Blog Update from Pops, 2/28/2008

This is Sara's Dad, pinch-hitting for Amelia Lourain Mayse's mommy. Miss Amelia was born at 11:35 this morning. Mommy and baby are doing fine. Daddy and Big Brother are fine too. And both sets of grandparents are ok as well. If I did this right, a couple of pictures should show up with this posting. I'm sure the full report will be posted once Sara is home.

This is what 39 4/7 weeks pregnant looks like

(picture taken 2/27/08)

Which is why I think today is a perfectly good day to go in and have a baby. (Plan A is in effect.) Yesterday I had an OB appt and then went to Forsyth for my pre-op assessment. My parents got here around 8 pm to spend the weekend with Seth. We have to be at the hospital at 9:30 this morning, and we expect to have baby #2 in daddy's arms around lunchtime. We should be coming home sometime Sunday, and I don't know if anyone will update the blog for me between now and then. Okay, time to make sure everything is organized...

Test driving the baby stuff

Yesterday Seth wanted to try out all the baby stuff that we finally put in the appropriate places on Sunday. Baby bear got a bath...And a diaper....
And took a nap...
And sat in the Boppy while Seth played...
This was taken Sunday...he knows this is "baby's swing", but every once in awhile he takes it for a short test drive.

Monday update

Hey guys...just wanted to let you know that no, we haven't made a mad dash to the hospital yet. Since I had a scheduled c-section the first time, my body has never "labored" before, so if/when I do go into labor, unless something emergent happens (or I am at work), I should have time to make a post that says "we're on our way".

The nursery has been low census for about the last three weeks, I have asked to be cancelled every night I work, but it has never worked out. We had gotten busier last week, but I requested cancellation anyways for this weekend, thinking it wouldn't work out. But several babies went home Friday, so I was granted vacation Saturday (meaning I could stay home no string attached) and Sunday I was able to be cancelled (meaning I only knew one hour in advance that I could stay home for a 4-hr interval). My dad joked that I am a slacker, but I figure I am more justified than anyone else on that unit right now, and I have more PTO than I need for my maternity leave, so why not? I ran all my errands Saturday, and Sunday we set up all the baby misc (pack n play, bouncy, car seats, etc). Seth is thrilled about "baby" riding in the back seat with him. He is such a broken record right now, he was driving us nuts talking about it as we were installing the seats in both cars yesterday.

Nathan's mom asked me last night if I remembered anything of Bryan being born (I was 2 years, 10 months...Seth will be 2 years, 8 months), and it is actually my first memory. Mom's bed had the first remote control I had ever seen, and I remember it was SO COOL to change the channel to Sesame Street while sitting in her bed. I vaguely remember that I thought I had the best outfit ever to wear to the hospital (I don't know if it was new or not), and I think I remember waking up to find our next door neighbor in my parents' bed. Of his arrival home I have a very selective memory, I really don't remember much about him being a baby. I have heard that I was very naughty after he got home...bubble gum on the walls and coloring on the TV. Since I've already learned my lesson about crayons, and Seth doesn't chew gum, we'll have to see what other trouble he'll think up....

It's about that time...

We're getting closer...feel free to place predictions on birth date (please don't answer this one if you know what plan A is...unless you think it will be some other day), time, weight, length, and hair color. Seth has said she has black hair and she's skinny, and right now I do feel like she's smaller than Seth (although she has now already been in the cooker one day longer than Seth was). Saturday I officially started to get uncomfortable, although it comes and goes in the form of heartburn, backache, or just general fatigue..no contractions, just some Braxton-Hicks, usually while I'm at work. Seth cried every time he walked past her room Wednesday..."no baby, mom, no baby, no help, no friend, no share," and yesterday he had a very sensitive day as well, though not as baby-focused.

Here is a picture of what he wore to bed last night, and this doesn't really do it justice. I had bought him a pair of cheap 3T pjs at Kmart and the top was a belly shirt the first time he wore it. I was trying to get one more wear out of the pants by pairing it with an undershirt. Seth is used to having something over the undershirt and demanded "two shirts", so I gave him three bigger shirts to choose from. He ended up wearing all three. Four shirts to bed! Then he didn't want to go to bed, he kept telling us "five minutes" and "later." So far this morning he has been really sweet, maybe today we won't be as touchy.

Ch-Ch-Changes

Okay, so some of you have never been to our house before, but basically since November every room upstairs has been rearranged in some way, shape, or form. This computer desk is the newest purchase...we have had a hand-me-down since Nathan moved to Winston.This room used to only have an air mattress in it, we made it our guest room once we started preparing for the baby to get here.
Seth's room was updated in December...he moved into Evan's bed in December, and got a toy organizer...note the Cars sleeping bag under his bed for nights when he's picky about where he sleeps.
The baby's room...the walls were this color already, we didn't feel like painting, so we just kept it light yellow.
Mom brought the final touches over yesterday...the bumper was actually Seth's, I just asked her to cut out flowers from the fabric I picked out for the crib skirt to make it more girlie. The other picture is her quilt, also made by mom (the flowery fabric is what the skirt looks like).

