Leslie Lee’s Weblog

So it’s finally starting to really sink in that I’m actually having another baby. I know, you would have thought that all the barfing would hit it home, well, it did, but not really. I mean, I’m pregnant. Like really pregnant. The getting up and peeing 10x a night has started. I’ve been waking up more often then Olivia. I can tell the length of time I’m going to be able to sleep on my stomach is shortly numbered. And, the doozie, I’m back in the maternity pants. I could probably stay in my regular fat jeans a few more weeks, but the maternity pants are more comfortable. Atleast they’re a little baggy-er than last time I wore them, but that’s dwindling as we speak (I’m munchin on pasta).

So I’ve been doing a lot of research on double strollers, and we – well, I, really – have come to a decision. A final decision. The Bumbleride Indie Twin. It’s an all-terrain stroller, yet it’s compact and light, easy to take anywhere – shopping or hiking, like I do a lot of hiking. I came to the decision because a few weeks ago I took all the kids to the duck pond in Palo Alto, I brought the ”big” Chicco stroller for either Brayden (if he got tired) or Olivia. Well there was this gravel pathway, and with Brayden in the stroller that thing was barely moving. The wheels didn’t move at all, so I was pretty much just pushing this big ole 5000lb contraption through the gravel as if it had square tires. Same with the going through the grass, it’s just not as easy or comfortable as it could be. And that is a $300 single stroller. So is it so bad to spend $600 on a double stroller that would be a hundred times easier and more comfortable to take places? I don’t think so.

The problem with the Bumbleride is that hardly any places carry them in stock, so it’s hard to “test drive” it. It’s a little too fancy for Babies R Us. I looked it up and there are only two retailers in this area that carry it, one in San Francisco and one in downtown Santa Cruz. So one of these days I’m going to have to make it over the hill to check it out. But, if anybody has any experience with the Bumbleride, please, let me know.

I would sell my soul for this rocking chair!

Isn’t that sad?? My soul is worth $1100. Sigh. It’s true….

Okay, so I just realized that I haven’t given you the update on Baby #2. Whoops!

So I think I already said that my first appointment was sort of a flop. The baby was too small to measure for a due date, but the doctor guessed that I was only about 2 or 3 weeks pregnant. So I scheduled another appointment for 3 weeks later. That was last week. I must be the best baby incubator ever. I had the ultrasound, and in three weeks the baby went from looking like it was 2 weeks to measuring 9 weeks! Holy moly! The ultrasound picture itself is pretty amazing in what a big difference there was in such a short period of time.

It really brought it home that I’m actually going to have another baby. I mean, yes, all the barfing and queasiness is proof enough, but…

So the doctor forgot to tell me the actual due date, but I think I figured it out. May 29. Lol. One year, one month and 9 days after Olivia’s due date, but she was a month early, so hopefully they’ll be atleast 14 months apart. Aye aye aye. What have I gotten myself into??

Like I said before, when it rains it pours. Her top teeth are starting to come in. Atleast I hope so. I would rather blame her teeth than take the blame for last nights sleepless night.

John got Iron Man the other day, so we decided to watch it last night. Olivia went down about 7:45, and we started the movie around 9, so I stayed up waaaay past my normal bedtime. I turned off the bedroom light at 11:30 and seriously, five minutes later, as soon as I got all comfy cozy, WHAAAAAAAAA! Are you serious? I fed her, she cried for about 20 minutes and finally fell asleep again. Midnight.

2am. WHAAAAAAA! WHAAAAAAAAA! What the hell? Tried to rock her. Tried feeding her. Tried singing to her. Tried ignoring her. John tried rocking, holding, ignoring. WHAAAAAAA! WHAAAAAAA! Two and a half hours of this!

Finally, after letting her just cry in her crib for about 20 minutes, in hopes that she would just wear herself out and fall asleep (yeah right!) I went in there and picked her up. I swear, she went from this blood curdling shrieking to all smiles, in an instant. Not even a little wind down, or a hiccup. The shrieking just stopped and turned into a smile. Ugh.

I was way too tired to deal with her, so I just brought her into our bed, sat her down between John and I, gave her the remote to play with and I fell asleep. The last time I remember on the clock was 4:50. I woke up this moring at 6:45 and there she was, fast asleep in our bed.

