I had a really bad night's sleep last night. Maybe 4 hours total. I just spent way too much time lying awake. I noticed at one of my many bathroom breaks that I had spotted (which I am still doing several times a week), and that in the dark it looked like it had a tinge of pink to it, instead of being all brown.
Then at 6:25am Noah decided to scream his head off for about 20 seconds (and then go back to sleep), so that woke me up and I went to the bathroom again. There was more spotting. A lot more than I've had in the past couple of months, at least. I didn't go back to sleep of course. I mean, who needs more sleep when they've already got a whopping 4 hours??
I'm not "worried," per say, but I am a bit concerned. I don't really get it. I mean, my last ultrasound back at 28 weeks (I'm 34 weeks now) didn't show any signs of spotting. There was no evidence of a fibroid anymore, and no more evidence of any placental abruption at the edge of my placenta. No more subchorionic hematoma. My placental is far away from my cervix, and has been since they checked it again back at 23 weeks.
I'm not really understanding why I'm still spotting. I don't really expect anyone to be able to give me an answer, either. Not my midwife, not an OB, and not an ultrasound.
The only thing I can think of is that I've been doing alot lately. I haven't stopped organizing, purging, and cleaning since last Friday. 5 straight days of a lot of movement. I'm certainly not 'taking it easy'. Maybe I should be? Maybe all the physical stuff has caused another minor abruption at the margin of my placenta? Maybe all the contractions (I'm quite sure I get at least 100 every day) have caused some minor dilation, which is causing the spotting? My cervix has been super soft and not tightly closed during this whole pregnancy, so I'm hoping it's just the dilation thing.
I don't get why it only ever happens overnight while I'm sleeping. It's not correlated with sex, so that's out. But I think I've only had 1 or 2 incidents where there was actually a tiny bit of spotting during the day - all the rest of it has been overnight. When I'm lying horizontal. Isn't that weird?
I should probably call my midwife to tell her, because that's what she would want me to do. But I am the opposite of an alarmist. I never call the doctor about anything unless I am seriously concerned and think I need actual intervention. In 2.5 years of Noah's life, the only time I ever took him to see the doctor outside of regular checkups was when he broke his leg. He was sick a lot in his first 18 months of life, but I never took him to the doctor over it. I was always sure it was just a virus and that there was nothing the doctor could do (my doctor friends applaud me for this attitude, by the way).
With this pregnancy, I don't want anything to be wrong, obviously, but I don't want anything to be "fake wrong" either. I don't want to have to have extra appointments, extra ultrasounds, or have to go see an OB for his opinion, all for no reason. At the same time, obviously I don't want there to be something actually wrong and to be ignoring it. Although if there's something actually wrong, I feel like there would be more evidence other than some minor spotting (even though it's more spotting than I've been getting lately, it is still minor).
I'm sure I'll get a ton of comments telling me to call my midwife. But I've been spotting regularly since I was 9 weeks pregnant, my midwife is aware at each and every appointment (and it's written on my chart), and my last ultrasound showed no reason for it, even though it was still going on. I'm not really sure what else can be done about it at this point.
Maybe I will just try and take it easy. Thankfully, in the past 5 days there has been no room, closet, cupboard, or drawer that has been untouched by my organizing and purging. That's a house with a kitchen, 2 living rooms, 2 full bathrooms, 10 closets, a laundry room that doubles as storage, a small crawlspace/storage space, a playroom, 4 bedrooms, and an office (that's actually a bedroom but we use it as an office)... that's a lot of ground to cover. Many a bag of donation and garbage has made it's way out of my house. I feel like I am constantly doing this. I'm just about done this round, so I can probably ease up now.
My remaining job is to create a filing system for all the paperwork we need to keep. Our current one is despicable and impossible to navigate, because it was "set up" by my husband when we first got married. Everything is in an unlabeled folder. Some things were kept in the office, others were kept in our bedroom closet. I don't know why I haven't done something about this earlier, because we misplace important paperwork on a regular basis due to our lack of a filing system. All I can say is that I just didn't want to have to do all that extra work to fix what he didn't start (not trying to bash him here... I've accepted that he's a man, and his many strengths definitely lie in other areas).
Filing isn't physically strenuous, so I'm good to go there. I'll try and spread out my housework throughout the week so I don't have any days that are really housework-heavy. I should be able to minimize my errand running soon, and maybe I'll stop going grocery shopping. And I'll be careful to add more protein to my diet (as per Dr. Tom Brewer), because I've been slacking in that department for the past month or so.
I guess we'll see what happens.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Things Noah Says
I'm so glad I decided to start doing these posts... otherwise how would I remember all of the hilariousness that is this darling 2 year old?
After waking up with another dry diaper:
Mommy: It's dry!
Noah: Let me feel it! (feels the diaper) It's dry! There's no pee in it... There's pee in this penis, though!
Noah: (rubbing his stomach) My tummy is so big!
Mommy: Why is your tummy so big?
Noah: Because the baby's moving!
On the way to his bedroom for nap:
Noah: I want to walk.
Mommy: Okay. (Puts him down)
Noah: (pauses, seriously) Which one do I like?
Mommy: Pardon?
Noah: Say it.
Mommy: Say what?
Noah: Say 'Which one do you like.'
Mommy: Which one do you like?
Noah: I like walking. (Proceeds to walk to his crib).
Looking at the Nutella on Justin's toast:
Noah: You have funny peanut butter.
Busting in on Justin while he was, ahem, peeing:
Noah: NICE TO MEET YOU!!!!!!
While trying to play Fruit Ninja on the iPod, the screen went black and I couldn't fix it. I told Noah it wasn't working:
Noah: (Speaking very thoughtfully and matter-of-factly) It's okay. We'll choose a different one. (Goes to main screen). Sooo... the Fruit Ninja is broken. Sooo... we need to pick a different video. Someone needs to fix it.
Running around naked after bath, Noah stops, leans over, and sniffs:
Noah: I smelled my bellybutton!!!!
Mommy: You smelled your belly button?
Noah: Yes!
Mommy: What did it smell like?
Noah: Peanut butter!!
Mommy: (laughing) Your belly button smells like peanut butter?
Noah: Yes! And jam! (sniffs again) It smells like Thomas! And Percy! (sniffs again) It smells like Mavis!
This next one is totally TMI, but it was too funny for me to not record:
After going to the bathroom, Noah stood up and looked at the shape of his "handiwork":
Noah: It's a J!! (shuffles around the potty) Now it's a C! (shuffles again) Now it's a moon! It's a very yucky moon!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Busy Weekend
This weekend my extended family on my Dad's side was getting together at my aunt's house. We usually do this every summer. Unfortunately, my aunt's house is over 2 hours away. After hemming and hawing over this for a month, we decided not to go. There were several reasons for this decision.
-At 33.5 weeks pregnant, with my sweet baby in a posterior position (second posterior baby... WHY do my children insist on this position?!), I decided I didn't want to spend 4.5 hours in the car in one day.
-We didn't really want to put Noah through the 4.5 hours in the car in one day if we didn't want to go really badly.
-We had a lot of things we needed to get done around the house that we can't really do during the week because Justin is training
-We still had a ton of things that I specifically wanted to get done before the baby comes, because after he gets here it will be many months before we start spending time on little house projects and organization tasks again.
As much as I wish I could have seen my extended family (since we already skipped out on cottage week with them this summer due to pregnancy and Justin's busy training schedule), I'm glad we stayed home. On Saturday alone we got the following accomplished:
-Folded laundry
-Cleaned upstairs bathroom top to bottom
-Vacuumed upstairs
-Vacuumed downstairs
-Vacuumed laundry room and put it back together (everything was still the way the electrician left it back in April, because we were expecting an inspector... who never showed)
-Unloaded the dishwasher
-Assembled Noah's new dresser
-Exchanged Noah's dressers
-Cleaned off the top of the fridge
-Cleaned out the hallway closet
-Organized various craft supplies and toys into baskets and found new homes for them
-Installed the curtain tie backs in Noah's room (which we have had for probably two years)
-Went grocery shopping
I did most of those tasks alone, but I wouldn't have been able to do them all without Justin at home with Noah. And there was no way I would have been able to do the dresser assembly without him. It went a lot faster considering there were two of us this time and it was the third time we assembled the same dresser model. It took about 2.5 hours to do all of the assembly - a lot faster than the 5 hours it took the first time!
Also, grocery shopping is now a family affair. It's really far too much exertion for me now and causes me to have a lot of contractions and get really sore. So we've all been going. It's a win-win so far. I get to keep an eye on what we're buying; Noah gets a trip out into public, which he loves; and Justin does all the lifting and a lot of the putting away.
I had decided on Saturday evening that we'd be skipping church on Sunday morning. Saturday was crazy busy with all the projects around the house, and we still had more projects to accomplish this weekend. Plus I wanted some time to spend out by the pool, since Saturday was a gorgeous, hot, sunny day and we were all cooped up inside the entire day (except while grocery shopping). Going to church fills up the entire morning and into the afternoon, in large part because we live 25 minutes from our church, so I made the executive decision to use that time accomplishing more things we needed to do, and then playing outside as a family.
So, on Sunday I/we:
-Folded more laundry
-Cleaned out under the kitchen island
-Unloaded the dishwasher again
-Cleaned out the garage
-Mowed and whipper-snipped the lawns
-Weeded through all our gift bags, bows, and tissue paper and got rid of the ones I didn't like. Unfortunately I still have way too many (WAY too many) left that I really like and are in good condition.
-Went through more of my clothes to take out stuff to donate. I emptied 23 hangers and a bunch of stuff from drawers. My wardrobe is at about 30% of what I had 10 months ago; I don't even love most of it, but I kept the stuff that I was actually wearing regularly prior to getting pregnant. Once I'm done with maternity clothes in about 6 weeks, I am kind of screwed. For shirts, not for bottoms.
