With the birth of our Valley Girl, Ruthann, life no longer revolves around the Vegas baby. So we're moving to a new blog with a (hopefully) easier to remember name.
I'm off to bed because we've got a busy day tomorrow. At 7:30 am, I have to report to the hospital for my doctor to induce labor. Yep, tomorrow, June 16th, is Ruthann's birthday. At my last exam, my doctor estimated that I'd have the baby about an hour after my water broke. Since that's not much time, we immediately started talking about having her break my water at the hospital to have a little more security and observation during the whole process. She gave me two options: Friday or Monday. Since Monday was the day that Grandpa P. picked for his incentive plan (ie, bet actual money on), I picked Monday. Thomas was also born on the day Grandpa P. picked. (What can I say, I respond well to incentives).
Please don't call us, since we're going to be kind of busy. As soon as Curtis gets home, he'll send out a mass email to everyone whose email we have with details and pictures. Hopefully, he'll also post a picture here on the blog. I'll be back in a couple of days with the complete story.
Between Mom and Curtis both being here, I no longer have to take Thomas everywhere. Shopping and errands are much easier not having to deal with carseats, shopping cart buckles, and Mr. Impatient. Today, Mom and I went out and did some errands, and yesterday, Curtis and I got to go out on an actual date. We went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie (fun flick with moments of stupid). I can't actually think of the last movie we saw in theatres. All four of us went out to a seafood buffet to celebrate Curtis being completely done with work and as an early Father's Day dinner. Thomas didn't seem as excited by shrimp this time, but was wild about grapes. Curtis couldn't cut them up fast enough.
Thomas's 11th tooth made a dramatic appearance yesterday. He woke up at 5 am and was crabby all day. Fussed a lot, didn't want held, threw toys and books and us and the cat, and barely napped. By 6 pm, when Curtis came home from football practice and errands, Mom and I were more than ready to turn the boy over to him. Thomas opened his mouth and there it was, a circle of gleaming white marking where his right lower molar had finally broken the surface. Hopefully, today will be a better day for him now that that tooth is up. One more of these huge molars to go, then the canine teeth, which are so sharp that they cause almost no teething pain at all.
That's my mom's new name for him. He's gotten much more confident taking a step or to to move from one handhold to another. He'll let go, shuffle one pudgy foot forward, then the other, and then lunge for the next handhold. Sometimes that second step is more of a stagger and sometimes that lunge leaves him a little short of his target. We've had several face-plants, which cause much woe and vexation. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he's walking confidently before Mom leaves.
Mom arrived yesterday and is having a great time playing with Mr. Thomas, who in turn, is thrilled to have a dedicated audience. Curtis is chained to the dining room table working through his backlog of grading in order to have grades turned in by 8am Monday. I'm still hanging in there and looking forward to my baby shower tomorrow afternoon. It feels good to have my support team here on standby though.
We had our good belly laugh for the day. Thomas is a full-fledged member of the Clean-your-plate Club. When he's finished eating, he throws every last crumb of remaining food onto the floor. This morning, he was tossing spaghetti noodles off his tray when the cat came to investigate. A noodle hit it on the head, causing it to dart backwards. However, running backwards, it discovered that whatever this strange creature was, it was also draped over its back and stuck to its back legs. In a panic, the cat now runs forwards into the mesh baby gate. Curtis had to rescue the poor cat from the vicious pasta. Its dignity insulted, the cat hid under the table until Curtis coaxed it out and petted it for a while. Poor kitty. It's hard to be calm when you're in the grips of a pasta attack.
It's been a crazy week and it's only Tuesday. It's as though everything must happen this week. Curtis has half-days until Thursday, but we seem to meet each other coming and going. Today, he left for work, then I left for a meeting at church, with a stop at the library and Trader Joe's. He got home while I was out, but by the time I got Thomas fed, changed, and ready for his nap, it was almost time for Curtis to leave to vote and go to a department meeting and his tutoring job. Before he got back, I was out the door again, to vote and go to my spiritual book club group. I'm not even sure if he's been home, because now he's at another meeting. Tomorrow may be even worse, since his half-day is in the afternoon; I have a doctor's appointment in the morning; and in the evening, the dean is coming over for dinner (AHH!!! Must clean!).