And this where I think I’m to blame. She loves our bed. She would much rather sleep in our bed. And really early in the morning, like when I know I have to get up in an hour or so, I’m just too lazy to put in any effort to rock her back to sleep, so I just bring her into our bed and she goes right back to sleep. Yeah. I know. Bad, bad mommy! But it’s just soooooo much easier. And now I’m worried I have totally spoiled her and that’s what the hours of crying was for, and in the end, I just gave her what she wanted. I let her win. Not good. But I’m soooo tired!

This is going to be just a quick little blog, I wish I had more time to write, but oh well…

Remember the days when I had nothing to do except write about myself? Ahhh, those were the days. I miss those days. I didn’t think that this would be upon me so fast, but I do remember people telling me to enjoy my fist pregnancy, because it will never be the same again. And holy, they were right. I don’t want to be miserable, but I’m coming in pretty darn close. I decided that it sucks to be pregnant. Atleast right now. I think it’s pretty much the same as when I was pregs with Olivia, but this time I have her to take care of and work isn’t exactly the same. Had I known that I would get pregnant with #2 so fast, I think I might have stayed at my job, but one can’t think like that. Whats done is done, and lord knows I didn’t plan getting pregnant again this fast.

Anyways, I feel like crap. The tiredness kicked in late last week, Friday night I put Olivia to bed at about 8:15, I went and crawled back in bed and was out for the night. How sad. Saturday, same thing. Sunday I took a two hour nap mid morning, and somehow managed to force myself to stay up watching Iron Chef (why, I don’t know) until 10 o’clock. Oh, but don’t let me forget to add that all the waking hours I’m completely nauseous.

The nausea is pretty much all day, but the barf fests only happen on average twice a day. Around 8:30-9:30am and about 4:00-6:00, every day, without fail. Yup, just like last time. I remember, because I’m jealous of what used to be. Every day on my way home from school (work) I would start feeling sick. I would come home, lay in bed and watch Ellen until it passed, a lot of the time the rest of the night. Yeah, that doesn’t happen these days, I just gotta deal. I just keep telling myself there only about 8-10 more weeks of this. It doesn’t really help, that’s a long frickin time. But maybe this time the barfyness will end sooner than 5 months. Cross your fingers.

This morning I crossed cream cheese off my list of yummy foods. No more bagels for me. That’s what I had for breakfast, two mini bagels with cream cheese. Let me tell you. Not good coming back up. The cream cheese gets pretty sour and foul in your stomach pretty darn quick. Enough said. Moving on…

Olivia has started playing peek-a-boo. Oh. My. Gawd. Cutest thing EVER. John was feeding her at the dinner table, and he had a dish towel with them, she picked it up, holds it over her face, slams it down pretty forcefully, and laughs hysterically. Soooooo funny!

She also got her second tooth. Did I write that already? Well, she did, right next to her first tooth, so now she’s got two little bottom teeth. John got a good picture of her actually smiling while flashin those pearly whites, very rare. I’ll have to post that later. But yah, I guess the top two should be coming in soon too. Not really looking forward to that. Teething sucks.

Hahaha, you know what’s kind of funny? She really gets a kick out of me yelling at John. I cantell that we’re gonna have a good time together, poor John. Maybe this next one will be on his side. Lol, I doubt it.

Anyhoot. Any suggestions on how to beat all this morning sickness is greatly appreciated. Have a great day!

Well hello.

Happy day after Election Day!

Congratulations President Barack Obama!

Go to hell, Elizabeth Hasselbeck! Hahahaha, I canNOT stand that biatch! Today she was on The View just going on and on with praises for Obama. She’s so full of it! Ugggggh!! I can’t stand it!!!!!!

Anyways, moving on…

This, again, has been a trying week. I know, I said I would be more positive. I’ll try.

So, now I have Hand Foot Mouth Disease. It’s awful, but getting easier to deal with. It started Saturday night. I went to the grocery store….

