soon as it would wear off, her fever was worse than before. This trend continued until the Sunday before her birthday when she woke up with 105.2 fever. Scary for mom, the doctor came into the office for us that morning, but of course, by the time we got there, she had her Tylenol and was feeling fine…mystery! Even though she had been eating/drinking normally, her throat was red and swollen…yet she tested negative for strep. We went back a few days later and the doctor said it may have even been Mono! What? I guess it has different symptoms in little ones than in teens. She is feeling much better now, but has a gross cough that we can’t shake.

Also this last week, I had a head cold so horrible, I finally took time off work. Instead of logging in from home, like I normally would, I told the office I need coverage. After that, I’m finally feeling better and Brian’s throat starts hurting….We are all looking forward to spring!


MARY IS 3!

Special Birthday Breakfast!

 While we had a big party last year, I thought this year we could just invite a few little friends to a Birthday Playdate. The plan was to go to the Rainbow Playcenter Showroom (the big redwood swing sets that are in so many backyards around here). They allow kids in to play during the day – I thought that would be fun and then we were going to Country Donuts (Mary’s favorite). Unfortunately since she was so sick, we had to cancel. I still plan on rescheduling, but her cough is so rough if she runs for 5 min, she coughs for 10…soon we’ll celebrate.

YAY! All of us in one picture!

On her actual Birthday, it was her Valentine’s party at pre-school making it extra fun! That night, we had Marmee and Grampy over for pizza, cake and presents. It was really perfect J

I think we’re mostly caught up now…onward.

20 weeks

(Yes, I've been meaning to start this post for the past 12 weeks...)

On July 16th, 2013 we got a little surprise. I had a feeling for the previous couple days, and the morning after Brian's birthday I woke up at 4am, eager to find out. I took the test and it was faint, I crawled back into bed...Brian stirred a little bit..."Honey...I think I'm pregnant". Brian rolled over and gave a low "No...you're not." Me, "I just took a test, I'm pregnant." now he's awake. "What!?"

Happy Birthday, Honey!

The beginning of this pregnancy felt exactly like it did with Mary, so I felt pretty confident we were having a girl. Feelings of nausea, but never really got sick. Smells were overpowering. A *Phew* was I tired the first trimester.Going through that portion of pregnancy was a TOTALLY different ballgame having a toddler to keep up with. I struggled to stay awake to go through her bedtime routine and then collapse into bed myself.

There is an awesome new test for old moms that wasn't around when I was pregnant with Mary. It's a blood test at 9 weeks that tells with over 99% accuracy if there are any chromosomal abmormalities AND it tells if you are having a boy/girl. No more waiting until 18-20 weeks!

I went to the doc by myself and found out the sex. I went out, bought cupcakes with color appropriate filling and brought them to Brian and Mary - Brian got to take the first bite and see the PINK filling! Hooray! Another girl!

I'm so excited to be able to use all the clothes again, plus with a two bedroom house, the girls can share a room for longer time now. It was so sweet the first time I heard Brian make a comment about "my girls" - I feel our family is about to be complete.

Many more updates to come between now and March 22nd.

Welcome Home McGough Family!

(Yes, this happen over the summer, I'm finally getting caught up!!) 

As I have written before, I think that houses have feelings. So much happens in a house, how can some of that not rub off on lathe and plaster? I grew up in a house that was constantly being re-stored. It all happen with care and consideration, I got to watch the house take shape as I grew up, too – so I suppose it was almost a sibling J

In the two years in our house, we have kept in touch with some of the seven kids who grew up in this house. Kathleen, Melon (Mary Ellen), Patricia, James Jr., Michael, Daniel, and Kevin. James managed his mother’s estate, and was kind enough to show up at the closing so my parents got some good stories there. Since growing up in Crystal Lake, the McGough Kids have settled all over from West ‘burbs of Chicago, to New York, to Berlin. But this summer, I got an email from Kathleen – the McGough’s were coming to town for a wedding and could they come visit the house. I couldn’t respond fast enough; YES!

We were so excited when the day came, they said they would only stay for about an hour but we had prepped, beverages and some nibbles. Five McGoughs walked up the walk, we all said “Welcome Home!” and hugged like we were old friends.

As soon as they walked in the front door and saw the rattan living room furniture, the stories began; They wound up staying for three hours and left only because they had to get ready for the wedding – I would have gladly had them longer.

Here are just a few of the stories we heard that day:

Living room furniture: Apparently they had rattan furniture that we do. Here I thought we were so original to have a tropical look in the Mid-West, but apparently, their mom had the same notion.

Screened in Porch: The order of the kids went three girls were the oldest and then four boys were the youngest. At times, the girls were assigned to watch the boys, so what did they do? Lock the boys on the front porch, and went about doing whatever they wanted to do.

