honeylufu

So just this past week we found out the gender to our little gummie bear, and spoil alert, if you haven’t already read that title in giant font, it’s a boy. Alex is absolutely thrilled; I’m trying to warm myself up to it (sorry Baby Boy). I really wanted #2 to be a girl so that Novalee would have that close sister to bond with for the rest of her life. The one she goes to when she has juicy secrets to share, and doesn’t feel comfortable telling us as her parents. You know, that stuff she wants to confide about that we probably don’t really want to know either. Things that a brother most likely would be grossed out about as well. So now she will have a little brother to bond with in other ways. Like yelling at us from the top of the stairs about how gross the bathroom is because of him. Or how he burps and then blows in her face. Or that he never cleans up after himself or does the dishes or laundry without being asked. Or…hmm..what else do I gripe about in relations to my husband?

I’m also bummed that I don’t get to reuse all of Novalee’s super cute clothing–some of which she’s never even worn with her rapid growth. I guess I could always dress #2 up in girl clothes and give him gender orientation issues later–gotta keep parenthood fun. The bright side is, we’re most definitely done with having more kids since the agreement was to have one of each, trying up to 3 kids. The next couple years will be a doozy I’m sure, and I need to remind myself that it’ll all be worth it when they’re about 5/6. Or 15/16. Okay let’s be honest, it’ll be really great when they’re all grown and out of the house, by 18. You hear that kiddos? None of this living with your parents until you’re 30 business.

I will never understand the kids nowadays, who are staying home and unable to do anything on their own until their late 20s. Realizing how aging this phrase is, but When I was young, I moved out when I was 17. Got a full time job, went to school, AND paid all my bills. Sure, I had a ton of roommates to split the rent and utils, but hey, at least I’m not asking my mom at the age of 25 how to balance a check book or what to do when something in the house breaks. Being self-sufficient seems to be not as important this coming generation, and people are much more focused on “feelings.” How am I going to react when Novalee is 5 and she comes home saying someone made fun of her hair/clothes/name/whatever? Is it wrong to just hope I’ve raised her strong enough to tell that person to FUCK OFF? I don’t want to raise a snowflake. There are too many of those in this world and they’ve become much too self-involved to really question or address any significant issues at hand.

Wow, I’ve really gone off on a tangent here haven’t I? What would I have had to say had the gender reveal been a girl? Probably the exact damn thing but in a more upbeat tone.

Exactly 7 weeks into this pregnancy and nausea is a constant feeling, as well as random spurts of drowsiness as if I’ve been taking shots of Nyquil. Ah, the glorious symptoms of 1st trimester, how I’ve not missed you.

Baby #2, you are the size of a raspberry now, but my stomach insists that you must be the size of a cantaloupe. To those who don’t know me better, I will say it’s due to Baby #2, but anyone wiser knows that I’m always constantly stuffing my face with terrible, albeit delicious, foods. I’ve been telling myself that I will stick out breast-feeding a lot longer this time around, and hopefully will benefit from the weight loss that comes along with it. And maybe, as a last resort, I’ll consider adding some fruits and veggies to my diet. Who knows, maybe I’ll crave something other than boba tea and chips.

This past weekend was a little bit of an overwhelming one for me. Alex was working in the garage all day Saturday for our barn door that I’d like to have up in time for Novalee’s birthday. It’s not finished yet, but he also had tennis playoffs all Sunday. It was absolutely draining, watching and entertaining this little munchkin, with only half the energy I’m used to. I felt old and cranky, unable to keep up for longer than 2 hour spurts. She also wasn’t a fan of napping much this weekend either, which made the day feel even longer. It’s also making me worry for when Baby #2 will be here–how am I going to keep up with two of them? Alex tries to calm me down by saying Novalee will be a year and a half by then, and “easier to handle”, but we don’t know that for sure. And with how much spunk this girl is showing each day, I highly doubt there will be an “easier to handle” time for years to come. As they say, we’ll prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

A friend just sent me this video and has me bawling like a baby. Pregnancy hormones or not, I probably would react the same way. But what a wonderful reminder to cherish each day with Novabean before she’s all grown up.