Side note: remember last year when I went on that rage about Safeway? Well, I’ve converted. I don’t really have any rants or rages about Lucky, but I’m not shopping there anymore. Lucky seems to be more expensive, their produce (atleast at my store) is never great and their brands of baby food is limited. It’s either Gerber or Beechnut, neither of which they carry in organic variety. (yes, I know Gerber has an organic line, but not at this particular Lucky) Anyways, so I’m back to that Safeway that I months ago hated. I don’t love it now, but I’m dealing. I like it better because the things I seem to buy is on sale more often, their produce section is fresh – hasn’t smelled like cat urine since that one time – and the variety that offer is really impressive. The Safeway Organic brand is, in my opinion, fabulous. No, I’m not turning into an anal organic freak like Kate (Jon and Kate + 8), but if it’s available and affordable then I’d rather have that then not. I mean, really it’s nice, I now buy organic milk, spinach, canned tomatoes & beans for my chili, and it’s all the very affordable Safeway brand. It’s not that easy at Lucky. Anyways, just thought I should share how Safeway has coaxed me back to the dark side, literally. That is my one major complaint. The parking lot is frightening dark. They need some freakin lights, especially now that it’s dark by 6. Oh, and also that their paper bags need handles, like at Trader Joes. Why doesn’t all grocery stores do that? How much extra could that cost?? Oh, AND is it really that difficult for the bagger dude to ASK you if you’d like paper or plastic?? Didn’t that used to be the standard?? Now they just put your crap in plastic, but guess what?! I don’t want plastic, buddy! So, I almost always get 2 plastic bags before I catch it and ask for paper. I know, I should have my own bags, which I actually do, but I think I’ve only used them once because I cannot seem to remember to bring them in with me. Seriously, every time. I do all my shopping, and get in line, then realize that I have those reusable bags in the car. Oh well, atleast I recycle/reuse the paper bags. But anyways, I am a fan of Safeway again. Okay, back to the story….

So I was at the grocery store Saturday night, it was dark, it was absolutely pouring buckets and I had to load about 9 grocery bags 2 twelve packs of soda and 3 flats of water into my car that has no trunk space due to the 3 carseats, so it’s sorta like Jenga fitting all the groceries in. Then a couple of my paper bags broke because they got soaked, but that’s a different story. So I got in the car and my finger hurt, like a stinging paper cut or something. No big deal.

I got home and John helped me bring all the groceries in through the buckets of rain, I was soaked. We put Olivia to bed, we had dinner, and then I started getting the chills and felt all achy. Must’ve been from all the grocery packing in the rain, right? I took a couple Tylenol, and went to bed.

Sunday morning, my foot was stinging. Like a paper cut. I checked out my foot, there was a little bump, like a bug bite. There was also a little bump on my finger where it had hurt the night before. I didn’t really think anything of it. But an hour later, there were a few more bumps, and then after a shower the soles of my feet and my palms were covered in red spots.

There it is, I got freakin Hand Foot Mouth Disease. I would/could get way more detailed, and this would be a way better blog, but Olivia is up and I gotta go….

Happy Halloween!

(I actually started writing this entry on Friday, but am finishing it up on Saturday)

This has been a busy week, and I’m very glad to see it come to an end. It’s even better to end it with all this rain! I am so glad to finally see the winter weather arrive! Tomorrow it’s supposed to be pretty bad out – I’m EXCITED!

This week I turned 30. I don’t really have many thoughts on that, just that I feel like I was 15 like, yesterday. And it’s weird to think how fast time goes by. To think that this is the place I’ve been looking forward to being, and I’m finally here is just crazy. I just keep telling myself that these moments are not going to last forever, so don’t forget to enjoy them! It’s really easy to get wrapped up in things, get stressed, and before you know it, it will all be over and my babies will be all grown up, and I’ll miss these times…

ANYWAYS! So, yeah. On my birthday, John and I took all three kids to Santana Row for their trick-or-treating event. Holy moly! I think that this year is the first and last year I’m doing that. It was ridiculous! I swear there were thousands of people, it was soooooo hectic and crowded and just not very fun. I don’t know if the kids are just too small, but Taylor (3) just wasn’t into it at all, and what’s the point if she’s not even into it? We took the double stroller, and Brayden just wanted to stay in there, Olivia refused to sit in the stroller and it was virtually impossible to maneuver that dang thing around all the other stupid strollers and people. Like I said, I don’t think I’m going to do that again.

