Things Not to Do When Pregnant

Who knew taking the dog out to potty could end in disaster?

Let me preface this by saying - the baby's OK, and it's not our dog's fault. Though I seriously wish I could blame someone for this one, but it's all me.

I managed to fracture my left fibia this past Sunday. Right around the ankle. For those of you who don't remember your anatomy, the fibia is that smaller lower leg bone. Yep, I fractured that one.

It was Sunday evening, and I went to take our dog out to do her stuff. My sister-in-law also took her dog out. I was taking the steps down, not paying attention, and completely forgot there was a step and missed it. Down I went. And boy did my ankle hurt.

I think I went into a wee bit of shock - I was shaking. I came straight down on my ankle - all that baby weight, plus I'm a little overweight too - but the baby was OK because I fell straight down on it.

My right leg was/is scraped up pretty badly, but I didn't even know I was bleeding. That's how bad the ankle hurt.

So we went to the local ER, which was practically vacant but we still managed to be there for 3 hours. Doing what? Waiting waiting waiting...

After the X-rays and whatnot, they finally cleaned up my legs, put me in a splint, told me to place NO weight on my left leg, and gave me some crutches. Yippee!

Or not - I discovered that crutches look a lot easier to manage than they really are. And getting up and down stairs is next to impossible (scooting on your butt can work wonders, though).

I could not get a cast until the swelling came down. My hopes were that the orthopedist could put me in something that I could walk around in - I was already ready to ditch those crutches.

No such luck. Went to the orthopedist yesterday, and after more X-rays (and me thinking "Good Lord, what is this all going to cost....") he determined that a cast is the best option over surgery, especially considering I am 32 weeks pregnant. Did you know that casts come in all different colors - pick, orange, green - I picked blue since that's Jack's favorite color.

In order for the fracture to line up and heal straight, the cast has to point my foot down a bit - meaning crutch city for me for at least 3 weeks (he actually prescribed a wheelchair, but we're not going to do that - not practical for our house, really). I'm pregnant. With a two year old. I nearly cried.

I've actually laughed a lot the past few days, because sometimes, if you don't laugh, you'll cry, and there's really nothing you can do about the situation anyway. And I'm really very lucky - I have a very supportive family that's going to be here off and on over the next 3 weeks. I can't imagine what I'd be doing without them.

In 3 weeks I go back to remove this cast and get more X-rays. Hopefully at that time, he can put me in something that I can walk around in. I'll probably have something on my leg through my delivery date, as he wants to make sure I don't injure it during labor.

Sigh.

Speech Therapy Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that Jack will now get speech therapy, courtesy of the state, once a week. This is GREAT news for us.

While Jack tests at 4 months ahead on receptive language (i.e., what he understands), he is very behind on expressive language (speaking). At age two, he has only 4 words - mama, bye, blue, and woof.

So the news that the state approved his speech therapy was music to our ears. I'm anxious to see what the speech therapist will do to get him to speak.

File This Under Things I Never Thought I Would Say

OK, I'm actually feeling a little sorry for Britney Spears.

I didn't feel sorry for her when she drove with her baby in her lap - that's just plain dumb and negligent. And the thing with her nanny and the high chair - I just don't know.

But this time - she tripped while holding her baby. She was wearing pants that were too long, and they caught on her shoes. Anyone think the media is making a bit much of this? Come on!

I'm bigger than a person my height should be, so my pants tend to be long. I can't count how many times I have nearly tripped on my pajama pants, just while walking around my house. Luckily, I was never carrying a baby.

I don't know how she is as a parent, but sheesh, national media. Shame on you. Lay off. Yes, she's not talented, and is worth more money than she should be. Yes, her husband seems a little skeazy. Yes, it looks like the girl's made some bad decisions. But this time?

She wasn't drunk and tripped. She wasn't skipping along recklessly and holding him. She wasn't dangling him in front of in alligator.

She tripped. That's all. End of story.

Heeeeeeere's Johnny!

I'm starting to give up on the 8:30, no arguments, bedtime, and am beginning to settle on 9 or 9:30. Why? Last night, when we put him down at 8:30, read to him, did the routine, and left, Jack cried for about 5-10 minutes, and then proceeded to walk around his room, getting into Lord Knows What. I could hear his little footsteps going back and forth, back and forth, and with the door closed we really had no clue what he was up to.

