Sick Day.

A really gross, gross sick day.  You don't want to know the details.  But I have been moaning and pouting and really NOT enjoying life.

I won't even force DHH to wear his costume that involves a brain hat tonight.  Ordinarily I have more fight in me than this.  He put up such a fight that I am not even adding the felt lungs or intestinal tract to his costume.  (How is that for revenge?)

Oh, and he has a black eye from an unfortunate accident with a push car.

But I am the sick one.  He is healthy as a truck and as busy motoring the house as one, too.

A Few Pregnancy Milestones (No, There Is NOT a Bump Photo!)

Sorry, Mindy, I am not keen on photographing myself expanding.  Sure I like to look at OTHER people who do this... its just out of my personal comfort zone.  I think he has to do with body image dysmorphia that I will likely always experience as a consequence of how my brain works around eating and self esteem.

But anyway, I digression aside, I have had a few milestones today in my pregnancy.

Its the sixteenth week, so I feel pretty confident about the health and well being of my baby.  I know I could experience preterm labor, and that this is the time when most brain function is being well established and organs are really cooking in there, so its still risky.  But my personal fears of miscarriage are really dim now.

LOOK at this puffy coat!!  

The first milestone happened twice today - baby movement!  I am pretty sure I have been feeling movement for the last month or so, despite what the preggo books say about not being able to feel a baby that early.  I think I am really in tune with my body.  But today the movements were bigger.  Not shoulder shoves or soccer kicks, but really big bumps and shifts in position.  The first time was in Panera after eating a big salad and while I was reading (a wonderful moment even without baby moves).  The second time I was shopping and had just decided on what I wanted hair dryer to replace my dead one at home (another fun moment, even  minus baby wiggles).

The next milestone is extreme fatigue.  I can clearly remember having to sit down at the end of the aisle in Target and just take a break during some Christmas shopping.  This happened to me TWICE today.  Once I sat near the stationary and just rested, the other time I sat down in the little girls' shoe aisle because it had an unoccupied bench.  I literally felt like my legs were going to give out and I'd just take a thirty minute nap!

Two other interesting pregnancy tidbits:
1) I am a full size smaller in pregnancy jeans this time than last.  Perhaps TWO.  Maybe this means I can shop for more things?? (Or not, since I am not working full time and I do have several other things and basically pregnancy clothes are baggy and stretchy no matter what... but geesh, I wish!)


2) The barfing continues.  I've started only dry heaving in the mornings before 8 AM (so maybe this isn't the most INTERESTING tidbit!)  and puking before noon.  The rest of the time I am just hella nauseous, but only puke if I am working too hard or eat much of anything.  This probably sounds like a really bad thing, but its mostly a good thing! It means I less sick feeling for most of the day, and it means I can participate in good life things, like cooking, playing, phone chats, etc.

Unexpectedly Long Nap Times

This will be something I beg for later, I am sure, when I am staying home with two children.

Right now my son is sleeping.  He's been tired since 10 AM, but since we were already out and about (15 month old check up), I drug him to Hobby Lobby so I could get some felt and craft supplies to create his Halloween costume and some finger puppets.  Don't worry, I will update you on my amazingly creative domesticity and these projects later.  Prepare to be amused or jealous!!

When we got home, it was after 11:30 AM and he was T.I.R.E.D.  Too tired for lunch, but just enough energy to survive a diaper change (he wore these today and I was amazed how wonderful they work with just ONE insert) and a round of Old MacDonald.

While he was asleep, I cleaned out the fridge, prepared some rice pilaf (using 1 cup of the 20 lbs!), got the crock pot going with an adventurous Indian recipe (I had all on hand), watched Dr. Oz for a bit, looked up recipes for making marinara sauce out of the dozen or so tomatoes we picked from our plants this week, started laundry, edited a few photos for color, and wrote three emails.  I also entered a win these diapers contest. and did random other things like put the plants we protected from last night's freeze back outside.

Its been productive.