It’s kind of neat though, how there are all these Halloween festivities. I don’t remember doing stuff like this when I was little – but maybe that’s because my mom had 3 kids. Last weekend we went trick-or-treating in downtown Campbell. We dressed Olivia up in her costume (a ladybug) and strolled her around. It was nicely crowded, not too hectic. She got a couple pieces of candy, she enjoyed playing with the crunchy wrappers. We ate the candy. Then we sat her in the grass and took pictures. We had a good time.

Saturday night we went to Dave & Busters to celebrate my birthday with our friends. I’m really into winning tickets, so I thought that would just as fun sober. So I made our dinner reservations for 25 at 7pm. We got there at 7 o’clock, and there were 5 of us there. By 7:15 there were 7 of us there. We couldn’t be seated until half of our party was there. Long story short, people didn’t show up until almost 8 o’clock. I was pisssssssed. I think I was being a grumpy bootch, but oh well, it’s my birthday, I’m preggo and my stoooopid, inconsiderate friends were all ridiculously late (not you Allison & Erin). My feelings were just hurt. But it’s made me totally reconsider Christmas. Every year, for the past 7 years, I throw a nice Christmas dinner party, full on with a turkey and everything (although, last years turkey was a little late) well anyways, I don’t think I’m going to do it this year. I just don’t think it’s worth it. All that work for what? People that can’t even show up on time? That don’t even appreciate it? I don’t know, I’ll probably change my mind, but…

On to more important things! Olivia. Poor baby! On Sunday she started coughing and her nose was pretty snotty. I figured she had a cold, no big deal. The other kids had a nasty cough, so I thought that’s what she got. Tuesday she got what I thought was diaper rash, which she’s never had before, so not really knowing what diaper rash looks like, I just assumed that a rash in the diaper area was just that. Then Wednesday morning it spread to her thighs, and I noticed a little zit thingy on her thumb, so I called the doctor. This was at about 7:30am. I gave her a bath at 8:15, she still looked the same. Our appointment was at 9:30, we were in the room and I was undressing her, and started to notice that all on her toes, the soles of her feet, her palms and fingers were these huge blisters! I started freaking out! I was almost in tears (don’t forget I have out of control hormones as well) But O seemed not to mind so much, she was still pretty pleasant. Anyways, it turns out she has Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Yuck. She wasn’t prescribed anything, we just have to wait it out for 7-10 days. She’s had a slight fever, but nothing major. Her nights have been a toss up, one night she’s awful and the next she sleeps forever. Thursday night was the best, she went to sleep at 8:30 and slept all the way until 5:30. But of course I still woke up at 3:30 (her normal feeding time), checked to make sure she was still breathing and couldn’t sleep for another hour. After I fed her a 5:30 she slept another 3 & a half hours, until nine o’clock.

In other better news, she’s got her first tooth! Her bottom left tooth. It has been nothing but a bitch coming in, but I think we’re past the hurty part now. It’s really cute, she doesn’t like to show it that often, she covers it with her tongue every time you try to peek, but when she does flash it, it’s adorable. I’m not looking forward to the rest coming in.

She’s also learned a new “trick” – clapping! And she does it on command! Isn’t that terrible?? It’s like I’m talking about the dog or something! But really, she’s getting better and better at it every day! At first it started as a windmill thing, her arms would just spin, sloppily slapping fists together, but now when you say, “yaaaaay” or “clap, clap, clap” she extends her right hand and open palm hits it with her left, like a little golf clap, it’s hilarious! Who knew John and I would be so proud over such a little gesture, but it means we’re one step closer to actual communication with her, which is exciting.

Tomorrow I go to see the doctor, and find out the actual due date of the new baby. I don’t know if it will be like Olivia, where the due date changed like 3 times, but tomorrow we find out. I’m curious to see how far apart the two are going to be. Olivia’s due date was April 20, but she was born March 27; so really you never know. I just can’t wait until we find out what this baby is going to be, boy or girl? I’m gonna put my money on girl. Not just because that’s what I want, but so far I feel exactly the same as last year – barfy. All the time. After this pregnancy, I’m not doing this for a while, a long while. Feeling like this does not have an ounce of pleasantness. Not one ounce. I just hope the four months or so goes by sorta fast so I can start feeling good.

Sorry this post was such a downer, I don’t know why I’m such a stinky poop lately. But I’ll try to perk things up next post. I wish you all a great November!