Tonight? Well, after last night, and taking into consideration his nap which lasted until around 5pm, I decided to move bedtime to 9. When 9 o'clock rolled around, 9 became 9:30 and we finally went back to bed. Despite the new sheets that Jack picked out, he still wanted to sleep on the floor - fine, my strange little man - and I read him his bedtime reading selections - Poky Little Puppy, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, and Harold and the Purple Crayon. I then talked to him for a minute or two, and was out. He didn't cry. He didn't move. He just went to sleep.

I think Jack's just a lot like me. I'm a night owl. I have a hard time going to sleep at a decent hour, even when I know I will be waking up early the next day. When do I type these blog entries? Most are in the 10pm-midnight timeslot. I'm just wired that way. I guess Jack's wired that way too.

Come to find out, through a conversation with my Dad the other day, that I've always been a night person. My Dad mentioned the other day about reading the blog entries about Jack's bedtime, and the conversation segues to reveal that - at four years old - my parents apparently gave up fighting my bedtime and just let me stay up so I could watch Johnny Carson. Really. Apparently they would retrieve me around midnight, where I was asleep on the couch, and take me to bed.

We had yet another ultrasound yesterday, and everything looks good. Still a boy, of course, and he looks healthy. He's bigger than Jack was at this point, and I'm pretty sure he will be bigger at birth than Jack was.

Everyone is thinking that I will "go" early with this one. With Jack, I was induced a week after the due date. I never had a contraction; heck, I never even had Braxton-Hicks. I know a lot of moms out there will think I'm loca, but I would love to be induced again. I'm the kind of girl that prefers what can be planned for, and inductions just fit perfectly with my personality. I loved that I could go to the hospital and would labor the whole time there. Once the pain got to be too much - epidural please - and I got it. This was especially good as my epidural didn't take the first time (slightly curved spine) and I had to have that epidural redone. I labored for about 8 hours, from the time they started the pitocin drip until Jack's arrival. I think I pushed for about 30-45 minutes - not too bad at all, really.

Jack's labor and delivery was about as good as it can get. So I wonder how this labor will go. I wonder a lot of things about this second child, aside from his birth - what will he look like? In what ways will he and Jack be similar, and how will they differ? I'm curious to watch these two develop a bond as brothers. I know there will be fights, but I also know that they'll play together and watch out for each other too. There's a lot to look forward to with this new addition to our little family.

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus, Please

He's asleep!!!!! IN HIS BED!!!!!

He has not chosen to sleep in his bed in weeks. HALLELUJAH!

Happy Mother's Day, to Me!

I'm about to go buy my Mother's Day present. Yes, you read that right. A came home for lunch today, and said "How would you like a new digital camera for Mother's Day?". I say "Mine's just two years old. If you want to get me something, get me Adobe Elements and that will save you a couple of hundred dollars and make me even happier". To which A says "OK. Just go buy it online; I'm sure we'll save money that way". So I'm about to buy it - Amazon has it for just $78.99 - a $20 discount from the other sites - and shipping will be free. And no tax! Hurray!

CitySlicker Mom blogged today about something I was thinking about too - toddlers, food, and how we Mamas will let our kids eat just about anything that's on OUR plates. And you know, she did it a lot more eloquently than me, but with Mother's Day approaching it gets you to thinking - we moms (and Dads too, I'm not going to discriminate) will do about anything for our kids.

Today Jack was presented with the following for lunch - PB&J (his pick over star pasta, which he LOVED yesterday) and yogurt (which he grabbed out of the fridge). He ate about half the PB&J and a little less than half the yogurt, but less than halfway through his dinner he starts eyeing MY leftovers from last night - chicken, taco rice, and refried black beans. He ate that rice and beans up last night, and apparently, he wanted some today (but the chicken? No dice.). He was content to let me feed him the rice and beans for a while, but then he tried to shove his spoon (covered with yogurt - no thanks) into my rice - twice. So anyway, I threw the remaining refried beans, and a good bit of rice, onto his plate. HE ATE IT UP. And most of the PB&J.

Oh, and yesterday we shared the last of the cookies 'n' cream ice cream. I repeat - I shared the last of the cookies 'n' cream ice cream.

Our little two-year-old man has had some appetite lately. He used to pick at this and that, and he's always been 10-25% on weight - so maybe he's having a growth spurt. It's encouraging to see him eat. So I'll give him whatever he wants off my plate - even the last bite of the cookies 'n' cream ice cream.

But don't worry - I bought more cookies 'n' cream ice cream this afternoon at Kroger. Right after Jack got his cookie.

Getting the man to sleep - Night Two

Last night went A LOT better than the night before. Around 8:45pm, Jack and I went down to his bedroom. Jack picked out three books - Corduroy Goes to School, Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, and his favorite, the Poky Little Puppy (which he asks for by saying "Woof").