I'm so glad we got so much done this weekend. I really never know which weekend will be my "last." Not that I think I'll be having this baby anytime in the next, say, 5 weeks. But it gets harder to move around every week. My back hurts more, my pubic bone hurts more and more, and I'm just a little bit worried about when I'll finally be unable to accomplish any of the tasks I want to accomplish before the baby comes.
We still have several organizing jobs to do before I'll feel really good about us being totally ready for the baby, but this weekend was a huge step in the right direction. Don't you just love getting things done? I especially love when I get to take things OUT of my house instead of IN to my house. After this weekend I have two big garbage bags of garbage, and two big garbage bags of clothes and other items to donate (and we didn't even go through Justin's clothes!).
-At 33.5 weeks pregnant, with my sweet baby in a posterior position (second posterior baby... WHY do my children insist on this position?!), I decided I didn't want to spend 4.5 hours in the car in one day.
-We didn't really want to put Noah through the 4.5 hours in the car in one day if we didn't want to go really badly.
-We had a lot of things we needed to get done around the house that we can't really do during the week because Justin is training
-We still had a ton of things that I specifically wanted to get done before the baby comes, because after he gets here it will be many months before we start spending time on little house projects and organization tasks again.
As much as I wish I could have seen my extended family (since we already skipped out on cottage week with them this summer due to pregnancy and Justin's busy training schedule), I'm glad we stayed home. On Saturday alone we got the following accomplished:
-Folded laundry
-Cleaned upstairs bathroom top to bottom
-Vacuumed upstairs
-Vacuumed downstairs
-Vacuumed laundry room and put it back together (everything was still the way the electrician left it back in April, because we were expecting an inspector... who never showed)
-Unloaded the dishwasher
-Assembled Noah's new dresser
-Exchanged Noah's dressers
-Cleaned off the top of the fridge
-Cleaned out the hallway closet
-Organized various craft supplies and toys into baskets and found new homes for them
-Installed the curtain tie backs in Noah's room (which we have had for probably two years)
-Went grocery shopping
I did most of those tasks alone, but I wouldn't have been able to do them all without Justin at home with Noah. And there was no way I would have been able to do the dresser assembly without him. It went a lot faster considering there were two of us this time and it was the third time we assembled the same dresser model. It took about 2.5 hours to do all of the assembly - a lot faster than the 5 hours it took the first time!
Also, grocery shopping is now a family affair. It's really far too much exertion for me now and causes me to have a lot of contractions and get really sore. So we've all been going. It's a win-win so far. I get to keep an eye on what we're buying; Noah gets a trip out into public, which he loves; and Justin does all the lifting and a lot of the putting away.
I had decided on Saturday evening that we'd be skipping church on Sunday morning. Saturday was crazy busy with all the projects around the house, and we still had more projects to accomplish this weekend. Plus I wanted some time to spend out by the pool, since Saturday was a gorgeous, hot, sunny day and we were all cooped up inside the entire day (except while grocery shopping). Going to church fills up the entire morning and into the afternoon, in large part because we live 25 minutes from our church, so I made the executive decision to use that time accomplishing more things we needed to do, and then playing outside as a family.
So, on Sunday I/we:
-Folded more laundry
-Cleaned out under the kitchen island
-Unloaded the dishwasher again
-Cleaned out the garage
-Mowed and whipper-snipped the lawns
-Weeded through all our gift bags, bows, and tissue paper and got rid of the ones I didn't like. Unfortunately I still have way too many (WAY too many) left that I really like and are in good condition.
-Went through more of my clothes to take out stuff to donate. I emptied 23 hangers and a bunch of stuff from drawers. My wardrobe is at about 30% of what I had 10 months ago; I don't even love most of it, but I kept the stuff that I was actually wearing regularly prior to getting pregnant. Once I'm done with maternity clothes in about 6 weeks, I am kind of screwed. For shirts, not for bottoms.
I'm so glad we got so much done this weekend. I really never know which weekend will be my "last." Not that I think I'll be having this baby anytime in the next, say, 5 weeks. But it gets harder to move around every week. My back hurts more, my pubic bone hurts more and more, and I'm just a little bit worried about when I'll finally be unable to accomplish any of the tasks I want to accomplish before the baby comes.
We still have several organizing jobs to do before I'll feel really good about us being totally ready for the baby, but this weekend was a huge step in the right direction. Don't you just love getting things done? I especially love when I get to take things OUT of my house instead of IN to my house. After this weekend I have two big garbage bags of garbage, and two big garbage bags of clothes and other items to donate (and we didn't even go through Justin's clothes!).
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Diaper Stash Update
I have mentioned my enormous cloth diaper stash a few times on this blog. I recently bought more. I am really excited about my new purchases, and can't wait for the little Bambino to be here so he can wear them!
I am also selling the 10 pocket diapers that I mentioned I hated and never used. Believe it or not, even though I hated them and never used them I had to make myself sell 5 of them. And unfortunately, the selling of those 10 diapers did not begin to cover what I spent on new diapers. However, I did get my money back. I bought those particular diapers in a package deal that worked out to be just a little over $5 a diaper. I just sold 5 Bamboo Minky diapers for $7 a diaper (the cheapest price they sell for if you're not buying a huge package is $11 each, and they were only used once or twice). The other 5 diapers are being sold for $5 each.
I actually couldn't believe how quickly the diapers sold. In my area we have a lot of Facebook groups specifically for moms. I was told that well priced diapers go fast on those sites, but I didn't realize how fast! Within 20 minutes of posting the diapers, 9 of the 10 were sold. Within an hour I had cash in hand for 5 of them. The other 4 should be paid for and picked up sometime next week. Sweet, eh?
Moving along... I thought I should take some pictures to document the enormity of my stash. I didn't do anything special for these pictures, I just literally took the pictures of the diapers in the state they're currently in.
3 Kawaii Ultra
Soft Cross-Over Square Tab
I am also selling the 10 pocket diapers that I mentioned I hated and never used. Believe it or not, even though I hated them and never used them I had to make myself sell 5 of them. And unfortunately, the selling of those 10 diapers did not begin to cover what I spent on new diapers. However, I did get my money back. I bought those particular diapers in a package deal that worked out to be just a little over $5 a diaper. I just sold 5 Bamboo Minky diapers for $7 a diaper (the cheapest price they sell for if you're not buying a huge package is $11 each, and they were only used once or twice). The other 5 diapers are being sold for $5 each.
I actually couldn't believe how quickly the diapers sold. In my area we have a lot of Facebook groups specifically for moms. I was told that well priced diapers go fast on those sites, but I didn't realize how fast! Within 20 minutes of posting the diapers, 9 of the 10 were sold. Within an hour I had cash in hand for 5 of them. The other 4 should be paid for and picked up sometime next week. Sweet, eh?
Moving along... I thought I should take some pictures to document the enormity of my stash. I didn't do anything special for these pictures, I just literally took the pictures of the diapers in the state they're currently in.
This is the change table in our bedroom. It has most of the diapers that Noah used on it, still.
Top shelf: Far left is most of our one size or larger fitteds. Behind the wipes warmer is the bin of pocket diapers that I actually liked using (there were only 10 of them). Behind the cloth wipes are some empty Fuzzibunz pocket shells, and 3 of our 5 Goodnight Heavy Wetters (which I don't recommend overnight for actual heavy wetters). On the far right in the front are some of our one sized or larger sized covers. Behind the covers is a stack of premium perfect fit prefolds and some flushable liners.
Bottom Shelf: On the far left is a basket that holds about 1/3 of our stash of hemp inserts, doublers, and prefolds. Behind that, in the bin that you can hardly see, is some more pocket diapers with a few fitteds lying on top. To the right of the basket are some bumGenius stay dry doublers. To the right of the doublers is a stack of 12 Flip Stay Dry inserts. The two stacks on the far right are birdseye cotton flats. Not all of them, though, because we actually have 20.
This is a close up of the pocket diapers I actually liked using on Noah. They are all one size Kawaiis, all snaps, all microfleece inner, and all had fantastic fit:
This is a close up of the pocket diapers that I didn't hate, but I didn't really like using. Half of them are snaps, half are aplix. All of them are suede cloth inner, and I found this particular suede cloth left little fuzzies on Noah's skin. That was really annoying, so I never used these once I expanded my stash. Justin sometimes did, though:
This is the new baby's change table... it's not as spacious as our other change table, so I'm not a huge fan of it. It'll do for now.
These are the two bins on the top shelf of the change table. They hold all of our Kissaluvs size 0s (newborn fitteds):
This bin is much bigger and doesn't fit on the change table, so it's stored on the top shelf of the baby's closet. It holds all of our Kissaluvs size 1s (a mix of natural and yellow... it's not weird lighting):
This basket holds about 30 premie and infant sized prefolds (and that's Noah's hand photo bombing the picture):
This is the drying rack holding all of the brand new covers and pocket diaper shells that I just washed this past weekend... it was a HUGE load, and the drying rack was stuffed:
These are most of the brand new recently washed diapers I've purchased in the past several months. This pile is a mix of bumGenius pocket diapers, bumGenius all in one diapers, Flip covers, Bummis covers, Thirsties covers, Thirsties Duo Diapers, Thirsties Duo Fab Fitteds, and Kawaii Pure and Naturals (newborn pocket diapers):
I probably should have split it into 2 loads... the pictures don't do justice to the enormity of the load.
Obviously I need to fold these diapers... and find a place for them somewhere. Some of them have bins available on the baby's change table, because they're specifically newborn diapers. The rest of them? Let's just say, it should be interesting.
