Somehow the summer has turned to fall and we’re now 7 weeks away from my due date. Somehow I’ve filled my life with so many projects that I’ve lost track of doing really any writing. I have a running log I keep in my email of topics I want to write about for this blog, and tidbits I want to share with anyone who cares to read it. Time is flying by. Life is changing fast.
The biggest thing we’ve been dealing with is a massive remodel of our basement – pressing hard to meet the December deadline so it is done before baby arrives. I really wish I would have applied for an HGTV reality TV show now knowing what I do about what we’ve been through with this project. It’s been exciting, humorous, immensely frustrating, exhausting, stressful and inspiring. It’s been the source of a lot of pride and the source of a lot of fights. I’ve cried many many times. I suspect Greg has too, though he hides it with such coolness. We’ve gotten over the hump of a lot of big milestones, and it looks promising to meet our waning timeline. I regret not having taken before and after pictures, because at the core, this project represents my husband’s dedication to working his ass off to make me happy. Greg has taken on so many things he was formerly clueless about, starting with a total demolition of our partially finished basement, to rewiring all of the electric, building new walls, leveling concrete floors, excessively cleaning, and putting in hardwood flooring (that job hasn’t started yet…). He’s given me everything I’ve asked for, and my demands have been weighty. He worked his body to the bone through his week-long vacation from his actual job, and has given up countless weekends to get things done without breaking the bank. I’ve barely lifted a finger because he doesn’t want me to strain my pregnant body or breathe in dust/fumes. He’s a freaking saint when it comes to this basement, and I’ve still harassed him about getting it done faster and to my highest standards. When you hear country songs about daddy building mama’s dreams, think of Greg. I think we are really going to make it to our early December move-in, which means as long as baby doesn’t come early, I’ll get to do some nesting in our new space.
Of course the pregnancy. Baby is healthy and growing and all is well. He’s moving all the time and I’m so excited to meet him. Me on the other hand, I have to admit I have some complaints. Major aches and pains are getting to me all the time – much stronger and much earlier than I remember last time. Sitting, walking, standing, laying down, well, it all hurts. I’m trying not to be a big baby about it, but man I’m drained and feeling like crap a lot of the time. I’ve been battling anemia throughout this pregnancy, which has also left me pretty tired and slow. Good news is that everything I’ve done to try and get my iron up has worked so all is good for now. I’ve been a moody mess, and am getting super stressed very easily. I’m just really up and down, and feeling overwhelmed too easily. I think it’s just the challenge of being pregnant while already having a child to care for. It’s amazing to me how women do it for three, four or even more children. Pregnant when you already have a child is a whole new ballgame. This experience and the exhaustion I’ve been feeling has both Greg and I pretty convinced that this baby will be the last biological baby we have. Maybe someday we’ll adopt a daughter, or maybe someday we’ll change our mind, but for now, two boys is sounding really perfect.
I’ve also been having lots of contractions – a couple incidents that were enough of a scare for pre-term labor that I paged my midwife. Fortunately, all signs show that nothing is happening yet, but I do need to slow it down a bit. I think I can maybe handle that.
I’m getting more and more excited for the baby to arrive, though I’m still not in any hurry. I’m just making sure to enjoy the little bit of time we have as a family of three. I do feel bittersweet about it all. Life has been so good to us three, and we are just in such a great groove together. I love it and it couldn’t be any better. Except that it will get better. Different, but better. We’ll see how hard it is to navigate any sense of normalcy for a while, and I’m sure that I’ll be just as up and down as I am now, but as time goes on it will get easier and I know we’ll get into just as good of a groove as we have been as three.
Griffin is amazing and just throws us for a loop every day. He has a new obsession: Thomas & Friends (the train toys/cartoons/books). We’ve made the mistake of starting to let him watch a little bit of TV – mostly Thomas – and he now asks daily to see Thomas on TV. It was much easier when he just didn’t care at all about TV. His Thomas trains are pretty much the only toys he wants to play with at home right now, and if we let him, he’d turn into a total couch potato watching Thomas episodes all day long. However, the obsession has provided us a really great incentive tool to get him to try to start potty training and to stay in his own bed all night long. He gets a sticker every time he does a really big boy thing like that, and when the sticker sheet is full, he gets a new train. Gordon is the one he really wants right now, and he talks about how he is ‘getting closer to Gordon.’ It’s really cute.
Overall, he’s come out of a lot of the terrible twos behaviors that I was struggling with a few months ago. I know that everything goes in cycles, so I’m not holding my breath that we’re out of the woods by any means. But, it is encouraging to see that he’s starting to learn and listen and for the most part, he really is a very good boy. He is very sweet and loving, and such a little cuddler.
A few of his latest classics:
-When asked what to name the baby, he says: Magical Dragon (he's also said the real baby name that we are leaning towards and doesn't like any other name we propose)
-When asked what he wanted to be for halloween, he says: A Weiner! (he does NOT mean a hot dog!). So, he was a magical dragon instead, and looked SO cute.
-Favorite songs to sing: itsy bitsy spider, baa baa black sheep (he says blah blah black sheep...)
-About the baby he says: he is going to grow up and come see you and play with my trucks
-He is obsessed with gumballs and we constantly talk about how he will get a gumball when he is older and the little baby will get one when he is older, but the little baby won't take his gumball.
-For a long while, when he wanted to be held, he'd say: mommy pick you up, mommy pick you up. He's grown out of that now (27 months)
-Instead of saying 'I am' to confirm something, he says 'I'm are'
Finally, and really awesomely, I’ve started a business with my sister and we’re about to launch our first product. Ash & Alys Babes is our business and this has been a really exciting partnership to start. It is super stressful and really time consuming and expensive, but I think we’re onto something. Once our product is actually in stores, I’ll post all about it. Very exciting stuff, and I can only pray that it is successful. If not, at least we tried and we won’t have to wonder what would have been. I’d rather fail trying than not try at all!
I’ll try to post again soon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the next post is baby’s birth story.
Hey Ashley! Good for you keeping a blog. I'm totally NOT LOVING Thomas the train right now... at first I thought it was cute but then there's a lot of mean stuff that goes on that Owen picked up on. It is cute when he says "bust my buffers." Having two is craziness...at least Griffin is older than Owen was... it was too close together for this Mommy. I can't wait to see your new products, I wish you lots of success with that. Maybe I can photograph it. You are going to need the TV when you have to put the other baby down for a nap or nurse them in a quiet room. I let him do about 30 minutes a day and he's happy to "watch a show." I'll do a post about what TV he's liked and I like too.
Posted by: cameron clark| cameron + kelly studio | November 04, 2010 at 07:53 PM