After Jack got settled down with his blue pants, blanket and truck, we got down to reading. After PLP was read, I went over to him, told him "Mama and Daddy and Annie love you", gave him a big hug, and left.

He only cried for 5-10 minutes, and then it got really quiet in there. After a while I could here footsteps, so I said through the door "Jack, you need to lay down". Anyway, it was way too quiet in there (last night he fell asleep still protesting).

I slowly and silently opened the door, expecting to get slammed by an upset toddler who realized that maybe, just maybe, Mama had come to "save" him. Instead, nothing. I saw him, back turned to me, sitting up and staring at his Simba (from Lion King); he then lay down - on the floor - on his pillow. I closed the door.

About fifteen minutes later, I again, slowly and silently, opened the door. His back was turned to me, and he was playing with his little truck. Little stinker. This was about 9:30pm. I closed the door.

When I check in on him as it approached 10:00pm, he was sound asleep.

I think this is working.

The little man sleeps....

Jack is finally asleep. I think he drifted off around 10:45, after two hours of stalling and fighting.

Over the past few weeks Jack, our former champion little sleeper, has changed dramatically. For one, with the toddler bed upgrade, Jack got used to Mama or Daddy (mainly me) putting him to bed, and sitting/laying beside his bed until he was out. This process used to only take maybe half an hour.

Starting about 3 or 4 weeks ago he refused to sleep in his bed, and now will only sleep on the floor. With this, he has started to pull out every stall tactic known to man to prevent going to bed. One more book. Oh, let me play with this truck just a little. On and on and on.

I had decided a week or so ago that crying it out would have to be our option (it worked when Jack was a baby in his crib). I don't know that Addam was entirely on board with this idea until last night, when it took Addam about an hour and a half to put Jack to bed. Trucks were confiscated - it was not a pretty sight.

Tonight I stayed in there with him, and tried out the "sit down a little further away" plan that I saw on one of the nanny shows - we did this for about an hour and a half. Addam eventually joined the frustration, which eventually led to us - finally - evacuating his room, closing the door and letting Jack deal. After about 30 minutes, he finally fell asleep on his pillow. In the floor, but asleep. Somewhere around 10:45 at night.

I know a lot of moms that oppose "crying it out", but he's very stubborn and there was no other way. We've reasoned with him; tried rewarding/taking away. There was no other way. If someone has a better solution, I'm all ears.

This needs to work out with his bedtime, and soon. I don't like the late bedtime for him - it's not healthy - and he needs to know how to put himself to sleep without Mama. What will I do if we have two kids fighting bedtime battles? When will I work? When will I sleep?

I've been tagged...

Laura tagged me. Lord knows I can't resist a meme:

I AM: pregnant, and a mom that is both a full-time stay-at-home mom AND a part-time working mom.
I WANT: more cookies & cream ice cream. And I had some earlier today. So sad.
I WISH: for all the little children of the world to hold hands and sing...I honestly wish there was less suffering in the world, especially after reading this over at Laura's.
I HATE: rudeness.
I MISS: my MeMaw's okra, muffins, and custard pie.
I FEAR: losing someone I love.
I HEAR: my husband sleeping.
I WONDER: what Jack is thinking.
I REGRET: not asking any of my now deceased grandparents more questions about their past (childhood, etc...), and not adding that Education minor while I was still in college.
I AM NOT: a good public speaker/performer. Stage fright.
I SING: in the car.
I CRY: during movies when someone dies.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: social.
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: breakfast, lunch and dinner for my little family.
I WRITE: when I feel like it.
I CONFUSE: myself.
I NEED: to get more sleep.
I SHOULD: update Jack's baby book, and scrapbook some of his pictures.
I START: explaining something, get off point, and then forget where I was. All the time. I think it's genetic. Thanks, Dad.
I FINISH: this meme.
I TAG: whoever wants to do this meme. Just let me know if you did it!

Eureka!

From a Babyzone article on late talkers:

"Stephen Camarata, a speech-language pathologist with over 20 years’ experience working with late talkers, said that he’s seen children who are more prone to perfectionism wait until they can enunciate and speak at an adult level—something they simply cannot do in the toddler years."

Oh gosh, this could totally be my child. I am not kidding. He's a bit of a perfectionist, especially for a 2 year old.

Jack's "teacher" recommended a book to me called The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late. I might have to get this - has anyone read it?

