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.

video test

Nathan came home tonight and decided he needed to go shoot some hoops to unwind. Somehow he snuck out without Seth noticing. About fifteen minutes later Seth said "cold outside mom. ride bike" and pointed to his jacket. Little did we know he meant business!
Yea! It looks like it worked. This is the first time Seth's been successful at pedalling, and Nathan said that when I went to get the camera he even pedalled up the driveway. Seth has had a really good appetite the past few days...I couldn't believe the belly on him when he changed into his pj's tonight. (Takes after his mama!)
This week's project is touring the three closest preschools. Registrations are the week I'm due, so I need to have paperwork in hand and a check ready for whichever one I choose so someone can turn it in for me.

some museum time

Yesterday the Children's Museum had "Family Fun Night" with admission of $3 per person. I like to hit the days they're having a special, and it wasn't very busy at all. I had to pull Seth out after two hours, he wanted to stay and play longer! Seth is focusing on his shapes this week, he can name the big six, and he is pointing them out in real life. Even in the museum grocery store, the cheese slices were squares and the bologna circles.
Seth really wanted to be a big boy and climb the beanstalk, but he got scared whenever he went more than three leaves up. Here Seth and Case are playing at the top of the beanstalk. Case was pretending his leaf was a slide.

More little Pi Kapps

I can't believe it...we just found out Nathan's other little brother, Leebo, and his wife are expecting a girl in April! Yea! Hmm...last year there was a bunch of DZ babies, 2008 must be the year for Pi Kapps! More kids to play with at Homecoming, yea!

Will's Baptism

Sunday we went to Newton for Will's baptism. Seth played in the nursery with Ryan through the whole service. Evan went to Children's Church before the sermon, and after that Will had a lot to say about being the only kid who had to sit through church. He's going to be a talker! After church we had lunch with the cousins and watched the Wake Forest basketball game. Seth rode on the Arctic Cat with Evan...it about gave mommy heart failure, but Seth LOVED it! Note: Seth doesn't have a favorite cousin, I just happened to get two of Seth and Evan together this time. Not only did Seth have a great time playing in the nursery with Ryan, he asked to hold Will later in the day. But it looks like Aunt Sara is going to have to work on baby Will, Nathan was trying to recruit him to Team Nay-Nay!

A little more ready than we were last week...

Everyone always says you don't have time to focus on pregnancy #2 because you're too busy chasing around child #1. Stir in the fact that I don't HATE being pregnant this time and that Nathan and I don't see each other for 2-3 day stretches frequently due to my work schedule, time has really flown this time around. I had an uneventful check-up Monday (well, pregnancy-wise was uneventful, the doctor's truancy and rudeness didn't sit well with a certain pregnant lady, gotta love those hormones!) Wednesday was my baby shower. For all the Midwesterners who check this...Southerners LOVE to have wedding/baby showers, and they don't care how many times they've happened before. And my coworkers LOVE to buy baby clothes. Lucky me! Mom, Lisa, Marie, and Will were able to come, and Nathan stopped by on his lunch break (more to see Will than anything else). Second baby syndrome already: I know for a fact there were five cameras there, but somehow we only managed to take a handful of pictures. Oops! My coworkers spoiled us...we are going to have a well-dressed little girl! They also surprised me by going together on one big item...the Joovy Ultralight Sit-n-Stand stroller. It has only taken a couple spins around the main level, but I'm sure we're going to love it. Seth wants to take it out for a spin NOW, but I think I'd look pretty silly walking around with the front seat empty...
My mom brought over my old dresser when she came for the shower, but I haven't cleaned it yet, or started washing baby clothes (though I do have the detergent), so things have been piling up in the crib.
Her curtains came Friday, so those are now up. I know technically I have a lot of time left, but everyone I know seems to be having their babies a little early. Today I went to my former boss's baby shower, only to find out she had a surprise c-section/appendectomy Thursday at 35 weeks! She came to her shower on a two-hour pass from the hospital! I'm hoping that means that I am sure to go later, rather than sooner...but my bag will be packed soon just in case!

Cheese, mom!