Note: : The nap lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes.  I expect he will go down for a shorter nap around 4:30 PM so he can survive the night.  Its really fun having a kid who is getting closer and closer to doing 1 long nap a day!  I bet he will start sleeping 12:30 to 4 PM in a month or so! Oh... he also woke up with singing noises and I found him reading a book to himself!

He really enjoyed collecting the leaves.  Or picking them up and trying to eat them while we said, "No baby! Not food! Not tasty!".

Maternity Pants.

I just remembered these wonderful camel colored cordoroy pants I had from my last pregnancy.  I wore them all day and I LOVE THEM!

Basically, I think most types of pants should take some tips from the fit and feeling of maternity pants.  They are a bit more generous and not too low rise (which would be GREAT for all those teenage back skin and top butts I saw in my years of teaching).  Also, they are really comfortable.  Just like wearing sweats when you are wearing jeans or dress pants.  Of course, I also do just wear sweats.  But this feels like cheating!

These pants also often come in S, M, L sizing... which is nice to get away from the numbered sizing.  Oh, if you do go with sized pants, usually you wear A SIZE SMALLER (or two!) from Gap or Old Navy (Not Liz Lange of Target, they are not as kind with the numbered sizing).  That's a good thing!  Its like ordering or buying sweats because the sizing is so kind.

The worst part of maternity pants is the droop in the back.  They aren't bootylicious.  And usually after five hours, they are a little low, which is a bummer.  I find that wearing the Bella Bands really helps to belt them up though!

Here's to a month's worth of maternity pant wearing!  Hopefully I have five more of them ahead of me!

Invite Only! How Fancy He Is!

Today I made my son's blog private.  I was spurred by another mother's attempt to make her son's CF journey and life scrapbook of a blog private.  She said something like, "he used to be a generic baby, but now he is definitely his own person with a real identity" and she wanted to protect him from being out on the internet too much.

I agree that fetuses and young infants are kind of generic.  Exciting details about height and weight and ultra cute baby photos aside, most pregnancy and infant blogs are pretty similar.

I'll still include these super cute photos on this public blog though.  Let's face it, I don't have much else material.

In the last six months, my son has become more than just some regular old baby.  He's got his own story to tell.  And usually, he is telling it in a singsong voice at 100 decibels! And probably he will want to tell it in his own voice, once he speaks English and knows how to tell a story.

This sweater is from 1987, and his GGma Landolt made it for his Uncle Wes.  He's got another one two sizes larger, so you''ll notice similar photos in a year or so.

Until then, I will continue to publish my views of his growth and development, which includes potentially sensitive material (aka potty learning) that he probably wouldn't want the WWW to know about himself in a few years.  Or if he becomes a remarkable leader or has a public life.

I do intend to publish each year in a blog-to-book format, but lately the time and $ factors have prevented me from doing this.  I hope he enjoys these little year books.... well, I will, anyway, and I might not be able to part with them for HIS own coffee table one day.

I did a Google Image search, and I didn't find any photos of him that I'd added to the internet.  That made me feel comfortable using the photos on this site, since I refer to him as DHH or Sweet Baby or Monkey Man or Precious Heart or some other name.  I never call him DHH to his face though, that is just his mom being too lazy at the keyboard.  Just in case you thought I actually named my kid letters instead of genuine names.

He actually napped through their target practice.  He came out in time to play with the ear protection though!

If you Google Mrs. Haid, that is a whole other story.  I feel a little sorry for the other 12 Mrs. Haids of the world.  They are totally hidden in the internet by all the rambles I have made on here and the boatload (haha, always makes me think of butt load and a Michael Scott joke!) of photos from my fairly ordinary fabulous life.

I love this photo of DHH being silly on my dad's lap.  He thinks sunglasses are just as funny as these  things.

So, that's the story with his blog being private.   Assuming things go well for this current pregnancy, I'll be moving the Fabulous H2's blog to private next year.  And protecting another child from the over exposure of a bloggy mom!

Confession: I Haven't Seen 10:00 PM In a LONG Time.

Also, 9:45PM.

No matter what I am doing - watching Castle, reading a book, working on a lesson - I fall asleep on the couch sometime around 9:30 PM.  And I remain sleeping solidly until about 12:15 AM, when I stumble to the bathroom and then into my so cozy bed.