Jack recently had a second speech evaluation, and we're still waiting to see if the speech pathologist's recommendation to TEIS will have some sway above his test scores - kiddo's just too darn smart and receptive for his own good ;).

For Those From Tennessee...

I got this forward quite a while back, and happened upon it again as I cleaned out my email. Excepting one or two exceptions, I think these could apply to most of the South:

You're a True Tennessean If....
1. You can properly pronounce Ooltewah, La Vergne, Etowah and Maryville.
Yep, guilty here. It's Mary-vul, folks!
2. You think people who complain about the heat in their states are sissies.
It's true! I remember when I lived in Mexico hearing some of the Californians (and other western Americans) complaining about the humidity. Oh, they so don't know humidity - I thought Mexico was quite dry!
3. A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.
OK, that's not me! I'm very afraid of tornadoes!
4. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade.
True in the summer. But now that I have a toddler, I go by distance to the buggie/cart dropoff point at Kroger...
5. Stores don't have bags or shopping carts, they have sacks and buggies.
I say bags, but am guilty of saying buggies.
6. You've seen people wear bib overalls at weddings and funerals.
I don't know what bib overalls are...
7. You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.
I live near a bigger city, so no.
8. You measure distance in minutes.
Yes. Guilty.
9. You go to the lake because you think it is like going to the ocean.
I grew up going to Destin, FL and Gulf Shores, AL, so no.
10. You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.
Of course! Especially in the spring and fall - weather's too darn unpredictable!
11. You know cowpies are not made of beef.
Doesn't everyone know this?
12. Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.
Football schedules are always consulted for a fall wedding, right?
13. You know someone who has a belt buckle bigger than your fist.
Maybe?
14. You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, beer, and bait all in the same store.
Nope, would not be surprised. Doesn't Walmart carry all this? Our town is also home to video and tanning. Ah, the video and tanning store - the staple of the Southern American small town...
15. A Mercedes Benz isn't a status symbol. A Chevy Silverado Extended Bed Crew Cab is.
I'd be more impressed with the Benz. But, trucks are expensive...
16. You know everything goes better with Ranch.
It's hard to have too much dressing on a salad. Am I right?
17. You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply.
I was actually in my mid-20's before I ever shot a gun. But my husband grew up around them.
18. You actually get these jokes and are "fixin'" to send them to your friends.
They're on my blog, so you "might could" say yes...
And finally:
19. You are 100% Tennessean if you have ever had this conversation: "You wanna coke?" "Yeah." "What kind?" "Dr Pepper."
I have had ARGUMENTS with friends about "coke" vs. "pop" (you could also add "vs. soda" here too, but that's never been an issue). Here in the South, I guess "Coke" is seen as the original and therefore universal term for all sugary, carbonated beverages (Coke's also based in Atlanta, so I'm sure that has something to do with it, too). "Coke" can refer to Pepsi, Sprite, Dr. P, Fanta, etc... So they're all coke to me. I have friends though (transplanted from the North in their youth) that would argue otherwise.

BlogAds?

Do any of my friendly bloggy friends do BlogAds? Since it's invitation-only, is anyone willing to sponsor lil' ol' me and my blog to see if I can earn some revenue?

More Blogthings

Your Observation Skills Get A B-

Your senses are pretty sharp (okay, most of the time) And it takes something big to distract you!

How Observant Are You?

Blogthings strikes again...

Your Values Profile

Loyalty: You value loyalty a fair amount. You're loyal to your friends... to a point. But if they cross you, you will reconsider your loyalties. Staying true to others is important to you, but you also stay true to yourself. Honesty: You value honesty a fair amount. You're honest when you can be, but you aren't a stickler for it. If a little white lie will make a situation more comfortable, you'll go for it. In the end, you mostly care about "situational integrity." Generosity: You value generosity a fair amount. You are all about giving, as long as there's some give and take. Supportive and kind, you don't mind helping out a friend in need. But you know when you've given too much. You have no problem saying "no"! Humility: You value humility highly. You have the self-confidence to be happy with who you are. And you don't need to seek praise to make yourself feel better. You're very modest, and you're keep the drama factor low. Tolerance: You value tolerance a fair amount. You are open to new cultures, beliefs, and ideas. You have very few prejudices that you're aware of. And while you are tolerant, you do stand true to what you believe.

The Five Factor Values Test

I made me an avatar...

I made an avatar because I can. I don't think it's very true to life but it's a nice fantasy. Someday maybe I'll be that thin. And my hair will lay just perfect. And maybe someday that many flowery trees won't cause me to sneeze fifty times in a row.

A gal can dream.