parenting: the 2nd oldest pyramid scheme

When we were trying to have kids, our friends who already had them were elated, telling us what great parents we would be, how much we would enjoy it, how our children would play together, how much having a baby enriched their lives and brought them closer together, etc, etc. Now that we are expecting, when we talk to those same friends and we hear their children screaming in the background, all they can say is “This is what you have to look forward to. Good luck.” I cant help but feel that someone got one over on us. I imagine we feel the same way people did when they got their first Amway sales kit in the mail. And just like our friends with kids, the Amway people probably went on and on, telling them what great sales people they would be, how much they would enjoy it, and how selling Amway enriched their lives and brought them closer together. But instead of 4 cases of shampoo sitting our closet, we will soon have a baby. We cant wait to be parents,  but im still savvy enough to know that the sales pitch has changed.

baby girls and presidents- who knew?

why is that presidents make such GREAT names for girls? i could go on and on about this, jen hates this whole series of names:

Reagan

Kennedy

Nixon

Carter

We ran some of these by the family this weekend, and didnt seem to have any winners. Weve also been on a big country kick lately, with jen liking the name Britton for a boy, and me liking the name Ireland for a girl.

baby steps

So we had a HUGE milestone tonight. Jen actually felt good enough to go out for a little while after i got home from work. This was literally like the 2nd time we have gotten to do that in the last 2 months. And we went to……. the mall. Hey, its not much, but we felt like a couple of foreign exchange students at a shopping mall for the first time.

Its crazy how pregnant women and people with kids really seem to stick out when you are expecting. And when you look up and see a happy little storybook family walking towards you, all color coordinated and such, you start to think to yourself, “wow thats how we will be.” Then you look over and see another set of parents with a kid that has all the energy of a spider monkey on PCP, and you think to yourself, “what have we gotten ourselves into?”  When we got home, i Googled “happy parents‘ and got 31.5 million hits, then i Googled ‘tired parents‘ and only got about 2.5 million hits, so it looks like we are going to be happy more than we are going to be tired. Numbers dont lie. I can live with that.

pregnancy has its perks…

So because Jen has been so ill lately, the Dr. wrote a note to her work saying that for the time being, she can work no more than 30 hours a week. This has seemed to help a little, she is only working 6 hour days now. I tried to get him to write a similar note for me, but he wouldnt do it. I guess thats one of the perks of being pregnant.

food: its whats for dinner

Jen has had 2 pretty good days in a row now. Shes not feeling great, but better than she has in quite a while. She tells me the secret to her success is that she always eats. Lord knows she doesnt want to, that nothing sounds good to her, but as long as she has something in her tum-tum, she seems to feel a little better. Tonight it was cashew chicken. It was actually invented here in Springfield, which blows my mind every time i think about it. It seemed to help her, it made me feel not so good. Apparently i got a bad batch or something. Other than that, shes really tired still. Hopefully she will not be so tired soon and we can go out and shop for baby furniture and do some of the fun things that go along with starting a family.

shes heaving a baby

I was talking to Jens dad last night about all the fast food she has been eating since finding out she was pregnant. In her defense, she has been sick as a dog lately, and nothing sounds good, so if she tells me shes craving a McRib, you can bet im going to get her one. So anyway, im joking with her dad that she is probably going to give birth to like a 25lb baby because of the food shes eating. After i got off the phone i got curious about how big the heaviest baby ever born is. Assuming no one can prove me wrong, its this little tyke, born in Brazil back in 2005. The (extra creative) doctors nicknamed him “giant baby.”  He weighed 17lbs, and was born via cesarean, much to the mothers joy, im guessing.

giving props to “old hickory”

Not THAT old hickory, the hickory burger from Sonic. Knowing that Jen has been sick and not eating alot lately, im always asking her if anything sounds good, if shes having any cravings, etc. Today right before i left work i called her, and she thought that a hickory burger (no onions, no lettuce) from Sonic sounded good. That, and a strawberry sundae. She ate the burger, but later decided that maybe it was too much, too soon. At least shes eating something other than Chicken McNuggets and grilled cheese sandwiches. “im eatin’ for two, y’all!”

should have read the fine print…

I think most girls grow up wanting to have children. From an early age we are picking out names and deciding on if we want a boy or a girl and how many of each we want. As I got a little older I even thought about how cool it would be when I got the big baby bump and how it would be so obvious to everybody that I was pregnant then. Before we finally got the positive test, I was already deciding on what colors we would paint the room and different themes we could go with. The thing that I never thought about was the first trimester and the not so awesome symptoms that I would be experiencing. I am 27 and I think I’m a pretty strong woman, one who can handle pain but this is harder than I thought it would be…

in the “sick” of things

Well, my poor wife is home sick from work again today. Although we had high hopes for the gin-gins, it looks like they too are falling short of helping her feel better. Up until today, although she had been very nauseated, she had not actually thrown up. All that changed this morning. Shes a trooper though, and did try to go into work, although it didnt last long. She has a call in to the doctor to see if there is anything he can recommend. I fell terrible for her. She is the first to admit that she isnt the first woman to be pregnant, and alot of women go thru this, but its really wearing on her. She is even having difficulty keeping water down. People tell her all the time, dont worry you will forget all about being sick after you have the baby, but Jen tells me she doesnt want to forget, because she never wants to go thru this again. Im sure its harder on her because before she got pregnant, she was never sick. The ironic thing is that after years of drinking in college, i am actually quite used to being sick in the mornings. Maybe i should be the one carrying this baby. Nah, im sure she’ll do fine.

weight a minute!

So we were a little concerned to find out last nite that Jen has actually lost a few pounds. There are certain to be some fluctuations with water weight during birth, but nevertheless this was still an eyeopener. She is still having a tough time with not feeling well, and because of that, nothing sounds good, aside from the occasional grilled cheese sandwich, or (and i hate to even say this) Chicken McNuggets. Everyone weve talked to says it will get better for her, she just has to get over that “hump” (no pun intended, well maybe) of being sick. Word on the street is that the sickness and the constant feeling of exhaustion should subside around week 15. So the good news is that there IS light at the end of the tunnel, the bad news is that we are only halfway there.