Parents-To-Be

I just realized that not a day goes by that Husband and I don't talk about future parenting methodologies and stuff. Heck, I sometimes present him hypothetical scenarios to see how he'd handle a particular situation, since he will be Mr. Mom. I definitely have complete confidence in his overall parenting skills, but when it comes to some behavioral stuff, I want to be sure he'd handle it the way I would like (said the BCBA candidate) (e.g., what do you do if our son throws a major tantrum in a store? How do you prevent that?) We typically agree for the most part. (I hear that what we discuss/agree on can be different once baby is actually here, but it is reassuring for now to know that we agree.)

Our discussions have ranged from night-time feedings in the first months to schooling to what-ifs (what if our son wants to be a rapper? I said, Uh, I might have to nip that one in the bud... What if our kids want to dress a certain way to portray an image that we may not like? As long as our kids have their ethics, morals...and grades in check, we are okay. Although we will not consent to a sexualized piercing, like in middle school...which I often see at my work and it still shocks me.) Today, after our re-discussion about teaching our kids to be sure to say "please" and "thank you," I said, please also make sure that our kids learn to always push in their chairs. For some reason, it bugs me when people/kids don't push their chairs in.

Sometimes I wonder if my worries of what our kid(s) will be like when they're in middle school and high school are warranted or exaggerated. I work in a low-performing school...where kids care so much more about their reputation, image, and romantic relationships than their grades/future. Now, I know in middle school, it is a typical time to start individuating, but when I see kids coming with lots of make-up, hoochie tops with cleavage cracks bare, lip and tongue piercings, etc., it's hard for me not to worry about what my kids will end up looking like for the sake of their teenage image. Yesterday, when I was leaving work, I saw a group of about 5 girls surrounding 2 girls. One was loudly cussing at the other girl about disrespecting her, how she better come real, etc. The other girl stood with her arms crossed simply saying, "whatever." I thought, what a show just for the other 5 girls.

I know I could have easily yelled, "Hey! Break it up!" but sadly, I could care less. The last thing I want is some middle school girl shoving me over while I'm pregnant (I'm serious; I am doing high-risk maneuvers when I happen to be caught in the hallways during passing periods. These kids bump into me, not saying excuse me or sorry, and just laugh it off in front of their peers like it was cool for them to accidentally side-swipe a 7.5 month pregnant lady.)

I think I'm totally going on a tangent. =P Even though I have these worries (that I think might be typical), I also feel really confident in Husband and my soon-to-be-learned-parenting skills. We have great parents who have instilled in us important characteristics and qualities. We have great new parent friends that we certainly learn a lot from, too. We also bring our own life-experiences to the table. Besides, we also subscribe to some stellar parenting magazines and if all else fails, we have the world wide web to consult. ;)

One thing's for sure -- I am very thankful that Husband and I are partners-in-crime for life.

Baby-To-Be's Uncles (and "Cousin")

Last night, we got to pet-sit Max for a few hours. I stopped by Bro and Brian's after work, and they asked if I'd like to bring Max home for a few hours while they went out to dinner (since Bro left for his DC conference this morning; he comes back on Saturday). How could I turn that down? :)

So Max was with us from about 5:30 - 10 PM. I was really tired since I hadn't slept much the night before so I lazily hung out with Max for the majority of the time. I must have petted him for at least 3 hours of the time he was with us.

I happened to be wearing a shirt that now keeps riding up now that Baby has grown bigger so at one point, Max kissed our baby (i.e., he licked my baby bump twice). Heehee! I think he is beginning to sense that his "cousin" is in his Aunty's womb. (This time that he visited, he was more careful about not stepping all over my baby bump.)

Since yesterday, I've also noticed that B2B's movements have become softer. They feel like the soft flutters in the very beginning, when I first started feeling him about 10 weeks ago (holy snikeys, time flies!). It's expected since there is less room for him to do his gymnastic moves. I think Husband likes these soft movements more because they are less "Aliens"-like.

