Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Points

There is a point in every pregnancy at which people begin to look at your midsection in a questioning sort of way.  Generally they are thinking, is she getting a little thick around the middle or is she...maybe...possibly...pregnant?

There is also a point in every pregnancy when people look at you and their eyes dance and shine and you know they think your cute little baby belly is adorable.  The great thing about this point is that people are always smiling at you and you smile back this sweet, serene, oh-isn't-pregnancy-wonderful smile.  This is a good point to be at.  Mary Poppins would be happy to have you in her company at this point.

There is however a final point.  This is the point where people just stare at your belly but not in the way that they did a few short weeks ago.  Its more of a, oh my GOD that is one big belly, sort of look.  Gone is the look of happiness and it has been replaced with a look of abject horror.  Now people are thinking, oh I hope her water doesn't break all over my new leather boots.  They quickly avert their eyes and look away.

Friends, I have reached point the third.  I feel like a walking freak show and I'm contemplating some type of signage for my belly.  I just haven't landed on the best pithy remark yet.  Suggestions?  Perhaps, "LOOK AWAY LEST YOU TOO SUFFER FROM MY AFFLICTION"?

I  have also reached a fourth point which precludes the wearing of proper shoes and socks.  Flip flops should be an excellent option with all the sunshine we're having lately.


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Working Late

Morgan is working late tonight and every time he does that I silently thank my lucky stars that I'm not a single parent or even a sometimes single parent.  And every time I think that, I'm reminded of our troops and the many, many families that single-parent while their spouses are overseas and I really, truly don't know how they do it.  I'm in a state of utter exhaustion after dinner time and bath time and bed time and explosive-diareaha-for-the-second-time-tonight time and I'm only doing this for one night.  Couple that with the fact that Morgan will come home tonight and I can recount the difficulties of my day to him while sneaking sips of his beer.

Then, as I was catching up on my blogs I came across this post and I was so moved by the photos I just had to share.  I'm not sure about you but I only lasted one photo until I had tears in my eyes and I was damn near sobbing by the end.  Just another reminder, as I was about the jump into a full on pity party, that I have it pretty easy.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Six Weeks

Wait.  What?  SIX WEEKS?!?!?!  I feel like someone miscalculated.  How can there only be six weeks left?  Very strange considering I only got pregnant a few weeks ago.

This pregnancy has been so different I'm having hard time wrapping my head around it.  First of all, I think I've mentioned this, I ONLY HAVE SIX WEEKS LEFT.  With Conor it was more like, I STILL have six weeks LEFT?  I was so ready to be done.  Despite the fact that I am becoming more uncomfortable, I do try to remind myself that the longer she stays in, the healthier she will be.  The mirror, however, daily reminds me just how big my backside and jowls are becoming.  Seriously, I'm even running out of  comfortable maternity pants.

I did do some youtube "research" this weekend on accupressure points to induce labor which I have insisted Morgan become familiar with.  I'm all for being patient however I'm also all for not living with a human being in my abdomen for the rest of time.

I did some wrap up shopping this weekend at a baby consignment sale and I feel like we actually might be prepared to bring a baby girl home from the hospital.  We have diapers and swaddle blankets (Remember my love for swaddle blankets?), and 500 million onesies and teeny, tiny socks.

(As I typed this my zen feeling of calm went out the window, my brain went into overdrive and I realized that I still need to do the following: get swing and vibrate-y/bouncy chair out of attic and clean them, get car seat out of attic and clean it, get nursing supplies out of attic and clean them, remember how to breastfeed, buy-pacifiers-oh-my-lord-we-don't-have-any-pacifiers!, decide which pacifiers our daughter will like best, find something for our child to sleep in, wash all clothes, buy curtains/shades for Finley's bedroom, DIAPER BAG!  Bath tub!  Oh crap.  I'm not prepared for this AT ALL.)

Excuse me while I go freak out a bit.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Dying From the Cute

We got a surprise visit from Morgan's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dave this afternoon.  They live on the coast and were passing through Portland on their way home from Seattle.  (They attended a Mariner's game up there and we forgive them for not rooting for the Padres.  Mostly.)

They arrived with a box full of clothes and diapers for Finley and (really noisy) big trucks for Conor.  Best of all, Aunt Nana made this adorable little onesie for Finley.  Seriously?  The cute is too much to bear.