These are brand new one size aplix pocket diapers with microfleece inner... They were a good deal, and I bought them for when someone besides Justin or I are changing diapers (which will rarely happen, frankly), and for when diaper changes are especially difficult due to a squirmy baby:
I'm not even unwrapping and washing these until we need them.
So, that's the photo tour.
And here is the list... I'm pretty sure it's as accurate as possible, but as you can see, there is a lot to keep track of!
Pocket Diapers (59)
2 Kawaii Original Cross-Over Squared Tab Snap
5 Kawaii Snazzy Minky
5 Kawaii Heavy Duty Suede
5 Kawaii Fun Print Snap
5 Kawaii Goodnight Heavy Wetter
12 Kawaii Heavy Duty Velcro with Microfleece
6 Kawaii Pure and Natural
6 bumGenius 4.0
3 Fuzzibunz Perfect Size Large
3 Thirsties Duo Diapers size one
4 generic suede cloth lined crossover snap one size pockets
All in Ones (2)
1 bumGenius Elemental
1 bumGenius Freetime
Fitted Diapers (60)
3 Bumboo Fitted Diapers
3 Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch Bamboo Fitted diapers
2 Thirsties Duo Fab Fitteds (size 2, one snap, one aplix)
6 Thirsties Duo Fab Fitted (size 1, snaps)
25 Kissaluvs Cotton Fleece Fitteds (newborn)
16 Kissaluvs Cotton Fleece Fitteds (size one)
2 Kissaluvs Organic Cotton/Hemp Fitted (newborn)
1 Kissaluvs Organic Cotton/Hemp Fitted (size M/L)
1 Kissaluvs Cotton Fleece Fitted (size M/L)
1 Kissaluvs One Size Contour Diaper
Diaper Covers (27)
7 Flip Covers
4 Thirsties Duo Wrap with Snaps Size One
1 Thirsties Duo Wrap Size One, aplix
1 Thirsties Diaper Cover size newborn
4 Bummis Super Brite, newborn
5 Bummis Super Brite, small
2 Bummis Super Whisper wraps, small
1 Bummis Super Brite, medium
1 Bummis Super Brite, large
1 Thirsties Duo Wrap with Snaps size Two
Wool Covers (10)
2 Kissaluvs Wool Covers, large
2 Woollybottoms Wool Soakers, x-small
2 Woollybottoms Wool Soaker, small
2 Woollybottoms Wool Soaker, medium
2 Woollybottoms Wool Soaker, large
Inserts and Doublers
(180):
12 Stay Flip Stay Dry Inserts
2 Thirsties Stay Dry Duo Insert (with hemp) size two
3 Thirsties Stay Dry Duo Inserts (with hemp) size one
10 Thirsties Hemp Inserts, size two
10 Thirsties Hemp Inserts, size one
8 AMP 2 Layer Hemp Boosters
3 AMP 3 Layer Hemp Boosters
1 AMP 2 Layer Hemp Insert
1 AMP 3 Layer Hemp Insert
4 BumGenius Stay Dry Doublers
12 bumGenius! Microfiber pocket inserts
10 Kawaii Bamboo Inserts
4 generic Microfiber Inserts
100 Kawaii Microfiber Inserts
Prefolds/Flats (60):
3 Thirsties Duo Hemp Prefolds, size two
3 Thirsties Duo Hemp Prefolds, size one
20 Unbleached Birdseye Flat Diapers
1 Unbleached Indian Cotton Prefold in Premium
6 Unbleached Indian Cotton Prefold in Better Fit Premium
1 Unbleached Indian Cotton Prefold in Infant
14 Unbleached Indian Cotton Prefolds in Better Fit Infant
6 Bummis Organic Cotton Prefolds in Newborn
6 Bummis Organic Cotton Prefolds in Infant
Liners (45)
5 Bummis Fleece Liners
40 Fleece Liners
Bummis BioSoft Liners
Out of control? Yes. But there really isn't much else I want to sell off! Sigh. I'm sure you can only imagine how much money was spent on all these diapers. I've lost track. I am definitely not a role model for cheap cloth diapering!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The Time is Coming
If you've been with me since the beginning (or at least since the beginning of Noah's life), you probably remember that my kid doesn't need much sleep. By the time he was about 2.5 months old he only ever took 30 minute naps. That's it, never longer. Four 30 minute naps a day. It was a huge pain in the butt, because he needed those naps, but I literally didn't even have time to make myself something to eat and then actually eat it before he would wake up again.
When he reached 9 months he was down to two 30 minute naps a day. Once he was close to a year, sometimes one of those naps would be longer, like an hour. That was glorious to me.
Right around 12 or 13 months he had to go down to 1 nap a day because we really and truly could not fit two naps in the day anymore, considering how long he needed to be awake before he could fall asleep. Pretty consistently since then that nap has been an hour long. An hour long nap is still a luxury to me considering how the first year of his life went in the nap department.
Occasionally, since he turned two, Noah will nap for longer than an hour. He's even had a couple of two hour naps. (By a couple, I really do mean "a couple." But they're noteworthy, because I'm quite sure that ever since he left the newborn stage at about a month old, he has had less than 15 two hour naps.
I should also mention that throughout this time, night time sleep has gotten shorter and shorter. It wasn't so bad at first, but ever since he hit 2 years old his total night time sleep is generally about 9-10 hours. Sometimes less than 9, rarely ever making it to 10.
I pretty much can't handle people who complain about how 'little' their toddler sleeps. If you're getting 10-11 hours at night and an hour nap during the day out of them, I wish you'd just be quiet.
To be honest, I was pretty sure Noah would be done napping by the time he was 2. Instead, he's still napping most of the time, but the night time sleep has gotten excruciatingly short. It's hard on me, especially, because a) I'd like to spend some alone time with my husband after Noah goes to bed, and b) I am a bad sleeper, so if I'm lying awake from 3am to 6am, I'd like to not have my kid waking up at 6:30am... after he didn't fall asleep until 10. And yes, that is a normal occurrence around here.
You may have noticed that I said he's still napping "most of the time." Because he doesn't require much sleep, there aren't really any bad consequences when he doesn't have a nap. Ever since he was 9 months old he refused to sleep anywhere but in his own crib, so we've had lots of experience with skipping naps when special family get-togethers are going on and we aren't home for him to fit his nap in. And really, he does amazingly. In fact, his first Christmas, when he was only 9 months old, he napped a maximum of 30 minutes the whole day, and he was a fabulous baby.
The nap skipping thing has gotten easier and easier since he was about 1 1/2. Not that we make a habit out of it, but I try not to stress if something special is planned that will prevent him from napping. He always does well.
Now Noah is 2 years and 5 months old, and nap skipping, by his own choice, is becoming more frequent. He has always needed long awake times, so his nap time isn't until 2pm. However, sometimes he will still be awake in his crib at 3:30. Sometimes it's obvious he won't be going to sleep, other times I just have to take him out of the crib so that he won't sleep. If he falls asleep at 3:30 (after waking up for the nap at 7am) he is probably going to sleep for about an hour and a half. If he wakes up from his nap at 4:30 or 5, he literally won't fall asleep until at least 10:30pm. On the days he doesn't wake up until 4pm he is guaranteed to be awake until at least 10pm. Of course, we put him to bed much earlier than that, but he just plays in his crib.
I feel like I'm losing my train of thought. My point is that I think naps are on their way out in this house. I really don't think we are in a nap regression (heaven knows I've experienced enough of those to recognize one when I see one!). I just think we are going to need to phase out the nap. Right now we have two main scenarios that happen:
1. A decent nap of an hour (sometimes more), then falling asleep very late at night (10pm at earliest) and waking up by 6:30am.
2. No nap, with an early (and easy) bedtime, and sleeping for 10-11 hours straight.
Occasionally no nap will lead to a shortened night, but only if we still put him to bed at his regular bedtime.
Anyway, I can't really decide what I prefer. Napping, with a short night sleep, or no nap, with a long night sleep. I really and truly do not know what I want to encourage. Even thinking 7 weeks in the future, when I have a newborn (and will only be getting 2 hours of sleep in each 24 hour period, if I sleep anywhere as crappy as I did after I had Noah), I don't know whether I'd rather have him napping and sleeping less at night or not napping and sleeping longer at night.
No matter what I decide, I really and truly believe that toddler naps are on their way out of this house. I think for the next little while I will continue to be attempting to have him nap, or at least have quiet time in the dark in his crib. I am going to have to adjust my expectations, though. Sometimes I am fine if I get him out of his crib after 45-60 minutes and he hasn't napped. Sometimes I'm really annoyed. I don't want to be annoyed. I want to be able to accept it, just as I accepted long ago that I have a child who doesn't require as much sleep as most other children his age (and older). My life got easier after I stopped obsessing about the sleep-time differences between him and other kids.
When he reached 9 months he was down to two 30 minute naps a day. Once he was close to a year, sometimes one of those naps would be longer, like an hour. That was glorious to me.
Right around 12 or 13 months he had to go down to 1 nap a day because we really and truly could not fit two naps in the day anymore, considering how long he needed to be awake before he could fall asleep. Pretty consistently since then that nap has been an hour long. An hour long nap is still a luxury to me considering how the first year of his life went in the nap department.
Occasionally, since he turned two, Noah will nap for longer than an hour. He's even had a couple of two hour naps. (By a couple, I really do mean "a couple." But they're noteworthy, because I'm quite sure that ever since he left the newborn stage at about a month old, he has had less than 15 two hour naps.
I should also mention that throughout this time, night time sleep has gotten shorter and shorter. It wasn't so bad at first, but ever since he hit 2 years old his total night time sleep is generally about 9-10 hours. Sometimes less than 9, rarely ever making it to 10.
I pretty much can't handle people who complain about how 'little' their toddler sleeps. If you're getting 10-11 hours at night and an hour nap during the day out of them, I wish you'd just be quiet.