Where did they all sleep? This is often a question we are asked. WHERE in the two bedroom house, did seven kids sleep. There were 14 years between the oldest and youngest and I suppose it was handy that all the girls came first and then all the boys. When they moved into the house, Kathleen was 5 and James was about a year old. All the girls were in Mary’s room until they left for school – that’s easy. The boys were a better story. There is a little room right at the top of our stairs, we have boxes and old baby clothes piled in it. It’s about 8’x8’ (which doesn’t sound so bad), but it was shaped like an “L” so remove a ¼ of the room, also subtract some ceiling space because we have a slanted ceilings because of the roof. Essentially, an adult could stand in approx. 8’x2’, however three young boy slept in here, a bed, a trundle and a crib. When the fourth boy (seventh and youngest McGough) was old enough to move out of the parents room, then two boys moved to the “music room” downstairs and the other two boys stayed in the little room upstairs.

Breakfast for 9: We’re told that Dr. McGough made much better oatmeal than Ellie. Also that breakfasts usually were a full spread of eggs, bacon and toast…for nine! There was one story I loved about old Mr. Bohl, from out on Bohl’s farm, I remember this farm on the edge of town growing up and now it’s a Target, Barnes & Noble and Chili’s. Apparently he was a character, old, dirty, and carrying a bucket of eggs with his hook where he was missing a hand. I love the story of the three girls sitting at the breakfast table in their nightgowns startled out of their wits as old Mr. Bohl walks in the backdoor carrying eggs with his hook, “Need some eggs!?”

The Music Room: What we are now re-doing as a reading room/guest room, is where Ellie had her piano, they called this the Music Room. When the room was then needed for the boy’s room, the piano was moved. I always wanted to learn to play the piano and I love thinking that there was an instrument in the house.

The Stump in the front yard: We have a large stump in the front yard, Mary uses it as her stage and does a little tap-dance on the stump. It is also used as a launch pad where we all take turns to see how far we can “JUMP!” The boys told us that this used to be a biiiiiiig silver maple that used to turn magnificent colors in the fall. They would play baseball in the summer and the boys would try to hit the ball over the tree. I’m glad to hear that no one was able to do it because I can only imagine the windows that would have been broken across the street.

Overall, we had such a nice time with them. I feel like they are extended family – which I suppose is true since we have a family member in common – our sweet house. They are welcome back any time.

There were lots of good stories around the kitchen, one being why it was once ORANGE

Michael and Kathleen in the kitchen

Kathleen reading the graffiti about her past relationships...

Michael, Melon, Patricia, Kathleen, Daniel - The McGough Kids

I love Mary peeking out the screen porch on this one - the old and the new...

Home Again

One day, Brian announced that he was partaking in a stand-up paddleboard race in Lake Geneva the following week.

Me: Really? Honey you’ve never paddled a S’up before.
Him: I know, but I’m going out with Wendell and Westy the week before and they are going to coach me.

Me: …okay…should be interesting.

I maybe didn’t approach this as a supportive wife should. I sighed heavily and said, WHEN do we have to be there? HOW long will it take? We have to wake up Mary early and leave at 6am, any time we deviate from her routine stresses me out – plus packing her activity bag, swim diapers, change of clothes, snacks, etc. just sends my mind into going over lists at 2am.

The day came of the race and we snuggled Mary in her car seat with the hopes that she would fall back asleep on the 45 min drive up there – no luck. So now, with almost 3 hours cut off of her normal sleep, I was SURE it was going to a rough day with her.

We got there quickly, found a parking spot and I walked into a familiar scene. Pop-up tents, flags, music piped through speakers interrupted by the occasional announcement, the registration table, paddlers unloading gear. The only difference was the bright colors lining the beach weren’t outrigger canoes – they were paddle boards. I was so taken by this scene, got a little teary.

Familiar sights

  We were home again – in Wisconsin. Who knew?

We set up our little spot, got out Mary’s sand toys and the Jeffries were on. Mary even swam in the fresh water a bit. The one draw back to all of her swimming lessons is that she has become a pool-girl and thinks the lake is “icky” because of the seaweed.

It came time for Brian to race, he went into typical race-mode…not the nicest of his modes. But again, it reminded me of the old days back at the outrigger events. He went out in the recreational division (about 3.5 miles) with about 55 other paddleboards – Remember, this was his second time ever on a paddle board.

Going into race mode (not always his nicest mode)

While he was out, Mary and I played more with sand toys, took a walk to the bathroom. When I could see the paddleboards start coming back, I realized our time on the meter was about to run out. Mary and I ran to the car, came back and I see Brian’s red shorts just outside the buoys – Whoops! Grab the camera and run to the finish line!

Brian was the NINTH board across the line and first in his division. Put a paddle in his hand, stick him on some sort of water vessel and the man is a machine. He was also as happy as I remember him being back in California.