Love you Aunt Nana and Uncle Dave.  Finley sends her regards.



Monday, May 17, 2010

Fire Chief Interview

Last Thursday Morgan has his interview with the Fire Chief.  He got all fancied up in his once-a-year-suit.
Please don't take my picture

Ok, fine.  I'm walking away  now.

Conor was in day care and there was very little parking down near the administration building so we decided that I would drive him down there and wait while he had his interview and then we would go get Conor together.
I brought along my camera so I could take some pictures while I was waiting.  I should have brought the the 55-200mm lens because I couldn't get close enough (or, more acurately, I coulnd't get comfortable enough to get close enough to take pictures of people without feeling weird and creepy and stalker-ish) but I still able to get some decent shots of downtown on a gorgeous day.
 Steps.  With writing.  Trying to be artistic.  Failing.
 Standing on the Waterfront looking east over the river.
Same shot.  Less zooooom.
Boat.  
(Yes, I come up with these captions myself.)
I totally loved this kid and his dad.  The little boy was having so much fun playing in the water.  My 200mm lens would have come in real handy here because I had to do a lot of cropping to get this close.

Overall Morgan feels really confident about the interview.  He arrived at his scheduled time and they took him and two other candidates into a conference room, gave them a sheet of paper, a pen and a list of the six questions they would be asked by the panel.  They then had 10 minutes to prepare.  YIKES!  Morgan's panel consisted of a fire chief (is there more than one fire chief?  I thought there was only one but there appears to have been a chief in each of the three interview rooms) a fire captain and an EMT.  The total interview was about 20 minutes long and Morgan walked out feeling pretty happy with how it all went.
Now we wait.  We've had unofficial word that they will make a decision by June 1st so hopefully we know something by then.  Morgan's just one step closer to making it all come together.

He's cool like that.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Happy Birthday Anna!

It's Conor's cousin's birthday today!  Happy 3rd birthday Anna.  We love you and can't wait to see you in just a few months!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Mother's Day 2010

*I'm thinking of changing the name of my blog.  I mean, 'The Walsh Family' is just so original.  Conor always says "Didja HEAR dat?" and also "Are you KIDDING me?" which I think sort of represent the whole tone of this here blog.  I also thought of something like "Adventures in Domesticity" but that sounds too cutesy or something.  Anyway, it might change.  It might not.  I like to keep y'all on your toes.*

There are some people who love Mother's Day and there are others who hate Mother's Day.  I kind of fall in the middle.  I mean, its great to sleep in and all, but in reality Conor hasn't yet reached an age where he gets the whole concept of shhhhh, so pretty much as soon as he is up, the rest of the house is up.  I also don't really expect any big gifts or tokens of appreciation either.  I guess that could be because Morgan does such a great job of making me feel appreaciated on a regular basis that I don't need a day dedicated to even more appreciation.

That being said, I did have a wonderful Mother's Day this year.  We began the celebration on Saturday with Morgan fixing me homemade crepes filled with vanilla pudding and topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream served with coffee in the hand painted coffee mug he and Conor made me last year.


Are you jealous?  You should be.  These babies were delicious!

Then on actual Mother's Day we went and had breakfast with Mom and Art where I tried, rather unscucesfully, to get a family picture of the three of us and also, a picture of Mom and Kristen and I.  We had better luck with the three girls in terms of posing but I could not get us positioned properly in terms of lighting.  Apparently, it matters not how great your camera is if you're still a picture taking dud.  Seriously, lighting!  I can't figure it out!

My husband, the man with no face.  My child, Scowl Boy.

Mmmm, better, but he still is shaded.  Ooh, he's a Man of Mystery!  Also, Conor is not smiling but that seems about right for him.

 Well, we look good but Kristen is the only one whose face is clearly visible.  Ugh.  Try again.

Umm, no.
Ahh, we look nice.


He's hiding.
 
Oh, here I am!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mondays

I think I am in the unique position of actually enjoying Mondays. There are two reasons for this. First, my weekends don't really look that much different from my weekdays. With the exception of Morgan being home, usually Saturdays and Sundays begin and end just as any other day of the week does. So I don't have that wild release and feeling of freedom on the weekends like the M-F 9 to 5-er's do. The second reason is because of Michelle (and Wyatt) and Christy (and Zack).