To be honest, I was pretty sure Noah would be done napping by the time he was 2. Instead, he's still napping most of the time, but the night time sleep has gotten excruciatingly short. It's hard on me, especially, because a) I'd like to spend some alone time with my husband after Noah goes to bed, and b) I am a bad sleeper, so if I'm lying awake from 3am to 6am, I'd like to not have my kid waking up at 6:30am... after he didn't fall asleep until 10. And yes, that is a normal occurrence around here.
You may have noticed that I said he's still napping "most of the time." Because he doesn't require much sleep, there aren't really any bad consequences when he doesn't have a nap. Ever since he was 9 months old he refused to sleep anywhere but in his own crib, so we've had lots of experience with skipping naps when special family get-togethers are going on and we aren't home for him to fit his nap in. And really, he does amazingly. In fact, his first Christmas, when he was only 9 months old, he napped a maximum of 30 minutes the whole day, and he was a fabulous baby.
The nap skipping thing has gotten easier and easier since he was about 1 1/2. Not that we make a habit out of it, but I try not to stress if something special is planned that will prevent him from napping. He always does well.
Now Noah is 2 years and 5 months old, and nap skipping, by his own choice, is becoming more frequent. He has always needed long awake times, so his nap time isn't until 2pm. However, sometimes he will still be awake in his crib at 3:30. Sometimes it's obvious he won't be going to sleep, other times I just have to take him out of the crib so that he won't sleep. If he falls asleep at 3:30 (after waking up for the nap at 7am) he is probably going to sleep for about an hour and a half. If he wakes up from his nap at 4:30 or 5, he literally won't fall asleep until at least 10:30pm. On the days he doesn't wake up until 4pm he is guaranteed to be awake until at least 10pm. Of course, we put him to bed much earlier than that, but he just plays in his crib.
I feel like I'm losing my train of thought. My point is that I think naps are on their way out in this house. I really don't think we are in a nap regression (heaven knows I've experienced enough of those to recognize one when I see one!). I just think we are going to need to phase out the nap. Right now we have two main scenarios that happen:
1. A decent nap of an hour (sometimes more), then falling asleep very late at night (10pm at earliest) and waking up by 6:30am.
2. No nap, with an early (and easy) bedtime, and sleeping for 10-11 hours straight.
Occasionally no nap will lead to a shortened night, but only if we still put him to bed at his regular bedtime.
Anyway, I can't really decide what I prefer. Napping, with a short night sleep, or no nap, with a long night sleep. I really and truly do not know what I want to encourage. Even thinking 7 weeks in the future, when I have a newborn (and will only be getting 2 hours of sleep in each 24 hour period, if I sleep anywhere as crappy as I did after I had Noah), I don't know whether I'd rather have him napping and sleeping less at night or not napping and sleeping longer at night.
No matter what I decide, I really and truly believe that toddler naps are on their way out of this house. I think for the next little while I will continue to be attempting to have him nap, or at least have quiet time in the dark in his crib. I am going to have to adjust my expectations, though. Sometimes I am fine if I get him out of his crib after 45-60 minutes and he hasn't napped. Sometimes I'm really annoyed. I don't want to be annoyed. I want to be able to accept it, just as I accepted long ago that I have a child who doesn't require as much sleep as most other children his age (and older). My life got easier after I stopped obsessing about the sleep-time differences between him and other kids.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Dresser = Done!
I couldn't handle the idea of not having that dresser built, and my closet not "finished" for a week. So when Justin was in for lunch I had him unpack the dresser boxes. I thought I would just work on drawers and stuff, and hopefully we'd have the dresser done in a few days.
Well, I just couldn't not finish it. So I spent hours and hours working on it today. I only needed Justin for a couple of parts where you absolutely needed two people. He was only necessary for about 5 minutes total. And to carry the thing upstairs into the closet.
I am so glad I got that dresser put together. I wish there wasn't another one sitting down there in boxes, mocking me.
I think I might save that one for a few weeks, though. I honestly believe that if I attempt to do this closer to my due date, it might actually put me into labour. No joke, I have been contracting 1 minute on, one minute off, pretty much all day long. My feet are killing me, my back is aching, I can hardly walk, and I feel like I'm in early labour. Every time I sat down today I felt like the baby's head was in my vagina.
Anyway, my nesting list is dwindling. Everything has been ready for the baby for awhile now, but there are other things around the house that I want to get done before the little Bambino makes his arrival. Getting our closet dealt with was one of the major ones. I'm 33 weeks on Wednesday, so very soon it will be time to start washing sheets, blankets, and towels, and gathering everything into one place for the home birth.
7 weeks until my due date... I'm starting to feel like it's actually within reach!
Well, I just couldn't not finish it. So I spent hours and hours working on it today. I only needed Justin for a couple of parts where you absolutely needed two people. He was only necessary for about 5 minutes total. And to carry the thing upstairs into the closet.
I am so glad I got that dresser put together. I wish there wasn't another one sitting down there in boxes, mocking me.
I think I might save that one for a few weeks, though. I honestly believe that if I attempt to do this closer to my due date, it might actually put me into labour. No joke, I have been contracting 1 minute on, one minute off, pretty much all day long. My feet are killing me, my back is aching, I can hardly walk, and I feel like I'm in early labour. Every time I sat down today I felt like the baby's head was in my vagina.
Anyway, my nesting list is dwindling. Everything has been ready for the baby for awhile now, but there are other things around the house that I want to get done before the little Bambino makes his arrival. Getting our closet dealt with was one of the major ones. I'm 33 weeks on Wednesday, so very soon it will be time to start washing sheets, blankets, and towels, and gathering everything into one place for the home birth.
7 weeks until my due date... I'm starting to feel like it's actually within reach!
The Closet
I should have taken before and after pictures, but that slows down my life.
My closet has been a mess for awhile now, given that a lot of stuff got thrown in there when we painted our room, and it's difficult for me to clean it out when I'm hugely pregnant and have so many random physical issues. However, this morning I finally decided to deal with it.
It was hard. And I'm not done, but I can't reach up on the shelves at the top of the closet to organize them. Thankfully the floor is cleaned off, though, and space has been made for the second dresser we're going to be putting in there.
Unfortunately the dresser is still in pieces in the boxes we bought it in. I originally bought 3 of them. One for Noah, one for the baby, and one for our closet (I'm now wishing I bought two for our closet, because they are so spacious and wonderful). The baby's got put together within the first week because I insisted. I had to have somewhere to put all his little clothes. The other two dressers have been sitting there for over a month now.
My husband is not lazy, and he's not a procrastinator when it comes to his own 'stuff,' but when it comes to something like building a dresser so that more of the clothes he wears frequently can be moved from downstairs up into our closet, and so that I can do more organizing? Yeah, he's a major procrastinator then. Granted, when you only have 2 days off a week, and on those two days you also have to mow lawns, whipper snip, vacuum the pool, go to church, visit with family and friends, and play with your kid, it is hard to make yourself spend 5 hours putting a dresser together (yes, those stupid dressers take about 5 hours each to put together).
It is physically impossible for one person to put the dresser together. Otherwise I might actually attempt it. I could put the drawers together by myself, but the boxes are HEAVY. Unpacking them is too much for me to accomplish on my own while pregnant. Plus I have to deal with Noah "helping" me if I try to do that, and it would probably take an hour per drawer because of his "help". There are 6 drawers. You do the math.
I really want to get this closet dealt with. I don't want to wait until next weekend to finally get the dresser in there. I guess I'm going to have to annoy the crap out of my dear husband and get him to work on it in the very few odd hours he has off during this week. I feel bad doing that. I would get my Dad to come over and help, but my parents are leaving the province tomorrow and won't be back until the following week.
I didn't plan this out very well, did I?
My closet has been a mess for awhile now, given that a lot of stuff got thrown in there when we painted our room, and it's difficult for me to clean it out when I'm hugely pregnant and have so many random physical issues. However, this morning I finally decided to deal with it.
It was hard. And I'm not done, but I can't reach up on the shelves at the top of the closet to organize them. Thankfully the floor is cleaned off, though, and space has been made for the second dresser we're going to be putting in there.
Unfortunately the dresser is still in pieces in the boxes we bought it in. I originally bought 3 of them. One for Noah, one for the baby, and one for our closet (I'm now wishing I bought two for our closet, because they are so spacious and wonderful). The baby's got put together within the first week because I insisted. I had to have somewhere to put all his little clothes. The other two dressers have been sitting there for over a month now.
My husband is not lazy, and he's not a procrastinator when it comes to his own 'stuff,' but when it comes to something like building a dresser so that more of the clothes he wears frequently can be moved from downstairs up into our closet, and so that I can do more organizing? Yeah, he's a major procrastinator then. Granted, when you only have 2 days off a week, and on those two days you also have to mow lawns, whipper snip, vacuum the pool, go to church, visit with family and friends, and play with your kid, it is hard to make yourself spend 5 hours putting a dresser together (yes, those stupid dressers take about 5 hours each to put together).
It is physically impossible for one person to put the dresser together. Otherwise I might actually attempt it. I could put the drawers together by myself, but the boxes are HEAVY. Unpacking them is too much for me to accomplish on my own while pregnant. Plus I have to deal with Noah "helping" me if I try to do that, and it would probably take an hour per drawer because of his "help". There are 6 drawers. You do the math.
I really want to get this closet dealt with. I don't want to wait until next weekend to finally get the dresser in there. I guess I'm going to have to annoy the crap out of my dear husband and get him to work on it in the very few odd hours he has off during this week. I feel bad doing that. I would get my Dad to come over and help, but my parents are leaving the province tomorrow and won't be back until the following week.
I didn't plan this out very well, did I?