This week Seth has been bringing me the camera with the catch phrase, "cheese, mom". He wants to look at himself in the camera. We've actually taken a couple good ones...

Monday night, pre-bedtime...
...he was in a very affectionate mood, poor Colette...

This is the only thing he found that would fit him from what I brought home from my baby shower...
Naptime on Wednesday...at that point we had negotiated naps in the guest bedroom (aka Gram's bed), here he is with his hood on, too big gardening gloves, and his new monkey DVD holder, as well as every quilt on the upper level of the house.
I have probably had this ladybug for five years now...it's been living in the basement, but my mom has nicknamed the baby "ladybug", so we moved it to her room. This caused a major meltdown and the bug being pulled by one antenna into Seth's room, but now he is okay with playing with it in sister's room.
Tired of the bedtime battles, I helped Seth pick out big boy sheets at Kmart Friday. He washed and dried them himself, and now has a big boy pillow. He was pretty excited to have new sheets on his bed! He tried to protest last night more out of habit than anything, but quickly quieted down when I told him I was going to get rid of the sheets.

First Snow of 2008

We woke up to probably about an inch of snow this morning, with the promise of freezing rain to follow. I was going to wait until later in the morning, but the snow was melting on us, so we went outside at about 8:30. Seth took a mosey through the front yard and then we walked up the street, he loved kicking through the slush.

A new little turtle!

We got an itty bitty 9 week ultrasound picture from Tim and Tiff this week. Tim was Nathan's little brother in the fraternity, and Tiff was my Rosebuddy in the sorority. It is very rare to have a Pi Kapp/DZ marriage. I can think of five in our era. Anyways, Tim and I hit it off right away, and I was thrilled when he met Tiff a year later. Seth's very first wedding was theirs when he was five weeks old. I already know part of what this baby is getting...Tim is from Virginia and a HUGE VT fan, I'll head to the Deacon Store to help Tiff balance it out...
...and of course, at least one turtle!

Posing

Jessica had requested another belly picture...this is us at 33 weeks... Seth wanted his picture taken too...this is how he posed...(please note the Tyrone gardening gloves)

Whenever I cut his hair shorter, I think he looks more like Nathan. By the way, Nathan and I have a bet going about what color this girl's hair is going to be. Nathan thinks she's blonde. I think she's a brunette. (Of course there's a good chance she could be bald, too.)

Seth is chattering our ears off. Today the word of the day was "recycle". I think I heard it 752 times while we were at the grocery store (where we recycled some plastic bags). We are in big trouble because we didn't go back to Chik-fil-a today, but I have promised we would go with Daddy one day next week. Seth has the memory of an elephant right now. We might have to make good on that promise Monday so we can check it off the list!

My early weekend

I have to work this weekend, so I guess the past two days pass for a weekend. Yesterday Seth and I did a mall run/Case playdate combo. Very fun. I was exhausted after a very busy Tuesday with an early wake-up call, but Seth kept the day fun. Last night he woke up at 11 with presumably a bad dream. Fifteen minutes later he was howling again. I threw him on the guest bed with me and never heard from him again until 7am, we slept so hard we didn't even hear Nathan leave.

Seth started the day with a new phrase "read book mom". So how could I resist? We made a Target run, and afterwards he wanted to EAT. We went to Chik-fil-a, he ate a hearty lunch, and then we went to the play area. SOMEBODY is now officially a big boy. He can now make it all the way to the top and go down the slide. He came down proud as a peacock. We didn't have anything else to do, so I let him play for an hour. He even got to the point that he was helping another little guy make it through, seeing as he was now the expert. The boy started crying at the top and Seth patted him and said "it's okay". It was almost a scene when I decided we should head home for naptime, but I told him he could tell Daddy all about it later.

Our friends' boy, Jake, had major heart surgery today in Boston. Please send some thoughts/prayers their way. I have his website on my links column. Also new, Confessions of a CF Husband. I don't know this family personally, but they have an amazing story going on right here in NC (the mom is in ICU awaiting a double lung transplant and the baby is a preemie in the NICU, both are patients at Duke). I had been keeping tabs on their blog all week, hoping for the best. I am so thankful my blog consists of mundane things like running errands!

