All the pain, no gain

Yesterday morning I woke up sure that I must have run a long or hard route on Sunday at some point. However, it was just the aftermath of massive leg cramps that woke me up a few times overnight. My calves and the soles of my feet kept cramping up overnight, I know it's likely a potassium deficiency, I've been told to eat more bananas. Like I really need to eat just about the only fruit around that can be binding. Not happening. This morning I've got to get weighed and I'm pretty sure I gained about 3 pounds last week, just because nothing seems to want to leave my body once it goes in. I've been eating smaller, more frequent meals because I'm back to a low-level lingering nausea similar to that of the first trimester. I was hoping that would also help with moving things along throughout the digestive tract, but alas, no luck there.

Our neighbor across the street invited us over to her pool yesterday afternoon and it was wonderful. The boys have these great "floatie suits" with enough flotation that I don't have to worry about them in the pool and I know they're never far enough from me that I couldn't reach them within a couple seconds. With only one of me, I stay near one of them but they switch off swimming around on their own. Hot Wheels decided he loves the diving board and spent probably 30 minutes constantly jumping off and going around to do it again. We're still in the 80s with 90%+ humidity. Last night we went for a 30-minute walk with the kids and the dogs. When we got back I took another shower because I was completely drenched. Today we're headed to the beach with another friend and her two kids so that will be fun. They're predicting the third "heat wave" of the summer starts this afternoon or tomorrow- that's at least three days in a row with temperatures in the 90s. I foresee my butt becoming one with the couch for much of the next few days, unless we're going to the beach. Superman woke me up at 3:50am this morning and I've been up ever since, I also hope there's a nap in my future this afternoon when we return from the beach.

Guess I should get ready for my doctor's appt. What fun, getting weighed and measured again. I'm planning to decline the internal exam if they want to do one- I'm of the theory that nothing should be going in until we're pretty sure someone's getting ready to come out. Third time around, it's not like I'm worried labor will start and I'll miss it. I still don't have my bag packed for the hospital, we've got plans for at least the next week so a trip to the hospital if not an option right now. I hope Critter agrees.

Pregnancy status: 12 days to go.

Bringing wimpiness to new heights

I can't imagine anyone living through pregnancy in the southern US. I suppose if you live in the south you might have more of a heat tolerance than us northern states dwellers, but still, it's got to stink. Yesterday was only in the 80s but with the weather reports all showing 100% humidity it's just gross. I'm really trying to ignore all the complaints and enjoy this precious time at home but I have some really lazy, whiny moments. Fortunately this humidity is supposed to break at some point tomorrow, today will likely not involve a lot of movement on my part.

I found a copy of Ironfit at a local used bookstore recently and while cleaning my room last week I found it again and looked through it a bit. Kind of funny to me that I was too lazy to move off the couch but I wanted to read about what I think of as one of the ultimate fitness tests. I was surprised to see that there's an ironman training schedule that maxes out at 10 hours per week of training. Of course that's for the "finish and remain conscious" plan, I'd like to wait until I've got enough time to devote to at least the intermediate plan. I mentioned it to SuperDad the other day and he's completely NOT on board with me attempting anything of that magnitude until the kids are much older- like all teenagers. Which is fine. I think I'm going to make 2008 the "year of the run" with 1 or 2 sprint tris thrown in. I want to get a good heart rate monitor- that's my main gear investment to myself this Christmas. I'm not sure whether to go for the Polar S625 or Garmin 305 Forerunner. I know I might not need some of the features, but being a science geek, I greatly enjoy graphs and I think that motivation I could get from being able to track and graph my own progress is worth the investment and then I can grow into the other "serious athlete" features. I've been saving my extra money for a while so I should be able to cover the cost of either one, I just want to get the best product for that kind of money.

I've been told I should pack my hospital bag today. For the past week almost everyone has had to tell me their story or that or someone else that delivered the baby two weeks early. I'm not worried and really, it's not in my plan to go early, so I'm just assuming it won't happen. I realize, however, that this has no actual bearing on when critter will arrive, so I guess I'll pack.