This aspect of my days is so lazy.  I could just get into pajamas and tuck myself into bed at 9:25, knowing I will be asleep so soon.  But for some reason, the fall asleep on the couch sleep feels so good.  It is so much more restful and I feel like I don't really need the extra six hours I get from bed sleep.

I did this for awhile two other times in the last two years, and it was a good run then, too.  I think when I get too pregnant for couch lazing to be comfortable I will have to stop the trend.  Or when I feel extremely lazy instead of just kind of lazy.


Here's a photo of my alarm clock most mornings:

Not Too Chatty These Days. Must Be Due to White Castle Odors or Massive Quantities of Rice.

I started three posts in the last three days, and I did not have the energy to complete them.  Or the passion to commit to what I was writing.

If I don't publish every day or so, I get into a slump, and then I get writers' block.  I would like to avoid this.

So I will tell you two kind of ridiculous stories.


Story 1)  
A White Castle restaurant opened on my side of town on Sunday.  I have been stalking the construction progress and presence of employee cars in the lot, so when I saw it was open, I really wanted to go.  I was even bummed that my husband didn't get any on the day it opened, even though the wait was about 45 minutes per order.  So today I packed up the Tot and made a trip to the WC.  We waited (only 20 minutes this time) in a line that did NOT go out the door, but did wrap around the store.  I will tell you that I was so nauseous today that the idea of WC really wasn't appealing.  BUT IT IS NEW AND JUST OPENED AND I HAD TO GO SINCE I HAVE BEEN PUMPED FOR THREE MONTHS.   I tried to eat the fries, which were tasty, but could not choke down a burger. I ordered several extra as a nicety for my husband, and I put the left overs aside while I did the rest of my errands.  Then I forgot I had them in the car.  That is, until I did two nonsoiled diaper changes, each time expecting to find a huge mess in my son's FuzziBunz.  Each time, no soppy poppy mess.  WTH??  It was only after the second unnecessary diaper change that I realized IT WAS THE WHITE CASTLE STINKING UP THE CAR.  


Story 2:
I received twenty pounds of rice today, free of charge, as a perk of participating in a major rice study in the College of Food Sciences today.  TWENTY POUNDS.  The rest of the participants were Asian.  I asked, and many said that this would be a month's worth of food for their family, provided they eat rice breakfast, lunch, and dinner most days, as is the custom for many traditional Asian families.  I estimate that this rice will last us over a year, because we have rice twice a month, at best.   And often that is a half a cup of instant rice, mixed in with crock pot chili.  Maybe this will be my new ingredient challenge and foster a love for cooking with rice.  Maybe.  I tried a rice recipe I saw Jessica Seinfeld make on Oprah today, and it used only 1.5 cups of rice, and 90% of the rice wasn't eaten.  I think I have too much rice.

Tradition Set in Stone - MU Homecoming 2010

Here are a few photographs from this morning and the afternoon parade.

He recognizes Truman from a bobblehead we have at home.  He really likes familiar things!  We taught him how to roar when he sees a tiger, and he did it later on in the morning at the parade!

His mouth is open because he is saying, "A-Dag!"

 He was pointing to the monkeys on a golf cart.

We watched in front of Memorial.

He pranced around the crowd for a half hour while we waited for the parade to begin and for his dad to return from Lowry Mall McDs.

My favorite scene from the day.

He really enjoyed the bands and dancers.

This was the Chess Club.  They all had chess hats.

We really enjoyed Sleepy Baby Mode.  He hasn't fallen asleep in public in months.  Or a year.  Running around and being peppy for three hours made him sleep!

He missed seeing the Weinie Mobile. 

Okay, so there are some of the photos I took this morning.  I had an awesome MU sweater to wear, but it got too hot and I bought the 5 buck Gold Rush shirt instead.    Also, there aren't any photos of us as a family on campus, but hopefully next year we can get one or two as a family of FOUR.

And, as a sad note, I didn't see Erin Andrews NOR did I get to tell her her score of 8s was really much better for her modern freestyle for DWTS finals.  I would have let her know that.