Friday, August 17, 2012
Things Noah Says
While carrying him to the potty in the morning after waking up with another dry diaper, Noah reached his hand in between us and said very maturely and enthusiastically, "Oh yeah, this penis is VERY dry!"
Noah brought me a bucket full of puzzle pieces, and said very seriously and enticingly, "I have animals... and shapes!" (dragging out the words 'animals' and 'shapes,' as if he was trying to sell them to me).
I said, "You do??"
He replied, in the same tone of voice, "Yes, I do... If you want them!"
While taking new batteries in and out of his drill:
Noah: I need to read it!!!!! (inspects battery closely)... It says... "battery."
(It actually said 'Energizer')
While sitting in the mattress in his room reading books:
Mommy: Noah, can you please get me a pillow?
Noah: Okay! Of course! Of course I will!
Mommy: OUCH!
Noah: (very concerned) What happened to you, Mommy??
Mommy: I burned my finger on the pan.
Noah: You remember when I burned my finger?
Mommy: Yes, I do.
Noah: Mommy had to kiss it!
Mommy: Yes I did. Will you kiss the burn on my finger?
Noah: (in a very sweet voice) Yes, of course. Of course I will, Mommy! (kisses my finger)
Noah: Are you happy, Mommy?
Mommy: Yes, I am. (I notice he's pouring his cup of water into his high chair tray). Wait, no I'm not! Don't pour your water out! That doesn't make me happy.
Noah: Are you sad?
Mommy: Yes.
Noah: I'm sorry, Mommy... Good boy for saying sorry.
(This was hilarious because he congratulated himself for saying "sorry".)
While following me around as I clean, waiting for me to be ready to give him a cereal bar from the box he's been carrying around:
Noah: You need to wait. I'm a very busy person.
Noah brought me a bucket full of puzzle pieces, and said very seriously and enticingly, "I have animals... and shapes!" (dragging out the words 'animals' and 'shapes,' as if he was trying to sell them to me).
I said, "You do??"
He replied, in the same tone of voice, "Yes, I do... If you want them!"
While taking new batteries in and out of his drill:
Noah: I need to read it!!!!! (inspects battery closely)... It says... "battery."
(It actually said 'Energizer')
While sitting in the mattress in his room reading books:
Mommy: Noah, can you please get me a pillow?
Noah: Okay! Of course! Of course I will!
Mommy: OUCH!
Noah: (very concerned) What happened to you, Mommy??
Mommy: I burned my finger on the pan.
Noah: You remember when I burned my finger?
Mommy: Yes, I do.
Noah: Mommy had to kiss it!
Mommy: Yes I did. Will you kiss the burn on my finger?
Noah: (in a very sweet voice) Yes, of course. Of course I will, Mommy! (kisses my finger)
Noah: Are you happy, Mommy?
Mommy: Yes, I am. (I notice he's pouring his cup of water into his high chair tray). Wait, no I'm not! Don't pour your water out! That doesn't make me happy.
Noah: Are you sad?
Mommy: Yes.
Noah: I'm sorry, Mommy... Good boy for saying sorry.
(This was hilarious because he congratulated himself for saying "sorry".)
While following me around as I clean, waiting for me to be ready to give him a cereal bar from the box he's been carrying around:
Noah: You need to wait. I'm a very busy person.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Tuesday Tidbits
-I'm glad most of you found humor in my last post. While I do get totally irritable when I'm very pregnant and sleep deprived, that post was not meant to be taken too seriously. Although I meant everything I said in it. Seriously, people, HASHTAGS DON'T WORK ON FACEBOOK!
-I am specifically writing this post because people have expressed concern over whether I'm okay, since it's been almost a week. This is sweet... and funny. I guess if you write a big rant and then don't have anything else to say for 6 days, people might get concerned.
-This morning I was so incredibly productive simply because I actually wrote down a To Do list. I rarely do that, I usually just keep things in my head. But man, I should really write things down more often. My living room looks fantastic! The hardwood floors are gleaming, I actually moved furniture away from the walls to wash underneath the couches, and I rearranged the layout! I'm loving it in there, now.
-It's great that I got so much done this morning, but now I'm exhausted and contracting like crazy. I need to sit down for the rest of the day, otherwise I'm going to give birth to this baby 8 weeks early.
-We are in the middle of a wave of cool, rainy weather. A huge difference from our 100% humidity, feels like 120 degrees everyday, no rain weather we've been having this summer. I am definitely not complaining, as I love having the windows open and being able to walk out my door without feeling like I'm hitting a brick wall (am I the only one who feels that way when leaving the air conditioned house and entering the insanely hot, humid weather?)
-The downside of this cool weather is that our pool went from 86 degrees to 76 degrees in less than a week. And that was with a solar cover on it 24/7.
-I wrote a 30 week pregnancy update 2 weeks ago... and I never posted it.
-We finally landed 99% on a name for the baby (Noah's name was only ever 99% too, until he was born... I just can't decide 100% until the baby comes out). It's the same name we've been pretty sure we would use ever since I got pregnant. I had several dreams in my first trimester where I gave birth to a baby boy and named him this. However, I kept waiting for something else to come along, something that I would love as much as I loved the name Noah. Nothing has come, though, and my husband is obsessed with this name, so I finally decided to just embrace it. I'm sure I will start to love it as much as I love the name 'Noah'. There isn't another name I like more than this name, so we're going with it.
-Sorry, we're not sharing the actual name:)
-I am renewing my obsession with cloth diapers in preparation for this little nugget's arrival. I found the renewal to be necessary considering Noah has been potty trained for 3 months now. This means I am spending some more money. My stash is seriously out of control already, but I just keep searching to find the best system for us. That means many different diapers for many different situations.
-Don't believe me that my stash is out of control? I have:
58 pocket diapers
60 fitted diapers
24 diaper covers
10 wool covers
141 inserts and doublers (many of these are hemp or Flip inserts, so they make up their own diapers)
60 prefolds and flats
45 fleece liners
-Granted, not all of these diapers fit all throughout the baby's life, nor do I like all of them. I have a lot of newborn diapers, and I have a lot of diapers that won't fit a newborn. That's a big reason why my numbers are so high. Take the pocket diapers, for instance. Of those 58 diapers, 9 of them will only fit a newborn up to about 4 or 5 months old (I don't make small children), 3 of them will only fit a toddler, 10 of them I'm not a big fan of so I rarely used them, 10 of them I really hated and never used... really there are only 10 that I fully enjoyed and used in each rotation between washes.
-Yes, I am buying some more. I want to finally buy some bumGenius 4.0 pockets, a bumGenius Elemental and a Freetime (those will be my first forays into AIOs), and I'm going to buy 3 more Flip covers, since I love them. There are sales going on on both those brands right now, so I'm going to take advantage. I'm also going to buy some more Thirsties hemp inserts because they're so flippin' absorbent. Last thing I want is a super soaker leaking out of all his diapers.
-I should really just write a cloth diaper post, updating what is going on in that situation. But who knows if/when I'll get around to that.
-I could probably add a lot more bullets to this post, but it's time to put Noah down for his nap. Hopefully I have assured you all that I am perfectly fine:)
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
I Have to Put It Out There
I'm not sure if I've reached that point in pregnancy where everyone bothers me, or if it's just the lack of sleep making me so easily annoyed. But here are some things that have been pissing me off lately:
1. Don't people realize that HASHTAGS DON'T WORK ON FACEBOOK?!?!?! I forgive you if your FB account is linked with your Twitter account, so your twitter updates go on your FB status. But the rest of you? You look like idiots. Hashtags. Don't. Work. On. Facebook. Stop using them. Seriously. I can't handle it.
2. To people who have an issue with pregnant women who have bare belly photos taken... you're an idiot too. Get over your hangups. And if you post about it on a mutual friend's "clothed" pregnant belly picture, other people will see your comments. They're equally offensive in that setting as if you posted it on the bare belly picture.
3. Don't tell an insomniac pregnant woman in her last, painful trimester of pregnancy that she is being "prepared" for the baby by the lack of sleep she's getting. Especially not if she's not a first time mom and knows exactly what she's getting herself into with a newborn. First of all, that's total bullshit. Second, your smart ass comments are not welcome. Third, it pisses the overtired pregnant woman off. Fourth, you're an idiot. Again.
4. To mothers of pregnant women... perhaps you should avoid calling your daughter's baby bump "enormous" when she still has 9 weeks of growing left. It might be insulting. Especially when she hasn't slept halfway decently in 2 weeks.
5. When a husband is talking to his mother about how he feels bad for his wife that she has so much pain throughout her pregnancy, perhaps said mother-in-law should just say something like "Yeah that sucks." Constantly making comments like "Well, there's nothing more you can do about it" and "At least she looks good" are very annoying to your daughter in law. "Looking good" doesn't help her walk or roll over in bed.
6. And also? Don't touch my stomach.
The End.
1. Don't people realize that HASHTAGS DON'T WORK ON FACEBOOK?!?!?! I forgive you if your FB account is linked with your Twitter account, so your twitter updates go on your FB status. But the rest of you? You look like idiots. Hashtags. Don't. Work. On. Facebook. Stop using them. Seriously. I can't handle it.
2. To people who have an issue with pregnant women who have bare belly photos taken... you're an idiot too. Get over your hangups. And if you post about it on a mutual friend's "clothed" pregnant belly picture, other people will see your comments. They're equally offensive in that setting as if you posted it on the bare belly picture.
3. Don't tell an insomniac pregnant woman in her last, painful trimester of pregnancy that she is being "prepared" for the baby by the lack of sleep she's getting. Especially not if she's not a first time mom and knows exactly what she's getting herself into with a newborn. First of all, that's total bullshit. Second, your smart ass comments are not welcome. Third, it pisses the overtired pregnant woman off. Fourth, you're an idiot. Again.