It'll be a big relief next week, when the calendar becomes completely blank as we officially hit "full-term" and go into baby-waiting mode. After Sunday, there's just blank space until the end of the month.
Wash dishes
Put away last of the kitchen stuff from Roach Refugee Day
Mop kitchen & bathroom
Clean counters in k&b
Wash diapers
Write thank you notes
Where to start? . . . I'm thinking with a nap.
Today, Thomas is 14 months old. It's really starting to sink into me that the baby really is coming soon. I've been telling people for months that the two babies will be 14 months apart. In my mind, though, the baby's not coming until summer, but Curtis only has 4 days of finals left. Whoa.
In other news, my brain, or at least my memory, has apparently overloaded and shut down. This week, I lost the GPS, the digital camera, and checkbook among other things. In each case, I can remember the last time I used the thing, but have NO memory of what I did with it after that. So far, I've found the camera and GPS (after we really needed it), but the checkbook is still in hiding. Fortunately, Curtis reminded me that we have a box of extra checks, so I was able to pay the rent today. Darn pregnancy brain!
It almost sounds like someone walking. Is someone in the apartment? Are there rodents in the walls or ceiling? Is the ceiling about to collapse?
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.
.
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Oh, it's the cat, snoring.
Went to the doctor for a checkup yesterday. She told me that I'm already dilated to 3 cm, but could stay that way for some time. (With Thomas, I was dilated for about 2 weeks before he was born.) I explained how we're really not ready for baby since I want to fly my mom out and Curtis has one week of school left. Dr. said that it would be a good idea to bring Mom out in another week or so, so she's flying here on Friday. (Yay!) So after all the talk about how it would NOT be good for baby to come right now, I had painful Braxton-Hicks contractions (false labor) all evening. So it definitely feels like D-Day (D for Delivery) is approaching.
Also yesterday, my mom's group had an end-of-the-year party with a baby shower for me. It was awesome. Lots of great potluck food and they pitched in and got me a glider rocker. Unfortunately, Curtis hurt his quadricep muscle on Wednesday and needs at least another day before he can carry in a 50 lb box of chair. I'm dying to see what it looks like.
Today's plan is to take it easy and not go into labor. Hopefully no painful false labor either. It's a good plan.
Friday, Curtis scored 4 free Dodgers tickets that one of his football kid's dad wasn't going to use. We got a hold of our friends, the good Drs. R, who were able to drop everything to come with us. Turns out that the tickets also included a parking pass for preferred parking. Curtis joked that we've had seats further away than our parking spot. The tickets were in the second lowest level between the home dugout and home plate. It was easier to read the small numbers on the fronts of the player's jersey than it was to read the number off the scoreboard. Amazing seats.
Thomas had a great time even though it was way past his bedtime. He discovered that the Drs R were a soft touch for sharing their food and that if you look cute and point, even the strangers in the row behind will give food to a baby. Turns out that he likes garlic fries, the little beggar. 
I don't know why blogger is showing this photo in portrait, because every other program I open it in shows it right way up. Any way, if you tilt your head to the right, the picture looks better.
At last Thomas's bottom right tooth (lateral incisor) broke the skin. He's had 3 on the bottom for a while and looks a little lopsided. He's now got half of his complement of baby teeth. Next will be the molars (M1) on his right side, then the 4 canines, and around his second birthday, another set of molars.
by request:
Why isn't he wearing any clothes? (a) It's laundry day. (b) See post below.
It's SO hot!
How hot is it?
It's so hot that while we were gone a mini-keg of beer ruptured from the pressure, my hands and ankles have swelled up, the cat doesn't leave the room with the air conditioner, and even the baby has figured out to stand in front of the a/c. It was just as hot in Fresno. Mercifully, the forecast says it should cool down tomorrow. Thank goodness, because today I didn't have the energy to lift my own legs and the thought of cooking anything seemed like a fool's way to add more heat to the apartment.