In other news, we have informed our immediate family of Plan A for the baby's arrival. No, I'm not going to post it here...most people have unscheduled deliveries, so why would I give you several weeks' notice for ours? Please note that I did type Plan A...I am going to try to always remember that she's going to come when she wants to come, which may not be the day we have it scheduled for!

the latest sleepwear trend

Ideally, you need a blue bucket hat, but in a pinch, any old hat will do...

Seth was keeping my side of the bed warm when I got home from work last night. I carried him upstairs and he asked for a hat as soon as I put him in his bed. He's been sleeping with hats on the past few days, not sure why. Makes for some bad hair days, though!

the name game

So Seth's vocabulary is improving every day, here are his versions of things:

• "gram"=grandma
• "E"=Lisa OR Elise
• Michael sounds like it should or uncle, depending on how he says it
• I am no longer "mom", I am "mop"
• Nathan is either "Nee", "Nay", "dad", or "daddy"
• counting goes like this "2-2-3-2-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12"
• he can usually tell you the next letter of the alphabet, but his favorite is MNOP

The cookieman game from Christmas continues (evidently he's living in a tree in our front yard). Everything is "Seth do"....he is asserting his independence in a BIG way. Last night we watched the UNC/Clemson basketball game and Seth was fascinated with the orange "CLUE!"s that were all over the court. Everytime he saw one, he told us, and every once in awhile he'd decide it should go into his "notebook" (a la Blues Clues).

We've got some beautiful (high 60s) weather today, I think we'll go outside and look for the cookieman once Seth gets up from his nap....

Dress shopping!

Friday morning we had a last-minute playdate with Case, meaning since I worked that afternoon, our house was nowhere near ready for company (or our fridge). While I was at work, Mom, Dad, Lisa, and Michael came over. Seth was very excited to have so many people to play with. My parents helped us with a home improvement project yesterday morning, then Mom and Lisa headed to a dress shop. I joined them a little over an hour later. By that time, Lisa had narrowed down her dress selection down to the final two. Then we started looking at bridesmaids' dresses. Lisa had to model those too, I wasn't much help. Luckily, measurements aren't due until April, so by then I'll have a better idea of what size to get.

We told Michael this is what her dress looks like (you didn't think I'd post the real thing, did you?)


Mom and Dad headed home yesterday afternoon, but Lisa and Michael just left a little while ago. Seth is talking a lot more, Dad said he could tell a difference just in the past week. And all you non-Wake fans, never fear, the Deacon is not the only thing he is fanatical about. Last night he had to point out every apple at Applebees! Seth was up from 3-5:30 this morning, and I still haven't figured out why. We ended up sleeping in the guest room for the remainder of the morning. He wanted nothing to do with me all day, since he had Lisa and Michael there. I have been fighting the crud for well over a week now, it's starting to feel like a sinus infection, and I keep getting a twitch in my left eye. I broke down and took a half dose of Tylenol with Benadryl last night, but it did nothing (which is probably a good thing or someone else would have had to dealt with Seth). Tonight I'm going to test out a full dose, if that doesn't provide some relief, I'll be cracking out the list of safe medications. You know I hate to take them, but it's time to get better!

Have you seen the Deac?

If you can't find him, just put Seth on the case. Last night we were given tickets to the Wake Forest-Presbyterian (Blue Hose) basketball game. We made it a family affair, figuring it wouldn't be a high turn-out game, so Seth would do okay. He made it his job to spot every Deacon in the Coliseum, and then would inform us whenever someone new walked in with a Deac on their clothes. The boy has eagle eyes! He ate his way through the game too...a whole corn dog, as much ice cream as he could get his parents to share, and popcorn in the second half to keep his little hands busy.

Evidently Presbyterian has just gone Division I, but we used to play them at LR. Seth and I took a potty break when the score was something like 22-6. We came back and it was almost tied up! Luckily they got it together in the second half and were able to win. It would have been an embarassing loss!