The last days of pregnancy are the absolute longest… (especially
for Georgia), but it’s given me extra nesting time, so that’s good! On Saturday,
I completely gutted our master bedroom, flipped our mattress and even mopped under
the bed before bringing in Will’s Pack ‘n Play. We’ve had two garage sales,
completely emptied entire rooms in the house and I’ve taken 3 Jeep loads of
donations to Goodwill so far, with more left to purge! I’m creating a bit of panic
for the wife though, who doesn’t like to get rid of anything and is convinced
that I am going to eventually toss, donate or recycle everything she owns, haha!
We are now 38 weeks + 3 days, which means that Georgia has carried our little
guy for 6 days longer than she carried Grace… and for us, 6 days feels like forever!
The mamas are ready for this sweet baby boy to make his
appearance! Like soooo ready, and here’s why. Reason #1: Georgia is more than
OVER being pregnant with our giant baby! I’ve been joking lately that if family
and friends stop hearing from me, it’s because G has killed me and dumped my body
in the Rio Grande River! But seriously, grumpy bear does not begin to describe
my little preggers and I seem to get on her nerves now more than ever.
Sometimes I bite back, but mostly I just apologize for mistakes I haven’t made,
because that makes life in our household run more smoothly (and please sweet
baby Jesus, do not let her read this post… I’ll be dead for sure)! ;) Reason #2:
my job is draining my soul. The experience I’ve had preparing for FMLA with my
current company, has been like night and day compared to my medical leave
experience 5 years ago with my former organization. People in our leadership
team have completely changed the way they interact with me since finding out
that I intend to take the full 3 months off (they seriously assumed I would
only take 2-3 weeks, as if…). I’ve also been reassigned to a new Director since
sharing the news of my plans to take 3 months of leave and they’ve piled on the
work. Like, regular workload x 3… I don’t want to think that I’m being
retaliated against for taking medical leave, but it often feels that way.
Reason #3: we just really, really want to meet our little guy! The anticipation
of seeing his beautiful face is just too much. We want to hold him and smell
him and kiss his little forehead so bad it hurts!
In baby prep news, Gracie went to her Big Sister/Big Brother class
at the hospital this past weekend and it was just about the cutest thing I’ve
ever seen! There were 7 kids ranging in age and Grace looked to fall somewhere
in the middle of the age range. These little cuties spent the afternoon
learning baby safety skills as well as how to change, swaddle and hold a baby.
They took a tour of the hospital and watched a pretty hilarious video on what
to expect when mom goes into labor. They each got to decorate a gift bag for
their siblings “birthday” and select a gift to put inside for their sib.
William will be getting a super soft and adorable blue knit hat as his gift from
sister and we can’t wait to see Gracie give it to him! The class was, of course,
heavy on the mom and dad lingo and we were the only rainbow family there, but we
are pretty used to that. This, I have no doubt, is what prompted Grace to tell
us that she wanted a dad the morning following the class. I knew the day might
come when she would say something like this and so we did our research and have
been prepared for the conversation and I think we handled it well. We wanted to
make sure Gracie felt open to sharing her feelings and asked questions rather
than taking over the conversation. As it turns out, the sole reason Gracie said she “wants
a dad” is because, “they’re handsome”. That’s it. That was her reason and I had
to keep from giggling when she said it. I swear we have the most Disn.ey Prince
Charming obsessed kid on the planet! ;) We talked about other special dudes she
has in her life who love her and once we were finished talking about her Papa,
Grandpa K and her many uncles, she was satisfied with our 10-minute conversation
and quickly shifted focus to her favorite cartoon, Loud House.
Georgia and I were able to sneak a last date night into the mix before
baby and it was so nice. The fancy banquet was for Georgia’s work and required
that we get all gussied up and find a babysitter. G looked beautiful, as always
and I got to wear a new dress I bought long ago but hadn’t yet had a reason to
wear it. I always enjoy going to the wife’s work stuff because I love seeing
how admired she is by her colleagues. They all adore her and go to her for
basically everything. Her career has sent us on many all-expense covered business
trips as a family; they paid for nearly 80% of our IVF costs (amazing, right!)
and financed 100% of Georgia’s MIS graduate degree. They’ve actually paid her
what she’s truly worth these past 17 years and are about to send her on a
second fully paid maternity leave following the baby shower they threw for us!
If only every organization invested in their female employees as they’ve
invested in her – our country would be in much better shape, IMO.
We found the last thing we needed for baby brother’s room, per the
recommendation of another LBGT mama in one of my online parenting groups. Check
out Will’s super cool Himalayan Salt Lamp (aka, his nightlight)! Georgia first
introduced me to these things at Christmas when she bought her mom one, but I
never thought to use it as a nightlight! It’s a natural air purifier, reduces
allergies, improves mood, provides light therapy for baby boy and has the most
soothing red and orange glow + it looks like a meteorite from Outer Space! That
parts just a bonus.
Warning: it is extremely heavy though. So if you get one for your kiddo, be sure to secure it to the wall.
Our hospital bags are officially packed and there are two car
seats in our vehicles now, you guys! TWO! Before installing little bear’s car
seat, I wanted my Commander in the best possible shape, so I had a new
windshield put in, did all the usual maintenance and had it detailed including
steam cleaning the interior and now I feel like we’re ready to bring our little
guy home in there. Grace loves that she will get to sit right next to him and
is obsessed with playing with his rear-facing jungle mirror. I can’t get her to
keep her sticky fingers off the darn thing, nor can I keep her out of brother’s
room. She LOVES it in there!