I'm a winner!! I checked out Mallie's blog (http://saddlesoretosebring.blogspot.com/) this morning and found that my guess was closest to her actual mileage for the 24 Hours of Booty. I feel badly because it's obvious she could have smoked right past my guess (247 miles) if the weather had cooperated. Either way she's awesome for all the work she put into training and fundraising, quite an accomplishment.

Off to church, maybe I'll get to sit near a fan. Pregnancy status: 14 days to go. Hoping the humidity clears out.

Hoping it never ends

Here's a recap of the first three days of my official maternity leave. Monday morning we all went shopping at the local wholesale club store, since I'll be eating all my meals at home for the next few months we need more food around the house! That's not the only reason, but it's part. Then in the afternoon, because it was a great rainy day, the boys put on their raincoats and boots, we grabbed some umbrellas and hit all the neighborhood puddles.

Yesterday we went to Monster Mini Golf, which we thought was a bit lame, but did scare Hot Wheels enough that he was a bit nervous at bedtime about the monster we had seen. After trying to convince him that all of the monsters were just machines, he ended up sleeping just fine but has told us we don't have to go back there any time soon.

Today we hit the local children's museum for a couple hours. Then after dinner, the boys and I hit the beach for about an hour and a half. They've got these great flotation bathing suits and with Superman recently deciding that he enjoys the water, we're having a blast at the beach.

I'm really trying to get all the "play time" in that I can before Critter decides to arrive. Life is really so easy, I've got two free hands all the time, we're mobile without diaper bags and massive amounts of stuff, we don't have to cater to the schedule of an infant and while I'm a bit uncomfortable it's just easy right now. Although, I can't quite keep up for a whole day. We've had some down time every day, this afternoon I took a nap for about half an hour while Superman was sleeping and Hot Wheels was playing with Super Dad. The funny thing is I used to be the queen of the afternoon nap. A 30-minute nap would work wonders for me, not give me insomnia which is seems to have done today since it's nearly 11pm and my normally- ready- for- bed- at- 9pm body just isn't sleepy. I guess that's just one of the many ways that things have changed for me over the years.

Another fun little twist I added yesterday was walking into the baseboard molding in the hallway and, I'm pretty sure, breaking my pinky toe. I've broken quite a few toes, and a pinky toe is no big deal, just a pain, especially when walking on the sand at the beach. Oh well.

Guess that's about it from here. Just the really fun to live, but really mundane to post stuff I'm living now. Pregnancy status: 18 days to go (and hoping it's not one day sooner!) Although I do have to add that I will completely be thrilled to meet Critter once he or she arrives, I just like to plan things and coming early doesn't really fit with those plans.

All cooked, checking things off

As of today Critter will be considered a full-term baby any time he or she decides to arrive. I've been so fortunate to have carried all three kids to full term as I know so many parents that have dealt with the difficulties of premature newborns and the NICU. As a former 3 lb 2 oz premie born at 30 weeks myself, I can attest to the fact that many of us turn out just fine, but the stress of starting off with a newborn that potentially has severe issues must be so difficult for parents.

Even though I haven't yet had a work day at home on this maternity leave, we're already ahead of schedule on a few things I wanted to get done. I cleaned out my car today and we moved the boys' car seats to the "big-boy-backseat" of the van. We've also got the baby's car seat base in the middle seat of the van. We didn't want the boys to feel the baby was displacing them, so we decided to move them before the baby arrived, and to make sure that everything would work out logistically with the new arrangement. The boys think it's cool that they're in the cool new seat, all the way in the back. We even put in a toy carrier someone gave us a couple years ago since we won't just be able to reach back and hand them stuff, so they'll be quite self-sufficient, I'm sure. Hot Wheels could technically be in a booster seat now anyway because he's old enough and heavy enough, but the dr. said there's no harm in using the 5-point seat as long as we want. We'll leave him there until we need the convertible seat Superman's in for Critter, then everyone will move up.

I've got a lot more on my to-do list, some jobs small, some bigger. I've talked it over with Critter quite often, as long as he or she wait until the appropriate time to arrive (three weeks from today or more) we'll get off to a fine start. I've just got too much to do until then.