Cheering on Daddy

I even went out and tried a paddle board – it felt like the first time I tried an outrigger – It felt like I was home again.

I think we may be on to something here! All along we’ve been trying to find and encourage the outriggers and now we just happen on to a society of people who are paddle-board enthusiasts. Easy to do on any size of fresh water, which is abundant in our area plus there are lots of competitions in the areas – and the Jeffries like competitions! J

On the way home, I apologized to Brian for my attitude, pre-race. I need to give him credit for how well he knows me. I get so stuck in my ways and he knew if he could pry me away, I’d see the light – and I did.

We are now in the market for a paddleboard.
 

Mother of the Year

(I hate to admit that this happen a while ago, but it deserves its own post and not just a brief re-cap)
Remember Mary cracked her tooth? Remember we got it fixed?

A little over a month after we got it fixed, Mary and I were at Target. Each time we go, she insists on getting a food pouch for a treat, this time it was a new flavor with raspberries in it. Halfway through the shopping trip, she said “Something in my mouth” I was sure it was just a raspberry seed. When I held up my hand for her to spit it out, she stuck out her tongue and there was the portion of her tooth that had been fixed. Damn - nice goin' "Mother of the Year".

That same day when she was lying on the changing table, it looked like her nose was crooked. She also kept commenting that her tooth hurt, but I waved it off that it had a sharp edge and that she had bitten her lip or tongue. That night she was up every hour screaming that her mouth hurt, again thought it was because she bit her tongue.

The next morning we had French toast, when Mary tried to bite into a piece, she took it out of her mouth and said “this hurt my tooth” – that’s when I knew something may actually be up. I peeked inside her mouth and her gums were so swollen the tooth on the outside of her broken tooth was almost covered by her bright red gum. Uh-oh.

We gave her Tylenol and had another rough night. The next morning was Monday, I went to work and Brian called the dentist, they could get her in at 11:30am. The blessed Dr. Bloom took a look at her and then marched her up stairs to the oral surgeon. The tooth was coming out. This is where a working mom panics, clears the calendar, forwards the office phone and runs out to the car. It was a long drive home – Surgery? She had to have oral surgery? How does this get performed on such a little mouth?

It turns out when she smacked her tooth way back in February, an infection started and now it was full blown yucky. Apparently it is common for toddlers to have this.

When I got to the doctor’s office. I went to the desk to tell them I was Mary’s mom. I was sure she was mid-procedure, wasn’t sure if she would be sedated, so I told them I would just be in the waiting room. Instead they showed me back to the room where Brian had a sleeping Mary in his arms. When I asked Brian “What did they give her” he told me “nothing” she was just so exhausted from all the pain, that she was sound asleep sitting up in his arms.

I was there for about a minute and she woke up and wanted me to hold her. She had stickers all over her front from all of the nice nurses J I peeked in her mouth again and the tooth that had been chipped and about half the size of the healthy tooth was now hanging down past the healthy teeth – Her little body was trying to push this yucky tooth out.

It turns out that the crooked nose, the cap falling out, the complaining of a hurt tooth was all this infection starting and I shrugged it off...yes, I am "Mother of the Year".

The nurse came back and had a topical on the end of a long q-tip, she told me to rub it on the inside and outside of her gum by the hurt tooth, but it would make her whole mouth numb. A few minutes after I did, Mary was blowing bubbles from her numb lips. She sat up shook her head and said, “I all bettah!” Almost, little one.

Then the doctor came in, said this will only take a few minutes and they would bring her out to the room. Brian stayed and lingered in the room a bit – I don’t think he got the message that we were supposed to go. I get it, a little one will follow instructions better from others when mom or dad isn’t around. We went to the waiting room for maybe 5 min – they came and brought us to the recovery area and brought out Mary with a little blood on the corner of her mouth. I can't imagine they had to pull too hard on a tooth that was already most of the way out.

As soon as she saw us she started crying (exactly why we weren’t in the room!). We sat for a moment in the recovery area, but I didn’t want her crying to freak out the other patients, so we went out to the car.

It was an unusually hot day, so I sent Brian in the Jeep to go get motrin and I cranked the air and held Mary in the front seat. What is a little funny is that there is a Pediatric dentist in the same building. So while I’m holding Mary in the car SCREAMING, these kids are showing up and nervously walking into the office…oh, dear. When I finally did move her to her car seat she fell asleep within a mile of the drive.

We went home, she slept a lot, we ate ice cream and she got to watch all the Caillou she wanted.

She was a good little patient.

Our exhausted little Mary after having her tooth pulled.

I kinda like it now with the tooth totally gone, she just looks like a little kid now.

Bad Blogger! Bad!

UGH, the time has slipped away from me again, work has been the busiest of my life and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer - I have so many posts that I have started and vow to get posted soon. I HAVE to get caught up - SO much to tell :)