My parents also brought over the bassinett, and I have that stocked in my room, as well as most of the little clothes stored away. The stairs rule didn't apply to me last time, but I've heard they only want you doing one flight of stairs a day, so I'm trying to hoard stuff on the main level so I won't have to send Nathan up and down all the time

Today is...

...two weeks until my due date
...my mom's birthday
...six months until I have to fit into a bridesmaid's dress
...the day after the day Seth didn't take a nap

My snowy valentine

When I called home last night, Nathan said it was snowing and sticking. What? It was a surprise attack of the big fluffy stuff. It was very pretty driving home last night. I found this on the kitchen table when I got home:

Seth told me on the phone that there was a "mom surprise", but I thought he was just saying that our new desk had arrived. Nathan said that Seth really wanted to get me baby's breath, but Daddy vetoed it. How funny would that have been? (Especially the looks they would have received from the people at the store!)



It's supposed to get to 50 degrees today, so Seth and I went out early this morning to play in the snow. Our neighbors have grandsons that live in Raleigh that are about Seth's age who come over to visit frequently. The boys, Ryan and Tyler, just happened to spend the night last night, and Seth was invited over to sled. He LOVED it.




Our Valentine's plans are like this: get cleaned up this morning, head to Dollar Tree to pick out promised Mylar balloon, go into town to meet Nathan for lunch, hopefully a BIG nap for Seth and Mommy, weekly grocery store trip, Operation Assemble Computer Desk, and watching Wake Forest play the late game tonight. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

The magic of play

The most recent edition of Parenting magazine had an article about play. It says toddlers learn best from games they make up themselves. I think Seth read the article, he's making up all sorts of games. It all started with pretending that Nathan was Swiper the fox from Dora. Over the weekend he started telling us to freeze, and we're not allowed to move until he says, "it's o-tay, mom". Daddy has a lot more patience for these games than mommy does. He's also brought back out his letter magnets, and is working on his alphabet, now that he has mastered his shapes and can count up to fifteen.

And this needs to go in the archives: yesterday we did a marathon of errands so I wouldn't have to run any more this week. We went to Kohls to make a return. They happened to have one of their Kohls for Kids displays near the line, which is featuring Dr. Seuss right now (books and stuffed animals). He wanted to get the Fox in Socks stuffed animal (he loves that book right now, lucky me!). I told him I was not buying him a stuffed animal (he has a lot of little treats coming his way in the next few weeks), and he looked me dead in the eye and said, "Gram do." Maybe, maybe not, but I had to call my mom after that and tell her he's got her pegged.

Landon is 3!

One of Seth's best buddies, Landon, turned three this week, and we were invited over Thursday for a pizza party. Trains are the big thing in the toddler crowd right now, so Landon had a great time opening all his new Thomas stuff (we went against the grain and got him a great farm puzzle that Seth loves). The kids decorated train cakes. I have to show you Seth's finished product. At least he had fun doing it!

"Borrowing"

I didn't find this stuff myself, but I like it so much, I'm putting it on the blog...


Marie sent me a picture of this onesie yesterday, it's Seth's sign. It says:

i'm curious and mischievious

i will be a great talker

love to keep you guessing

smart, active, inquisitive

Pam sent this quote in an email the other day:

“A two-year old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it.” ~ Jerry Seinfield

Here are a couple pictures from the past few days...Seth wanted to rock the baby, the kiss was just good timing on my part, I was trying to make sure I got his socks in the picture (he's been quite opinionated about accessories lately, at least he's still letting me pick out his clothes!)Cheesing it up for the camera one night after bath....

Growth Spurt

Both my kids had a growth spurt this weekend. Seth packed in a phenomenal amount of food, and since Friday I've been on an every three hour feeding schedule myself, including during the night some nights! I hate being hungry all the time! I had a doctor appt yesterday, and the scale definitely noticed. Nathan didn't want to be left out, so he ate all weekend, too. We'll see how much weight I make him gain in the next four weeks! At my check-up I had some routine labs drawn, and I will go back again next week.

I haven't heard if this really happened yet, but Jake was supposed to be flying back to NC yesterday! He did great with his surgery and got out of the hospital in Boston Friday. Way to go Jake!

One (short) month

Today is one month from my due date. And it's the shortest month of the year! We are slowly getting ready. I haven't started obsessively cleaning yet. My MO this time seems to be to pick a random project and do that rather than say, fold laundry. Last night while Nathan was at his game I had a drill out and repaired the pantry shelves. What brought that on? I was just trying to find some canned goods I could bring into church on Sunday. I do need to make the every day projects a priority, especially laundry, since we have an upper level laundry room and I will more than likely only be allowed to do the stairs once a day. On that note, I am going to do some ironing right now while Seth is napping.

Today we went to Bounce U with Bennett and Christian. Playdates are no longer fun for the mommies, as the kids inevidently choose different things to play on. Seth made it up and down the big slide solo today, something he wasn't able to do in December. We then met Melissa, Case, and Blair for lunch. Bad idea. The boys were both getting close to naptime, Seth punctured a hole in his cup and gave it to the ladies sitting behind us (I think it happened while he was flirting), and then he dropped my keys behind the booth in the waiting area, luckily they were able to move it. I think we'll be sticking to the fast food playgrounds for awhile.