We had a great day yesterday, Super Dad's family reunion party at a country club about an hour from us. They had a great pool, almost like a beach with a gradual walk-in that doesn't get more than 4 feet deep- we were in there over 2 hours. There was a small pond with paddle boats- that was quite a good workout. The section the family had was in a pavilion at the top of a hill. That hill provided quite a workout, too, by the time we got home, I was beat. We've got parties the next two Saturdays which should also be fun for all of us. I'm waddling along as best as I can to keep up, and enjoying every minute of it.

I've been checking out IMUSA on line a couple times today. I've told Super Dad if I were ever to do an IM race, that's the one I'd shoot for. Not sure I could ever survive that bike course, the elevation profile looks killer, the run doesn't look like any picnic, either. But if I'm going to go for it, I'll go big. Some day.......

I Love the "Out of Office Assistant"

I'm sitting at my desk trying not to fall asleep as I proofread a paper for a colleague here on my last day at work before maternity leave. I'm not doing very well as insomnia has hit full force this week and despite being quite tired I have found myself wide awake for 2-3 hours each of the last three nights. Those 2-3 hours were during times that I would have preferred sleeping, or at least watching a better selection of TV shows, but there's very little of interest on between 1-4am. I am well informed on the Power 90 weightloss program, the benefits of the Jack LaLanne juicer, some investment program that could make me rich- not the one with Carlton Sheets, though, and I've caught bits and pieces of random B level movies that were interesting enough until the commercial then I'd start flipping again. For some reason I like the movie Deep Blue Sea. About the shark that gets mutated to human levels of intelligence and then manages to destroy a whole underwater sea lab where LL Cool J is the chef. That one wasn't on, but it's in the same genre as the ones that were.

Anyway, I wrote out my e-mail "out of office" reply. Anticipated return: November 5th! That's 15 weeks and 3 days from now. For 108 days I don't have to think about this place, or even drive by. Bliss. I can't turn on the out of office for about 5 hours more, but it's all set to go. My desk is all packed, someone will be moving me to a new office while I'm gone, my gym locker's cleaned out, all done.

It's so cute because the boys have been counting down with me all week. At my morning check-in call to home Hot Wheels got on the phone and said "Mom, today is your vacation day!" I told them we could go and get ice cream when I get home and they were very excited about eating ice cream before dinner. We'll be watching The Incredibles and having a pizza picnic. I've got about a hundred things I'd like to get done before the baby arrives but in reality, I'm big and uncomfortable and the temperatures are likely to be in the 90's next week. That leads to mom-on-the-couch, with a few trips to air conditioned venues. I've got some stuff to be done around the house, thorough room cleaning jobs that have piled up recently, and I'll give a good effort, but with 12 weeks at home after the baby arrives, I'll have time. I think. I know it will fly by and I want to make the most of it. If that means more time with the boys (and critter) and less time cleaning, so be it. Last time around, I'm going to make the most of it.

Maybe I should get back to work. Zzzzz.....

Pregnancy status: 23 days to go!

Credit card fraud

Check your credit card/ bank statement for a charge that looks like:
VIP Tune Limassol
VIP Tune Limassol Cy
VIP Tune 6 Cyp

These are all possible fraudulent charges. Our card was charged $29.99 and we've never done business with VIP Tune, a music download site. So now we get new cards, cut up the old ones, blah, blah. A small hassle, but make sure you check that it doesn't happen to you. We're not the only ones, here's a yahoo thread of people affected:
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index.php?qid=20070714103924AAlXXn2

I-I-I'm n-n-not c-c-c-cold, M-m-m-mom

I heard that this afternoon after Hot Wheels and I had been in the water at the beach for about an hour and a half, coming from between bluish lips with chattering teeth when I suggested we get out of the water to warm up on the beach. I think the boys are on their water to becoming water rats, a wonderful thing to their former childhood water rat mom. Superman has been much more resistant to the water thing this summer, thanks in large part to crabs I think I've mentioned before. Today I just put him in his float-enhanced suit and gave him no option other than coming in the water with us. He was perfectly happy, as long as one of us was holding him well out of the range of the crabs on the sandy bottom. It's been practically a perfect weekend, I even got some physical activity in, not bad for a nine-months pregnant lady!