When I was pregnant with Conor my friend Niki suggested I join the hospital's new mom's group that meets on Thursdays. Its just a big group of women with babies all less than 6 months old who sit around and commiserate about breastfeeding and sleep training and all sort of baby related stuff. Its a really great place to go and just talk about your baby ESPECIALLY if your friends and family are super tired of you talking about baby, baby, baby, BABY!

Anyway, while at the mom's group I met Christy whose son Zack is a week older than Conor and Michelle whose son Wyatt is four days younger than Conor. And, while we started hanging out in a big group, over the last 2+ years we've whittled down to just the three of us and our standing Monday morning date.

Whether we play at our house or their houses or we go to the zoo or swimming or out to lunch, spending each Monday morning with these two wonderful women and their cute-as-can-be boys I cannot think of a better way to start my week.

We laugh with each other, commiserate with each other, and talk each other off various parenting ledges. We support one another when our boys are teething or hitting or on yet another food/bathing/shoe wearing strike. We give kisses and hugs and change diapers and share snacks and laugh, laugh, laugh.

But I think what is best of all is that we all know no matter what our kids do, we will still love and support each other. So even if Wyatt pushes Conor for touching his hair, or Conor hits Michelle for God-only-knows-why or Zack doesn't feel like sharing, it doesn't matter. The next Monday will come around and us three moms will be crawling the walls for adult conversation and we'll pack our bags and head off to see our friends. And come what may, there is no four people I would rather spend my Mondays with.


Friday, May 7, 2010

Its all in the pictures, man







Honestly, I don't know which one is cutest.

Diaper Cakes and Other Pregnancy Related Freak Outs

So, I made a diaper cake.

Most of you know that I have one, very small creative bone in my body and it occasionally rears its ugly head and makes me feel bad about myself for not being one of those uber-creative people who can sew and scrapbook and doing otherwise crafty things. So, for Kristen's shower last weekend, I decided to make a diaper cake. If you're not sure what a diaper cake is, please see below.

But, before you do, I need to tell you a story. So, I decide that instead of a gift for the shower I"m going to make this diaper cake. Someone had made me one for me for my shower when we still lived in Arizona and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. So, I Googled "how to make a diaper cake" got my instructions and headed out to get the supplies.

So, I have all my supplies, diapers and ribbon and onesies and little shoes and wash cloths and pacifiers and baby bath soap and a bottle. Now mind you, this was last weekend when I had about a billion school-related things I needed to do but I decided I was going to work on the diaper cake instead. Its the dang creative bone again. So, I meticulously roll up 70-something diapers, secure them with rubber bands and ribbon, fashion a freaking three-tiered cake out of diapers and decorate it with all manner of baby related paraphenilia. And its so stinking cute! But it took me over two hours and I should have been doing homework so I'm already feeling a smidge guilty when I get a text from Walker (co-shower planner). And its a picture message! Of a diaper cake SHE had made! And its like 50 times cuter than mine! I don't know if she sprinkled it with freaking fairy dust but even in the cell phone camera image it looked like it was radiating light and hope and baby genius.

And so, instead of being normal and rational and saying "Oh good, Kristen gets two really cute diaper cakes", I lost my ever loving mind. And cried for an hour. Hmm, 'cried' doesn't really do it justice. I sobbed, first with my head down on the dining room table in prom-queen-who-gets-dumped-at-the-prom style, and then I sat on the (closed) toilet and sobbed into a roll of toilet paper. It was pathetic and embarassing and some small part of my rational brain kept saying "Erin, calm down, this is hormones. Take a deep breath, and pull yourself together." I do not have much patience for tears even (especially) when they are my own. But I was on the hormonal pregnancy roller coaster and there was no getting off.

So, there you have it. An hour long sobfest induced by a diaper cake. Which is actually pretty darn cute when looked at with slightly more objective eyes.


And, oh my goodness those little baby diapers are teeny!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Before I forget

Mushy brain, not blogging much. Also, very busy. But before I forget...Conor and Morgan are in the kitchen talking and OH! SO! CUTE!

They're talking about the Padres being in first place, what fun they had this weekend playing with rockets (when Conor says it it sounds like ruckus) and how much fun it is to cook dinner together. Now Conor is bugging Daddy to play games on the computer with him so I've got to go.

I just had to write this down so I never forget how much I love my two boys.