4. To mothers of pregnant women... perhaps you should avoid calling your daughter's baby bump "enormous" when she still has 9 weeks of growing left. It might be insulting. Especially when she hasn't slept halfway decently in 2 weeks.
5. When a husband is talking to his mother about how he feels bad for his wife that she has so much pain throughout her pregnancy, perhaps said mother-in-law should just say something like "Yeah that sucks." Constantly making comments like "Well, there's nothing more you can do about it" and "At least she looks good" are very annoying to your daughter in law. "Looking good" doesn't help her walk or roll over in bed.
6. And also? Don't touch my stomach.
The End.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Ramblings
This morning was busy. I left the house with Noah at 9:30 and got back at 1:30. In that time I picked up my custom carseat cover, got gas, went to the health store for a couple of supplements, went to the bank, had a midwife appointment, and went to Walmart.
I now feel like I have run a marathon. Everything hurts and I can't stop contracting.
I am amazing at being pregnant.
My mom, sister and little cousin are supposed to come over today. I don't really want my little cousin to come. She's 6, and I'm not a huge fan of her because she basically ignores both me and Noah. She's the baby of her family by 4 years and is totally treated like the baby. She milks it, which I find annoying. And last time we hung around her poor little Noah was following her around, not understanding why she was refusing to let him eat any chips out of the huge bowl she was holding. The huge communal bowl, that for some reason she was just refusing to share with a 2 year old. Noah would try and reach into the bowl and she would move it away from him. Nice, right?
They were supposed to be here at 2, and I am thrilled that it's 3:15 and they aren't here yet, because it gave me a chance to eat and drink after I put Noah down for his nap at 2, something I hadn't done any of since 8:45am. That's probably a big reason why I can't stop contracting.
My house is a mess, since I wasn't here all morning, but I don't really want to clean it right now. I don't want to unload the dishwasher when Noah is sleeping in his room, which shares a wall with the kitchen. And I could tidy up other stuff, but I honestly can't seem to make myself walk beyond what is totally necessary. Constant contractions while you're trying to clean and tidy? Not fun. Cleaning your house while suffering from foot, hip, pubic bone, knee, and back pain? Also not fun.
On the bright side, I got a ton of stuff purchased from my mental to do list. Among many other things, I got cheap sheets and a cheap vinyl mattress cover and some cheap towels, all for the birth. I'm checking things off that list, baby.
Go back through that paragraph and every time I wrote the word "cheap," replace it with "inexpensive."
On the not-so-bright side, I'm pretty sure I ended up dropping like $500 today on all the stuff I had to get (most of it was not for the home birth, so don't be thinking home birthing is this crazy expensive endeavour). Not cool.
It's nice to have all this stuff off my list of things to purchase, but now I have to "deal" with it. Like, take tags off, wash things (probably 4 loads of stuff, total), remake beds, etc. etc. In the state I'm in right now that sounds overwhelming. And really, I don't know when I'm going to have time anytime soon. We have been so busy. Good busy, enjoyable busy, play dates with friends busy, but still, busy.
Also, I have been awake for like 3 hours in the middle of every night for the past week. Blaaaah.
Okay, I'm out of here. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!
I now feel like I have run a marathon. Everything hurts and I can't stop contracting.
I am amazing at being pregnant.
My mom, sister and little cousin are supposed to come over today. I don't really want my little cousin to come. She's 6, and I'm not a huge fan of her because she basically ignores both me and Noah. She's the baby of her family by 4 years and is totally treated like the baby. She milks it, which I find annoying. And last time we hung around her poor little Noah was following her around, not understanding why she was refusing to let him eat any chips out of the huge bowl she was holding. The huge communal bowl, that for some reason she was just refusing to share with a 2 year old. Noah would try and reach into the bowl and she would move it away from him. Nice, right?
They were supposed to be here at 2, and I am thrilled that it's 3:15 and they aren't here yet, because it gave me a chance to eat and drink after I put Noah down for his nap at 2, something I hadn't done any of since 8:45am. That's probably a big reason why I can't stop contracting.
My house is a mess, since I wasn't here all morning, but I don't really want to clean it right now. I don't want to unload the dishwasher when Noah is sleeping in his room, which shares a wall with the kitchen. And I could tidy up other stuff, but I honestly can't seem to make myself walk beyond what is totally necessary. Constant contractions while you're trying to clean and tidy? Not fun. Cleaning your house while suffering from foot, hip, pubic bone, knee, and back pain? Also not fun.
On the bright side, I got a ton of stuff purchased from my mental to do list. Among many other things, I got cheap sheets and a cheap vinyl mattress cover and some cheap towels, all for the birth. I'm checking things off that list, baby.
Go back through that paragraph and every time I wrote the word "cheap," replace it with "inexpensive."
On the not-so-bright side, I'm pretty sure I ended up dropping like $500 today on all the stuff I had to get (most of it was not for the home birth, so don't be thinking home birthing is this crazy expensive endeavour). Not cool.
It's nice to have all this stuff off my list of things to purchase, but now I have to "deal" with it. Like, take tags off, wash things (probably 4 loads of stuff, total), remake beds, etc. etc. In the state I'm in right now that sounds overwhelming. And really, I don't know when I'm going to have time anytime soon. We have been so busy. Good busy, enjoyable busy, play dates with friends busy, but still, busy.
Also, I have been awake for like 3 hours in the middle of every night for the past week. Blaaaah.
Okay, I'm out of here. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Things Noah Says
I need to keep a better record of the funny/quirky things Noah says and conversations we have, so I'm starting now!
-"That's mine's!!!" (Noah is deep into the stage of language learning where he generalizes grammar rules and uses them in 'inappropriate' ways. This seems like a step backwards in language development, but it's actually a step forward, and I thought it wasn't supposed to happen until he was quite a bit older.)
-"Elijah is three... Josiah is one... I'm two... Ethan is one... Lilah is three... Millie is one... Ellis is four... Elsie is four... Nancy is four!" (Nancy is Ellis and Elsie's Mom)
-In the bathroom at the midwife's office Noah picked up one of those little samples that has Johnson's baby wash and Penaten cream in it.
Noah: What is this??
Mommy: It's for the baby!
Noah: Ohhhhhh! (puts the little package on my tummy and switches to a high voice) Here you go, baby! It's for you!
-Before we left for the grocery store:
Mommy: Are you going to be a good boy at the store?
Noah: I'm going to be a PINK boy!!!
Mommy: A pink boy?
Noah: (realizes what he said) A BIG boy!
-In the pool yesterday:
Noah: (puts both hands on my tummy) There's cheese in there! And grapefruits!!
-We were both going to the bathroom before going outside:
Noah: (pointing to my "area") You have a giant!!!
(I've told him several times that it's called a "vagina," and he can totally say that, but we don't talk about it very much, so in his vocabulary it's evolved from "gian" to "giant" to now "gina" - long I sound, not "geena").
-"I want some peanut butter toast and jam sandwich!!" (This is a bit older, as he hasn't said this is over a month, but this is how he used to ask for either peanut butter and jam toast or a PB&J sandwich.)
-This almost always happens when I'm taking off his shirt and putting on an orange one:
Noah: This is not my favourite colour (referring to the shirt he's wearing)... This is my favourite colour!!! (pointing to the orange shirt)
-Before his haircut we were swimming in the pool and I used some water to spike up his hair:
Noah: I look sassy!
Mommy: You look sassy??
Noah: Sexy! I look SEXY!
(seriously I have no idea where that came from)
-Before leaving for the store, post haircut:
Noah: You have to make my hair snazzy!
(this makes more sense to me, because I always told him his hair looked snazzy after I styled it)
-Today Justin took Noah's shirt off so he could put sunscreen on him. Noah started crying:
Noah: I want to be a monkey!!!
(Neither of us have any idea what this means. Noah gets sunscreened, pouting the whole time. Then Justin puts his shirt back on him, but Noah pulls it up so it's just hanging out around his head like a turban or something.)
Noah: (really happy now) Look at ME! I'm a monkey!
-Yesterday I was sitting in a chair in the living room. Noah opened the drawers on his train table and took out the big sheet of instructions.
Noah: (In a very serious voice) Okay. Look Mommy. Here is all the trains, see? And look. This is how you put the tracks together. See?
-After coming in from playing outside with Daddy:
Noah: I found ants!!
Mommy: You found ants?!
Noah: Yes! There's was lots of them! They could be hungry!
Mommy: The ants might be hungry?
Noah: Yes! What they should eat???
-After sneezing while playing on my iPod:
Noah: (holding out the iPod to me) Mommy, I bless you'd all over the phone!!
I know there are hundreds more, but this is all I can remember right now. Hopefully in the future I will record these things better, because before you know it my toddler will be a preschooler, and these toddlerisms will be no more.
-"That's mine's!!!" (Noah is deep into the stage of language learning where he generalizes grammar rules and uses them in 'inappropriate' ways. This seems like a step backwards in language development, but it's actually a step forward, and I thought it wasn't supposed to happen until he was quite a bit older.)
-"Elijah is three... Josiah is one... I'm two... Ethan is one... Lilah is three... Millie is one... Ellis is four... Elsie is four... Nancy is four!" (Nancy is Ellis and Elsie's Mom)
-In the bathroom at the midwife's office Noah picked up one of those little samples that has Johnson's baby wash and Penaten cream in it.
Noah: What is this??
Mommy: It's for the baby!
Noah: Ohhhhhh! (puts the little package on my tummy and switches to a high voice) Here you go, baby! It's for you!
-Before we left for the grocery store:
Mommy: Are you going to be a good boy at the store?
Noah: I'm going to be a PINK boy!!!
Mommy: A pink boy?