Yesterday morning we got up and went raspberry picking in the morning. I think the boys probably ate half a pint each, I ate about a pint, and we picked two pints to bring home. Fresh raspberries are awesome, and we're planning to go blueberry picking when I'm maternity leave. The boys are berry and cherry nuts, another thing they inherit from me. The only unfortunate part is that all of them have seasons close to the same time and then in the winter I'm stuck paying $5 for about 8 anemic blueberries or we're eating frozen cherries which, while decent, just aren't the same.

We got home, had some lunch and then headed off to the park to play. We brought the soccer ball with us and our baseball stuff. The boys enjoyed dribbling the soccer ball around and scoring goals and then we all played some baseball. Here's my favorite picture. We have no idea how Hot Wheels knew what position a catcher would take behind the plate, but when Superman got up to bat, he said he'd catch. My favorite picture is above, taken right before Superman hit the ball and ran the bases. They may have a slightly inflated sense of their baseball prowess since whenever they play with us, any hit gets them a home run. Mom and Dad can never seem to catch them! They'll learn eventually. Right now I'm just impressed that our four and two-and-a-half year olds can hit from pitches. They certainly do their fair share of missing, but they hit them with enough frequency that we can actually enjoy it a bit more, too. I even ran a few laps of the bases with Superman, fortunately his run speed is pregnant mom's jog speed, so I could keep up.

After some snacks in the shade, we headed off to the pet store for some fish for our new 5-gallon tank. I brought my betta fish, Frank, home from work about three weeks ago when I was getting ready to move to my new job. I knew I'd be out for a while and didn't have anyone to feed him, so he came home to live in the bathroom. The boys loved him and were much more interested in him than I had anticipated. Unfortunately, he was three and a half years old and passed away this week. Superman seemed sad until I told him he could flush Frank. He thought that was great. But now whenever anyone goes to the bathroom he asks if he can see Frank in the potty. We had the five gallon set up for a few days and yesterday we bought two fish- Pokey and Pouncy and two frogs- Cokey and Bouncy. (Superman has Pokey and Cokey, Hot Wheels liked Pouncy and Bouncy) Each boy picked out rhyming names for their fish and frog, kind of funny. This week I'll pick up a couple catfish and the tank will be complete. What more could you want in a bathroom? We've got fun and entertainment everywhere in our house. Of course the boys found a ton of pets they'd like to have. I see some reptiles in our future. Which I don't mind, but I will not buy any pet that will eat live mice. Crickets might be okay, but not mice.

Topped off the evening with a pizza picnic to watch an animated movie and the boys were out cold before 8pm. Nice. We even watched a non-animated big people movie, which we haven't done in months!

This morning there was enough coverage for childcare at church that I was actually able to attend, and listen to, a service and sermon which was a very nice change. Then we got home, had lunch, headed to the beach and now we're hanging out, reading, playing with Star Wars, NASCAR race cars, Elefun, etc. Just a nice afternoon. I can't wait until I'm done with work Friday afternoon, then I've 15 weeks of every day being Saturday!

Pregnancy status: 28 days to go.

Meet Stormtrooper

Sometimes the spoiling is so worth it.

Wouldn't you love to be fighting with him on your side?

Random Stuff

There are 26 steps up to my new office. This afternoon I was carrying some boxes, not even really heavy ones, and I took the elevator.

This morning my workout burned 247 calories according to the elliptical trainer. That used to be a warm-up. After the gym I showered and then drove the 1/2 mile to my building.

I just realized last night that after the baby arrives I won't be able to go to the beach with the boys right away. Thanks to those pads-the-size-of-my-head that I'll be wearing for a few weeks. How did I forget about that little detail?! No swimming for most of August into September, ugh. (Sorry if that was more information than you needed)

I was supposed to have lunch with friends but they canceled at the last minute. Now I'm sitting in my cubicle and haven't spoken to anyone in over two hours. Then again, sometimes that's good.

When I did speak with someone a little over two hours ago I was informed that I didn't make the promotion cut for this year. I've now been here eight years without a single promotion. Crap.
After that talk I ate a brownie from the break room, and it was good- probably more than 247 calories, though.

Guess we won't be putting the mudroom on the house afterall, as I was hoping the promotion would cover the financing.