Novalee went on her first plane ride last week! We took a trip to visit the extended family up in Washington, and she did a wonderful-ish job on both the ride there and back. The only time she fussed was when we were trying to rock her to sleep, protesting as soon as she was in the cradle position. So as long as we let her explore with the arm rest, seat belts, tray tables, and skymall magazines, she was utterly content. It also helped that she’s very food motivated. But damn…I never knew how exhausting it could be to continuously watch someone for 3 hours straight. And you know what’s even more exhausting? Traveling with the kid overall.

People really weren’t kidding when they say to get all your travels pre-kid. Even without kids, it’s already hard to fully relax on travel, but with one who’s always on a strict routine, it really throws a wrench in the works since we were working around other people’s times. In any case, I should just appreciate that it really could’ve gone worse. While this is our very first trip by plane, and probably our last for a while, I’ve compiled a list that I’ve found helpful for this and future travels.

TIDBITS FOR BABY TRAVEL:

• Use a carseat bag for the carseat. You can stash away a lot of more items inside the bag along with the carseat itself–we were able to shove a whole gym duffle full of formula, diapers, wipes, and baby’s clothes. And the best part is, this piece of check-in luggage is FREE. Be warned though–that shit gets heavy.
• If you need large items, order online and have them shipped to your destination. Helps if you order items that are returnable <wink> if you only need them for the trip. Items such as baby bathtubs, sound machines, pack ‘n plays if the hotel you’re staying at doesn’t already provide one.
• Pack milk/juice and lots of snacks. This will be extremely helpful for during take-off/landing to help the little ears pop.
• Bring a pack of travel anti-bacterial wipes, especially if you’re a germaphobe like I’ve been known to be. Tray tables, arm rests, and seatbelts on the airplane are extremely filthy, so if your baby is in the exploring phase, he/she will want to touch everything and repeatedly. Also, they come in handy if you’re staying at hotels because we all know there is absolutely NO disinfecting going on in there.
• Bring a light stroller. Depending on the TSA, you might need to collapse it and stick it through the conveyor belt for scanning. You can check the stroller at the gate so baby can be in it navigating through airport traffic.

Novalee is 10 months old today! Guess what that means. That’s right, NOTHING other than far too much time spent to capture that perfect milestone photo. She started waving just recently, with both hands. Not sure if she knows the meaning of the wave, but she’ll do it at anyone who looks in her direction, all the while utterly stone-faced (the usual look). I’ll tell her to smile at people, just so it seems like I’m friendly (ha), but am secretly amused that she doesn’t. It’s really cute for kids to smile at strangers, however, at the risk of sounding like a paranoid mother, you never know when some people might think your kid is too cute. Hey, don’t judge me, even if I’m judging you, especially if you have a mustache and sitting at the children’s park by yourself. Megan’s Law exists for a reason. Don’t be that reason.

In other news, I am definitely not pregnant, confirmed via bathroom trip about an hour ago. Alex and I have been trying for the last month and I was hoping that it’d be just as easy as it was the first time, but nope. While this is expected since I’ve taken THREE negative pregnancy tests in the last 2 weeks, seeing the red stain in my undies still resurrects that hollow feeling from the back of my throat to the pit of my stomach. Binge watching The Handmaid’s Tale certainly isn’t helping either. A horribly entertaining show to watch, and if you haven’t seen it, it is on my recommendation list as long as you don’t mind seeing large noses on screen. Not a very sexy show to watch, and definitely is a mood killer considering the premise. Alas, I guess I still must continue to copulate with my husband if I want that #2. *sigh.

Dear Husband, if you’re not reminded enough: you are one lucky fellow. :]

And yes, I just realized that for Novalee’s 10-months, I covered pedophilia, menstrual cycle, and sex all in one post. Pretty impressive if you ask me.