Noah: (realizes what he said) A BIG boy!
-In the pool yesterday:
Noah: (puts both hands on my tummy) There's cheese in there! And grapefruits!!
-We were both going to the bathroom before going outside:
Noah: (pointing to my "area") You have a giant!!!
(I've told him several times that it's called a "vagina," and he can totally say that, but we don't talk about it very much, so in his vocabulary it's evolved from "gian" to "giant" to now "gina" - long I sound, not "geena").
-"I want some peanut butter toast and jam sandwich!!" (This is a bit older, as he hasn't said this is over a month, but this is how he used to ask for either peanut butter and jam toast or a PB&J sandwich.)
-This almost always happens when I'm taking off his shirt and putting on an orange one:
Noah: This is not my favourite colour (referring to the shirt he's wearing)... This is my favourite colour!!! (pointing to the orange shirt)
-Before his haircut we were swimming in the pool and I used some water to spike up his hair:
Noah: I look sassy!
Mommy: You look sassy??
Noah: Sexy! I look SEXY!
(seriously I have no idea where that came from)
-Before leaving for the store, post haircut:
Noah: You have to make my hair snazzy!
(this makes more sense to me, because I always told him his hair looked snazzy after I styled it)
-Today Justin took Noah's shirt off so he could put sunscreen on him. Noah started crying:
Noah: I want to be a monkey!!!
(Neither of us have any idea what this means. Noah gets sunscreened, pouting the whole time. Then Justin puts his shirt back on him, but Noah pulls it up so it's just hanging out around his head like a turban or something.)
Noah: (really happy now) Look at ME! I'm a monkey!
-Yesterday I was sitting in a chair in the living room. Noah opened the drawers on his train table and took out the big sheet of instructions.
Noah: (In a very serious voice) Okay. Look Mommy. Here is all the trains, see? And look. This is how you put the tracks together. See?
-After coming in from playing outside with Daddy:
Noah: I found ants!!
Mommy: You found ants?!
Noah: Yes! There's was lots of them! They could be hungry!
Mommy: The ants might be hungry?
Noah: Yes! What they should eat???
-After sneezing while playing on my iPod:
Noah: (holding out the iPod to me) Mommy, I bless you'd all over the phone!!
I know there are hundreds more, but this is all I can remember right now. Hopefully in the future I will record these things better, because before you know it my toddler will be a preschooler, and these toddlerisms will be no more.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Restoring Junky Cloth Diapers
Back in April or May my friend Sarah gave me a whole bunch of Kissaluvs fitted cloth diapers. 35, to be exact. 35 fitted diapers. That is over $500 worth of diapers.
Why would my friend give me $500 worth of diapers, you ask?
She told me they were really stained, and she was only going to give me the size 1s, because they weren't as stained. I asked her to give me all of them, because I really wanted more newborn sized fitteds, and she was literally going to throw them away. I figured I could work on the stains, and even if they didn't come out I could still use them once I stripped them and made sure they were really clean.
I knew she had a bad washing routine because she had stopped using cloth diapers due to stink issues and her daughter getting a rash (read: ammonia problems). I don't think she knows a whole lot about washing cloth diapers, and from her stories about her washing machine, I knew it didn't work very well.
Still, some stripping, maybe some OxiClean, some Tide, and I thought I'd be in the clear.
Not quite.
I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. They were total junk when I got them. They were pretty stained, and they were also all splotchy because she tried to bleach the stains out (with actual bleach), so the previously yellow diapers were now mottled yellow and beige. And the insides still had poop stains. But that was the least of my problems. The biggest problem is that they were so crunchy. Seriously, so so so crunchy. I would never ever have put them on a baby's bum.
I started by soaking them in Tide and OxiClean, then giving them a heavy hot wash. I dried them. Still crunchy.
I did the above steps again. Still crunchy.
I did some research on softening diapers, and decided to try washing in just hot water with 1/2 cup of vinegar would be my first step (since it's the easiest).
Ummm, holy moly, there were so many suds in my washing machine. But I hadn't added any soap.
Okay, so we were dealing with serious detergent build up. That's okay, I'll just strip them. (Stripping cloth diapers usually involves doing several hot washes with no detergent. That's the simplest way to do it, anyway).
I kept adding vinegar to the washes because it's supposed to help release build up and it's supposed to soften the diapers.
After 3 washes there were still crazy suds in my washing machine.
After 6 washes there were still crazy suds in my washing machine. As in, it looked like I was adding soap to the wash cycles. That's how many suds there were.
After 9 washes there were still suds in my washing machine.
How could these diapers have so much build up?!?!
I then put them in my bathtub in hot water and vinegar. I let them soak for awhile and then agitated and squeezed out each one. I'm sure you can imagine how fun it was for a pregnant lady to be kneeling over a bathtub hand washing 35 diapers in hot hot water.
I then put them in the washing machine for their 10th wash. There were very few suds in that wash, so I decided it would be my last one. Finally.
I put them in the dryer. My hope was that the crunchiness was from all the detergent buildup, and I would have nice soft diapers at the end of the dryer cycle.
Uhh, nope. They were still crunchy. Too crunchy to put on a baby's bum. Crap.
On the bright side, after all that washing the stains were 99% gone. Out of the 35 diapers there were only 2 diapers left that had extremely light staining. That was something!
So now I had to seriously explore other options for softening my diapers. I already use dryer balls, so I knew that wasn't going to help. And regular fabric softeners are a huge cloth diapering no-no, as they cause the fabric to repel. Not exactly what you want for something that's supposed to absorb pee.
I remembered reading a post on All About Cloth Diapers a few months beforehand about how there are cloth diaper safe fabric softeners. I went to find the post and wrote down the 4 different CD safe fabric softeners.
The problem is that I live in Canada. Most of those nice products? Not available.
After doing my research I discovered that Seventh Generation products are available at a couple of stores in the city nearby. I didn't know for sure if they sold the fabric softener, but it was worth a trip into town to find out.
They did!
I was still nervous to try fabric softener for fear that it would cause my diapers to repel. I knew the blog post I read said they wouldn't, but I was still nervous. I started by trying it on the size 1s, which I was less likely to use (since by the time the baby would fit size 1s, he would also fit into all the rest of my one-size diapers).
I did a rinse with fabric softener and then put them in the dryer. Low and behold, it worked!! They came out soooo beautifully soft. Just as soft as my brand new Kissaluvs. And I poured water on one... no repelling!!!
I used the fabric softener on the rest of the diapers and dried them too. They came out soft and fluffy as well.
I almost cried with relief.
Then I put them in a laundry basket and didn't look at them for like a week. Freaking diapers were the bane of my existence for a good 3 days.
But you know what? Totally worth it. $500 worth of fitted diapers, for free. They started out in terrible shape, but now they're almost like brand new (if only she hadn't used bleach and ruined the colour on the outside of the diapers). I'd do all that work again to be able to cover my newborn's bum with fluffy goodness.
Now I have a ton of prefolds that I don't need. Oh well. Maybe I'll use them as burp cloths:)
Why would my friend give me $500 worth of diapers, you ask?
She told me they were really stained, and she was only going to give me the size 1s, because they weren't as stained. I asked her to give me all of them, because I really wanted more newborn sized fitteds, and she was literally going to throw them away. I figured I could work on the stains, and even if they didn't come out I could still use them once I stripped them and made sure they were really clean.
I knew she had a bad washing routine because she had stopped using cloth diapers due to stink issues and her daughter getting a rash (read: ammonia problems). I don't think she knows a whole lot about washing cloth diapers, and from her stories about her washing machine, I knew it didn't work very well.
Still, some stripping, maybe some OxiClean, some Tide, and I thought I'd be in the clear.
Not quite.
I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. They were total junk when I got them. They were pretty stained, and they were also all splotchy because she tried to bleach the stains out (with actual bleach), so the previously yellow diapers were now mottled yellow and beige. And the insides still had poop stains. But that was the least of my problems. The biggest problem is that they were so crunchy. Seriously, so so so crunchy. I would never ever have put them on a baby's bum.
I started by soaking them in Tide and OxiClean, then giving them a heavy hot wash. I dried them. Still crunchy.
I did the above steps again. Still crunchy.
I did some research on softening diapers, and decided to try washing in just hot water with 1/2 cup of vinegar would be my first step (since it's the easiest).
Ummm, holy moly, there were so many suds in my washing machine. But I hadn't added any soap.
Okay, so we were dealing with serious detergent build up. That's okay, I'll just strip them. (Stripping cloth diapers usually involves doing several hot washes with no detergent. That's the simplest way to do it, anyway).
I kept adding vinegar to the washes because it's supposed to help release build up and it's supposed to soften the diapers.
After 3 washes there were still crazy suds in my washing machine.
After 6 washes there were still crazy suds in my washing machine. As in, it looked like I was adding soap to the wash cycles. That's how many suds there were.
After 9 washes there were still suds in my washing machine.
How could these diapers have so much build up?!?!
I then put them in my bathtub in hot water and vinegar. I let them soak for awhile and then agitated and squeezed out each one. I'm sure you can imagine how fun it was for a pregnant lady to be kneeling over a bathtub hand washing 35 diapers in hot hot water.
35 fitted diapers... the yellow ones are the size 1s, which she didn't have to bleach.
I then put them in the washing machine for their 10th wash. There were very few suds in that wash, so I decided it would be my last one. Finally.
I put them in the dryer. My hope was that the crunchiness was from all the detergent buildup, and I would have nice soft diapers at the end of the dryer cycle.
Uhh, nope. They were still crunchy. Too crunchy to put on a baby's bum. Crap.
On the bright side, after all that washing the stains were 99% gone. Out of the 35 diapers there were only 2 diapers left that had extremely light staining. That was something!