I hadn't gained any weight in the past two weeks at my doctor's appt yesterday, which is good.

I get to be the coolest mom in the world this afternoon when I arrive home with a Stormtrooper Fathead to put on the boys' wall. I'll take pictures.

Being the coolest mom in the world, even if only temporarily, really makes all that other stuff completely unimportant.

I've only got 7 more work days until maternity leave starts. Then I've got almost 4 months of just being mom- that's sort of like Heaven.

At least I can end on a cheerful note.

Pregnancy status- 32 days to go.

Pumping Iron

I would imagine that many people in our area were disappointed with the July Fourth weather yesterday. I, however, had the perfect day. We were up at our normal time, somewhere between 5:30 and 6 a.m. We headed off to the beach a little before 9 a.m. and managed to catch the last 30 minutes or so of sunshine before the clouds moved in. We left the beach around 11 a.m. and we were clearly the first people to leave the beach as the attendants parking cars looked at us as if we were crazy. We live near a state park and the beach there at 9 o'clock was pretty much empty. By 11 o'clock it was hard to find a clear path to steer the jogging stroller through to get back to the walkway to the parking lot. We overheard some people talking about how they were in the car over an hour and a half to get there and it reminded me, once again, how lucky we are to live 2.5 miles away. We do have a small beach problem, though, Superman. Last summer, he loved the beach. This summer, not so much. He seems like a fearless kid much of the time but he's got two big fears in life, bugs and crabs. All winter he talked about crabs at the beach and how they were going to pinch him. We assured him that crabs do live in the water at the beach, but they won't pinch him. It took all of five minutes on our first trip to the beach in May for us to be made into liars. We sunblocked the kids and sent them off to the water. As SuperDad and I were setting up the blankets and such we hear Superman in near hysterics about 4 feet from the edge of the water. Sure enough, a blue crab, large enough that it would have been a keeper, had pinched his toe. The woman next to us said she'd been coming to this beach for 50 years and she'd never seen a blue crab on the open water side. And, of course, it had to be right near Superman. Ever since then, he cries when he's in the water and if he's ever touched by a piece of seaweed, or steps on a shell he falls apart. We've tried holding his hand as he walks and cries, because we just can't carry him all the time. Then he gets out of the water, plays in the sand and cries because his hands are sandy. We tell him to wash the sand off and he cries because his hands are wet. And yet, we get in the car and what's the first thing he says "We go beach again another day. Have fun at beach." At least he remembers things in a positive light.

After the beach and showers to get off the sand we had lunch and the kids watched a movie. I put Superman down for a nap and he protested quite loudly. I made a deal with him that if he was still awake in 10 minutes he could get back up and play and not take a nap. He made it to about 4 minutes and then slept for a while. He woke up again crying, so I went and laid down next to him, he curled up with his arms around my neck and fell asleep. I was going to wait a few minutes until he was in a deeper sleep to move his arms and get out of the bed. Next thing I knew it was 45 minutes later and he was still curled up with me, sleeping. There was a nice breeze and soft rain outside, it had been the perfect afternoon for a nap. After our cookout dinner, good thing Dad braved the rain to grill, we all played some games and then the kids did their normal wrestling/running around thing until bedtime. A great day.

Since I mentioned nothing about working out at all, you might wonder where the pumping iron came in to title this post. A few weeks ago my bloodwork showed that my iron levels were quite low. This was the same time I had a few posts complaining about exhaustion. Apparently, the two were directly related. The addition of the iron supplemented multi-vitamin has made a world of difference in my energy level. This weeks workouts were much better than the past few weeks, and I've stayed away from junk food, for the most part, since last week. It's amazing how much the proper nutrition changed everything. I've even lost a little weight, I had gotten a little carried away with the empty calories for about six weeks there and packed on a bit more than I should have. I'm certainly not trying to diet, but eating well compared with what I have been doing might lead to a leveling off the weight gain. The unfortunate part is that I haven't quite added enough fiber to my diet to compensate for the extra iron, so the old digestive system isn't quite so happy. Oh well. Off to my bowl of Special K red berries and a banana. Feels to be back in the swing of things.

Pregnancy status- 38 days to go!