Jumping topics, as I love to do – I have the most amazing news to
share! Grace won the education lottery and got into our #1 private/charter
elementary school of choice!!! I haven’t written about the grueling process we’ve
gone through since December choosing an elementary school, but let’s just say, I’ve
spent more time doing this than I did selecting a university when I was college
bound… We’ve researched the heck out of all our options, both public and
private/charter. We’ve attended open houses and info sessions like crazy. We’ve
filled out countless applications, but all the while we had a #1 choice in
mind. We knew the school we LOVED was only going to take around 30 incoming
kindergartners because they have a returning student and student sibling policy,
but we thought we would give it a try. We went to the open house and info
session and completed the necessary paperwork entering Gracie’s name in the
lottery and waited… and waited… Then today we got the call! Grace ended
up being student #15 in a lottery of nearly 200 kindergarten applicants and she
got in! I cried and G couldn’t believe it! We never win anything!
The school is everything we would want in an elementary and middle
school for our gal! Starting in kindergarten, the students have music class and
physical education, every week. They have a beautiful music room where they
learn to play actual instruments and have classes like art and computer science
weekly, with a 1/2 computer/student ratio in each class. G and I were most
drawn to the school’s small teacher/student ratio and their emphasis on math
and science. It’s a bonus that the school buildings are super modern and
colorful, and they have awesome security. All visitors and parents are
required to pass through 3 layers of security before you are in any area where
there are kiddos, which puts our mama hearts at ease given the level of gun
violence in schools in the US. But the best part by far is that Grace and
William will go to the same school, together for several years now! W will start
kindergarten when Grace starts 5th grade and she will remain in his
same school through 8th grade. That part makes us the happiest! We’re
so excited for the years she will spend learning and growing there.
And that’s about it. Oh, and I’m working on inducing lactation.
Have I mentioned that?! I’m about a month in and just started on birth control,
so we’ll see how it goes. I’m not allowing myself to get too excited because I
don’t want to be upset if it doesn’t work, but I’m going to give it a try. Here’s
me pumping at work, lol!
And here is G’s beautiful belly at 38 weeks, 3 days. Ekkkkk!
I can feel the excitement in your posts! Any day now!
ReplyDeleteWe LOVE our himalayan salt lamps too. We have them in every bedroom. The kids use them as night lights. I'm normally anti-nightlight because they disrupt REM sleep, but the colour of salt lamps doesn't affect sleep at all. I also love the air cleaning aspect too :)
And a HUGE congrats on getting into your school of choice. It will be fun for the kiddos to be together for a few years too.
I didn't think about it until after I removed the back of Will's bookshelf, mounted the salt lamp to the wall and reattached the back of his bookshelf that I probably should have put the lamp in our room where he'll be spending his first couple of months... Ha! Looks like I'll need to get another one. How do the girls like theirs?
DeleteThank you for sharing in our excitement for Gracie's school! I still can't believe that out of nearly 200 kindergarten applicants, she drew #15, with there only being 30 seat!!!! It's just amazing!
So exciting that you are so close to the end. I can't wait to see William!!! It's hard to reach the due date or go past. I know all too well how it feels as we were late for 2 of our kids (4 and 10 days overdue) and it makes you CRAZY.
ReplyDeleteLove the big sister course. So cute.
I hear you on being the non-pregnant one dealing with those moods. Hang in there!
10 days overdue?! Sweet Jesus, that would have made me crazy! The Big Sis class was just about the cutest thing ever. I was so proud of her for answering all of her instructors questions so clearly. The course showed me what a big girl she is!
DeleteOh and good luck with inducing lactation! Angele went through that protocol with Dr. Jack Newman and it didn't work because of her PCOS back in the day but she is now nursing Charley without any issues at all. I thought of inducing this time since I nursed Jackson until he was 3.5 years but then I thought, nah. I'm not off work and I don't mind not being the only one to feed the baby this time around. :P
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I'm kind of bummed that I didn't have a lot of direction in the beginning and could have been doing more for that first month. Our OB told me to just pump and pump. Turns out there's a whole protocol to induce, so I've just now started the bc pills and have a super amazing friend who is sending me domperidone in the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed that it works. If it doesn't, that's ok too. :)
DeleteOh yeah we were super lucky to meet up with Jack Newman as he's an expert on breastfeeding and has successfully helped many women induce lactation. Hang in there. I know others have done it too and he said it would work even better with the arrival of the baby--the baby can bring about milk in ways the pump can't.
DeleteYou seriously take nesting to a whole new level!!! Woah, woman, get off those feet a bit! I know G is baking that baby but you need just as much rest! He is coming!!!! Congrats on the school admission! Deciding on schools was the hardest thing we have done as parents, but you seem to have found an amazing one where both your children will flourish.
ReplyDeleteHave heard so much about the salt lamps, must check them out. The nursery is the absolute cutest ❤️
Hi, I've been lurking for a while on your wonderful blog! I can't wait for an update, is William here yet??
ReplyDeleteI keep checking in...I hope things are going good and you are just super busy loving on your new sweet baby boy.
ReplyDeleteLeslie
I can't wait for an update, I also check in daily to see if there's news! I'm getting really worried, I hope you and your family are good and just busy (in a good way)!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHi friends!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for the delayed updates here on the blog. As I'm sure you all understand, we have a newborn and a very active and busy 5 year old, so the past 5 weeks have been extremely busy! Will is healthy, beautiful and doing great! I'm nearly finished with his birth story and also have some newborn pictures to share. I'm hoping to have the birth story posted by tomorrow!
Thank you for checking in on us. :)
Kristin
Thank god, I'm relieved to hear that! Can't wait to see pictures! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for updating this way....I was worried as well. Can't wait to see Gracie with her amazing little brother!
ReplyDeleteLeslie