Life Unscripted

Normally, the un-planned way of living gives me hives. Not that I'm organized or necessarily focused, but for some reason I love lists. I love having something to work on or strive towards. I love routines--not because I  find comfort in them, but mostly because I like to bust them to pieces whenever the mood strikes.

This summer, however, has been a new experience. Trying to work my normal Alaska job from a Houston living room with two small children bouncing off walls. Searching the normal job-finding venues in search of gainful employment come September. Making do with little to no furniture or organizing capabilities (lots of our stuff is still in boxes because we have no shelves. Anywhere!)

This whole "not knowing" and learning to make do with crappy situations (Hello? No truck for a month because it was lost in limbo somewhere? That stunk!) that turn out not to be crappy in the end...just different.

As I type this, I realize I have seven days to get the new baby stuff. Not just fun, ornamental stuff...but real stuff. Bottles. Bibs. Onesies. A bed of some sort. A bouncy chair so at least we can set her down now and then. I have none of these and it irks me some nights when I can't sleep because I've reached the weight category known as "whale."

But they always say the best surprises and opportunities arrive when things are upended and you allow yourself to exist in a "chaos soup" sort of existence for a while. So here I am, universe! Upended, disorganized, unsure, a little lost, and totally ready!

And the photo? Well, those two are professional life-by-the-seat-of-your-pants types. They inspire me!

Hope you're having a great week!

How It Was Supposed to Be and How It Is

In my mind, it was going to go something like this:

On an quiet, well-fed and humidity-free morning, I'd leave my perfectly cleaned house after kissing my perfectly dressed and groomed children goodbye. I'd arrive at the hospital, sign a form or two, blink, and have a perfect ninja baby #4. My hair would still be neat and clean and sprayed into place and I'd be zipping up my pre-pregnancy jeans by 4 p.m.


 We'd be home by dinner because, in my perfect world, Texas hospitals don't make you stay over night and fight with intrusive, blood-pressure checking nurses who wake up your baby at 2 a.m. for fun.  Said baby #4 would sleep through 'til morning starting that first magical night home. What's more? She'd tutor her older brother and sister in organic chemistry and share the secrets of a perfect, flaky pie crust with me after changing her own diapers. No, she'd be potty trained by day 2... in my mind.

But what really happened?

I hit 36 weeks last week and went in for a normal checkup to find things not so normal. 

First, an infection and antibiotics out the wa-zoo. Then severe anemia and iron supplements out the wa-zoo. Do you know how miserable iron supplements are? I'm pretty sure they're served as appetizers in the fourth circle of hell...

Didn't really feel like posting a late-preggo pic, so here's one of an applique quilt
I finished a couple weeks ago. It's a Red Riding Hood quilt right before
the Red Riding Hood part. Come to think of it...maybe I should have posted
a picture of the completed project....ha!

But the kicker was the "oh, gee, your child seems to be head up" talk. We scheduled an ultrasound for yesterday afternoon, which only confirmed it. (Yes, I was sorta hoping for a miracle. Does that make me crazy? Perhaps...perhaps.)

So, with a giant-headed child firmly entrenched right side up, the doctor scheduled a c-section for the end of the month. I'd like to say I took it all in stride and saw the bright side right away, but the truth is, I was deflated and really, really overwhelmed. I still am.

C-sections terrify me, I mean, really, really scare me. Sawing into my abdomen, yanking out a child, and sewing it all back up together again? Sounds scarier than my collection of zombie DVDs. And less fun than a root canal performed in the back of a pickup truck driving 90 down a bumpy dirt road. (I have imagination for days, ya'll!!)

I've been spoiled with my kids so far. I'm back on the mat within a week or so and I'm free to workout and push strollers to parks and cavort to my heart's content. But the word on the street after c-sections? Weeks and weeks of painful recovery. Immobility. Taking it easy. Not lifting, running, jumping, bouncing....any of that. I mean, have you met my family?? We aren't exactly the calm, sedated types and the thought that I'm going to need help to get out of bed for a few weeks makes me cry. And pout. And wallow. And roll around in the mud of my mind like a little piggy.

I know, I know...put on the big girl panties and get going already. Truth be told, this has been one easy pregnancy. I skipped the entire first trimester, never felt much discomfort. We moved to Texas in month seven and a half and this little ninja child never once complained or gave me much grief. And I guess when I said all my prayers for a healthy, happy child, I agreed to take her however God chose to hand her off to me--"bikini cut" scars and all. Just part of the small price for such a beautiful family the mister and I have been blessed with.