So now I had to seriously explore other options for softening my diapers. I already use dryer balls, so I knew that wasn't going to help. And regular fabric softeners are a huge cloth diapering no-no, as they cause the fabric to repel. Not exactly what you want for something that's supposed to absorb pee.
I remembered reading a post on All About Cloth Diapers a few months beforehand about how there are cloth diaper safe fabric softeners. I went to find the post and wrote down the 4 different CD safe fabric softeners.
The problem is that I live in Canada. Most of those nice products? Not available.
After doing my research I discovered that Seventh Generation products are available at a couple of stores in the city nearby. I didn't know for sure if they sold the fabric softener, but it was worth a trip into town to find out.
They did!
I was still nervous to try fabric softener for fear that it would cause my diapers to repel. I knew the blog post I read said they wouldn't, but I was still nervous. I started by trying it on the size 1s, which I was less likely to use (since by the time the baby would fit size 1s, he would also fit into all the rest of my one-size diapers).
I did a rinse with fabric softener and then put them in the dryer. Low and behold, it worked!! They came out soooo beautifully soft. Just as soft as my brand new Kissaluvs. And I poured water on one... no repelling!!!
I used the fabric softener on the rest of the diapers and dried them too. They came out soft and fluffy as well.
I almost cried with relief.
Then I put them in a laundry basket and didn't look at them for like a week. Freaking diapers were the bane of my existence for a good 3 days.
But you know what? Totally worth it. $500 worth of fitted diapers, for free. They started out in terrible shape, but now they're almost like brand new (if only she hadn't used bleach and ruined the colour on the outside of the diapers). I'd do all that work again to be able to cover my newborn's bum with fluffy goodness.
Now I have a ton of prefolds that I don't need. Oh well. Maybe I'll use them as burp cloths:)
Thursday, August 2, 2012
How Does He Know?
Every single night, without fail, Noah gets insanely hyper right around 8:00. He starts yelling (not in an unpleasant way), running laps around the house, and jumping on beds and couches.
8:00 is exactly the time that we need to start bedtime routine. And the first step in bedtime routine is brushing his teeth... this is hard to do on a 2 year old who is sprinting around the house and doing flips on the couch.
He starts his hyper stage whether he even knows that we've started thinking about bedtime routine or not. So it's not like we're giving him clues about what is coming each night. He just knows. But HOW?
It reminds me of our cat, Emmie, before he got neutered. He used to get crazy hyper every night at 9pm and start sprinting around the room, bouncing off of couches and jumping on everything possible, acting like he was chasing something.
That's Noah.
Seriously, how does he know? It's annoying, but it's also kind of impressive.
8:00 is exactly the time that we need to start bedtime routine. And the first step in bedtime routine is brushing his teeth... this is hard to do on a 2 year old who is sprinting around the house and doing flips on the couch.
He starts his hyper stage whether he even knows that we've started thinking about bedtime routine or not. So it's not like we're giving him clues about what is coming each night. He just knows. But HOW?
It reminds me of our cat, Emmie, before he got neutered. He used to get crazy hyper every night at 9pm and start sprinting around the room, bouncing off of couches and jumping on everything possible, acting like he was chasing something.
That's Noah.
Seriously, how does he know? It's annoying, but it's also kind of impressive.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Finally, a Haircut!
It's been 3.5 months since Noah's Epic Fail Haircut. I hadn't even wanted to attempt to cut his hair since that disaster. I've brought it up to him occasionally, but he never wanted me to do it again.
His hair has been nagging at me... as have many people and their comments on how long it had gotten (haha). I knew it needed to get done before the baby comes, because it was LONG. Like, really long, considering he has totally straight hair that just wants to lay flat on his head. It couldn't really get much longer, because it was getting to the point where styling it had gotten really hard (and it looked like crap if I didn't style it).
So, this is what it looked like a few days ago:
Don't get me wrong, I think he looks freaking adorable with his hair like that. He couldn't be cuter. But that was a really good hair day. I don't want to use product in his hair everyday, and when it was laying flat it just didn't look great. And do you see how long it is? It was getting too long to have sticking up.
Well, today after nap we had a conversation that went like this:
Mommy: Noah, do you want to watch in the mirror while Mommy cuts your hair?
Noah: No (in a concerned voice).
Mommy: Do you want to watch a video while Mommy cuts your hair?
Noah: No, I don't do that (in a concerned voice, again).
Mommy: Do you want to have a lollipop while Mommy cuts your hair?
Noah: YES. I will go get the clippers. I'll be right back! (starts going downstairs)
(You may or may not remember that I tried the lollipop thing last time and he had ZERO interest. He has maybe had 1 lollipop in the past 3.5 months, but apparently it made an impression on him!)
So I explained to him over and over that he only got to have the lollipop if Mommy cut his hair with the clippers. I told him over and over again, "It's not scary! It's just tickly!" I turned on the clippers ahead of time several times to remind him what they sound like. I really didn't want to start cutting his hair and have him freak out.
Once I was satisfied that he would probably be okay, I gave him the fastest haircut possible. He didn't cry. He got really itchy and couldn't stop getting hair in his mouth, so he was not happy about the itchy face/hairy mouth phenomenon, but he didn't cry. Every time he would be rubbing his face and mouth and acting distressed I would turn off the clippers, get a wet washcloth, and carefully wipe hair off his face and tongue. This made the cut take twice as long, but I think it was the best course of action.
After the cut we went immediately out to the pool to rinse off whatever leftover hairs were on him. I didn't want to brush off his hair and have that go all over his face again, so we just did it in the pool. We ended up staying out there playing for an hour and a half, and he had a blast. We were making up new games we'd never played before, and he kept saying things like "This is so fun!" and "I love this game!"
When we got back inside he just zoned out on the couch watching Number Jacks as I cleaned up from the haircut and Justin went to pick up pizza. Swimming for an hour and a half took a lot out of him, apparently.
So, this is what he looks like now:
Yes, I know his hair isn't as nearly cute as it was in the first pictures. And yes, he totally looks like a cancer patient. But he looks like an adorable cancer patient. I went as short as I could (1/4 inch) without literally shaving his head (believe me, I considered that). I didn't know for sure how this haircut would go, and I wanted it to be as short as possible to make sure that we would have as long as possible before we had to cut it again.
You can't see from those awful pictures (I was really interrupting his zoned-out state), but his hair really does make his long eyelashes stand out. And he has a really nicely shaped head :) Strangely, I think in these pictures his haircut makes him look chubbier. I can't decide if he looks older or younger, though.
But anyway, I'm glad his hair finally got cut, even if I will miss the cute spikey-ness of his previous hairstyle.
His hair has been nagging at me... as have many people and their comments on how long it had gotten (haha). I knew it needed to get done before the baby comes, because it was LONG. Like, really long, considering he has totally straight hair that just wants to lay flat on his head. It couldn't really get much longer, because it was getting to the point where styling it had gotten really hard (and it looked like crap if I didn't style it).
So, this is what it looked like a few days ago:
Don't get me wrong, I think he looks freaking adorable with his hair like that. He couldn't be cuter. But that was a really good hair day. I don't want to use product in his hair everyday, and when it was laying flat it just didn't look great. And do you see how long it is? It was getting too long to have sticking up.
Well, today after nap we had a conversation that went like this:
Mommy: Noah, do you want to watch in the mirror while Mommy cuts your hair?
Noah: No (in a concerned voice).
Mommy: Do you want to watch a video while Mommy cuts your hair?
Noah: No, I don't do that (in a concerned voice, again).
Mommy: Do you want to have a lollipop while Mommy cuts your hair?
Noah: YES. I will go get the clippers. I'll be right back! (starts going downstairs)
(You may or may not remember that I tried the lollipop thing last time and he had ZERO interest. He has maybe had 1 lollipop in the past 3.5 months, but apparently it made an impression on him!)
So I explained to him over and over that he only got to have the lollipop if Mommy cut his hair with the clippers. I told him over and over again, "It's not scary! It's just tickly!" I turned on the clippers ahead of time several times to remind him what they sound like. I really didn't want to start cutting his hair and have him freak out.
Once I was satisfied that he would probably be okay, I gave him the fastest haircut possible. He didn't cry. He got really itchy and couldn't stop getting hair in his mouth, so he was not happy about the itchy face/hairy mouth phenomenon, but he didn't cry. Every time he would be rubbing his face and mouth and acting distressed I would turn off the clippers, get a wet washcloth, and carefully wipe hair off his face and tongue. This made the cut take twice as long, but I think it was the best course of action.
After the cut we went immediately out to the pool to rinse off whatever leftover hairs were on him. I didn't want to brush off his hair and have that go all over his face again, so we just did it in the pool. We ended up staying out there playing for an hour and a half, and he had a blast. We were making up new games we'd never played before, and he kept saying things like "This is so fun!" and "I love this game!"
When we got back inside he just zoned out on the couch watching Number Jacks as I cleaned up from the haircut and Justin went to pick up pizza. Swimming for an hour and a half took a lot out of him, apparently.
So, this is what he looks like now:
Yes, I know his hair isn't as nearly cute as it was in the first pictures. And yes, he totally looks like a cancer patient. But he looks like an adorable cancer patient. I went as short as I could (1/4 inch) without literally shaving his head (believe me, I considered that). I didn't know for sure how this haircut would go, and I wanted it to be as short as possible to make sure that we would have as long as possible before we had to cut it again.
You can't see from those awful pictures (I was really interrupting his zoned-out state), but his hair really does make his long eyelashes stand out. And he has a really nicely shaped head :) Strangely, I think in these pictures his haircut makes him look chubbier. I can't decide if he looks older or younger, though.
But anyway, I'm glad his hair finally got cut, even if I will miss the cute spikey-ness of his previous hairstyle.
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