B2B has also always hung low in my belly. Sometimes, it's either his head or his butt that's next to my belly button (it gets super hard in that area). The other night, Husband felt his head/butt and said, "if he's down here," (gesturing to the area around and below my belly button), "then what's up here?" (pointing to the inflated area above my belly button). I just said, "stuff." Truthfully, I don't have a good anatomical grasp of what's going on inside my body. Bro has a solid grasp, though, since he's taking all those classes on anatomy, embryology, etc. (Sadly, I had to ask him what the difference was between the umbilical cord and placenta.)

Bro and Brian also booked their vacation to Greece yesterday. I'm really excited at the idea of Max staying with us for 10 days! But then Bro said, "Dearest, you also need to make arrangements for Max while we're gone...b/c what if you give birth while we're gone?" When Bro sent me their itinerary, he added, "I hope you have your baby after we get back!!!!! :)" Well, that is definitely the plan!

29 Weeks and 2 Days

My co-workers were just asking me how many weeks I am. I said 29 weeks and one of them said, "wow, only 11 more weeks!" Holy snikeys! Only 11 more weeks!

Baby and Mommy keep growing and growing. We feel him moving all the time. :) Since his movements are so prominent, Daddy has been able to feel him, too. However, Daddy often gets freaked out...because he has admittedly watched too many "Aliens" movies. Daddy gets especially skeeved out when Baby moves a few inches across in a wave-like motion (vs. a kick).

I can't believe we're already in our 3rd trimester! My pregnancy has been a very blissful time (long forgotten are the first trimester woes of queasiness and fatigue). I haven't slept so much since maybe middle or high school (until this past week). And people weren't kidding when they said that "the baby will suck you dry!" I'm an eating machine 24/7. Just in the past 3 days, I've woken up in the middle of the night to feed us a light snack.

Early on, with all the sleeping I was doing, mothers encouragingly said, "That means your baby will sleep well through the night." But when I say that I'm hungry all the time (like every 1.5 - 2 hours), they hesitatingly say, "that means your baby will be hungry every 1.5 - 2 hours..." I guess we'll know in ~ 11 weeks what's true and what's not!

Predictions:

• Baby boy will wake up around 1 and 4 AM for feedings (I generally wake up around those times and baby has been quite active).
• Baby boy will start off with Mommy's straight hair and then have Daddy's curly/wavy hair when he's older.
• Baby boy will love to eat vegetables and fruits (unlike his Daddy, but like his Mommy).
• Baby boy will be active (the past two doctor's visits, different nurses measuring fetal BPM said in astonishment, "he moves around a lot!"
• Baby boy will talk a lot...because Mommy and Daddy talk a lot!

Career Day

The M.S. I work at is planning a career day, and they are in need of speakers. I thought it would be kind of neat if Husband spoke about being a graphic designer...but I knew he wouldn't really go for it. Even so, I jokingly brought it up again last night. He asked, "What would I talk about?"

I said, "Talk about how you're a graphic designer, and you get to design stuff for cool companies like Playboy. Then my students will be like, 'Whoa! [My speech teacher's] husband is soooo cool! That must mean she's cool, too!"

Of course I was kidding and of course Husband called me crazy anyways. Gees, it's not like he has to disclose all of his clients...

New Home!

We have officially moved into our new home!

After several days of packing and moving, we are finally spending our first night here. It was sad to spend our last night at our old place last night. We had so many great memories from living their for the past 5 years. Yet, we are also looking forward to spending the next few years at our new place, where our baby boy will spend the first few years of his life.

Our place is coming together very nicely. In between unpacking, I also went to Vons really quick to pick up a few drinks. When I checked out, the cashier asked me if I needed assistance out. For the first time, I said yes (even though I was sure I had been carrying much heavier items over the past 4 days than the just-purchased groceries). The cashier told the bag lady, "go ahead." That's when I felt really bad. The lady was older...and when she started walking with me, she heavily relied on a cane. I felt really embarrassed about asking her to help me. But I also felt embarrassed and guilty for thinking about how she probably needs more help than me. :(

I came home, and we unpacked and organized some more. I did our first load of laundry in our new, fancy washer and dryer. We were so mesmerized that we sat there, staring at the wash cycle for a few minutes, before Husband said, "We can't sit here for 13 minutes watching the cycle."

So I went to set up our new iHome, our Christmas gift from my bro and his partner. It is awesome!

Tomorrow, we go back to our old place to clean up and sadly, say good-bye. Pictures to come!