Still...how long do you have to hold a pillow over your abdomen when you cough or sneeze to avoid blowing out stitches?? Yikes...just not sure how ready I am to be an invalid for the rest of the summer, no matter how accepting of the way things are I am. Pray for us!

Happy Summer!

A Day in the Life: June 28, 2012

I've been meaning to get this post thrown together for a while now. The pictures have been ready for about two weeks, the blog is getting a little behind and a bit stale...you know. Perfect timing for a new post.

I've just been a bit lazy, that's all!  This sort of post was inspired by a photography blog I follow. Turns out, the author's life is way more interesting than mine and she's all shades of skinny and adorable so she shows up a lot more in her daily life photos (not so the case with me...8 months prego is not kind to my ego).

But here it is. A sort of semi-routine we've come up with here in our first month in H-Town.


6:22 a.m.
Look, I totally know the microwave clock says it's past 7 a.m., but that's only because I was in too much of a fog to snap a shot at the REAL time Andrew arrived in our room, annoucing "Kenna's awake! Kenna's awake!"

7:05 a.m.
I take small comfort in the fact that they look just about as tired as I feel, too. I just don't understand their infernal need to wake up so early if they're sleepy and crabby themselves.

7:55 a.m.
Breakfast #1. Feed the animals before they eat the blinds. It's true.

8:30 a.m.
I know I've mostly kicked my need for drive-thru coffees and the fact that I have to pay nearly $5 for the damn latte irks me---but this morning I really needed that shot of espresso. So don't judge.

9 a.m.
Breakfast #2. (What are we, Hobbits?!) Coffees imbibed. The adults are now hungry and we have a new favorite taco truck thanks to a friend of ours introducing it to us. Note the sign about drugs and tacos. Brilliant, right?

9:10 a.m.
Waiting for her breakfast tacos. In case you're wondering, Kenna's order is a bacon, egg, cheese, and potoato with a flour tortilla. She moshes that thing.

10:20 a.m.
Pool time. It hits the high temps by around noon in our neighborhood, so if I'm going to be outside, it's going to be brief, and usually before 11:45 a.m.  I'm not one for humidity, it seems. We love our pool. It's empty every morning and we make the most of it when we can.

11:45 a.m.
Kenna's usually passed out at this point and Boo needs his lunch. Today's lunch was a half-eaten sandwich and totally devoured strawberries. And some construction vehicles parked on the table for good measure.

12:30 p.m.
Me at the "office." Until maternity leave ends, I'm gainfully employed and do my work out the Alaska office. After maternity leave? Well, hello job search and hello back to the cubicles. *Sigh*

2 p.m.
Boo is getting restless by now. I'm taking too long at the computer and we've still got a minute or two to wait til we get to leave for an evening up near Spring, Tx when we take dad to work. I'm hanging on to this picture for dear life...because some day he's going to think he's too cool for his dad and I and I'm going to have to remind him of his "velcro sneaker and backwards nundies" days.

4:45 p.m.
We braved the Beltway and drove 45 minutes to drop P off here, where he was covering classes for our friends. I'm not sure we came to a complete stop before speeding out of the parking lot towards our next destinations.

5:35 p.m.
It's been a long time since I've lived in the same city as a Hobby Lobby. The kids seem equally impressed, surrounded by Christmas decorations, don't they?

6:40 p.m.
At the Barbara Bush branch of the Harris County Public Library. Great kids section, though not very friendly librarians. This is Boo's first choice of the evening, "Sammy Spider's First Shabbat." No lie.

7:28 p.m.
Oh my, he's getting tired, isn't he? This is the kids' room at Champions Gracie Barra. Boo is playing with new "rescue men" (think Army men, but with a medivac chopper and ambulance) and Kenna is obsessivly beating on the door each time she catches a glimpse of her daddy teaching. She's his number one fan. I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.

7:55 p.m.
Just a few more minutes til dad's done. We ran next door to get some awesome Mexican food to go and Boo rallied his rescue team to save a couple downed tortilla chips.

8:30 p.m.
Finally, we're all loaded up and heading home. It'll be about 9:15 or 9:30 before we get the munchkins in bed and I was a bit too zombiefied by this point to snap shots. But you get the idea, don't you? Long, fabulous day in the Applegate world.

Have a great week!