Nest! More Nest!

Okay, so I'm still nesting. I'm also blosted to the point that my fingers and toes are sausages and it's uncomfortable to bend them. And thus therefore, up about two pounds from last week. I can't seem to drink enough water...

Luke has been on his prescription poop medication (laxative, for those of you wanting 'technical' terms) for six days now. Things really kicked in on Saturday, and that was a fun day, let me tell YOU! But we've lowered the dose (we have to start things in a Super Colon Blow kind of way to have a clean slate, you know) and hopefully we'll get him to a non painful pooping kind of life. If we could also get him to a non-whining-about-changing-clothes kind of life, that would be great. He would prefer to wear one outfit for the rest of his life, and really, it won't work at his kindergarten graduation, let alone high school.

In nesting news, I've begun painting and decorating the master bedroom - this time in a color that doesn't blend with everything we've got. It's a slate blue and I really love the effect, so much more than the gold we (still) have. My mom brought over the curtains she made for the baby's room - which is not changed much from when Luke lived in there, so curtains added a little bit of feminity.

And in REALLY exciting news, Esposo started framing out the basement. I don't want to think about how much money we spent this weekend, again, we're just hoping for the raise to come through...

Doctor doctor

I went to the doctor on Tuesday, where I eagerly anticipated scheduling an induction date, but instead they told me that my cervix is not the least but ripe, which means they can't do iddly or squat about inducing me because the door to my womb is shut, locked, and rusted closed. I cried, because dude, they totally LIED to me that they would just schedule this thing. I go in again next Tuesday and in the meantime I'm trying all the froufrou remedies for ripening my cervix I can find. Except I'm not taking castor oil, because that screams STOOPID to me.

Nesting is going well, as all my Ebay items have sold, one for more than it can be purchased for in stores, which I find highly amusing. People on Ebay are not all that bright at times. Another I am shipping to Canada, which costs SEVENTEEN dollars for the buyer, which also seems to be a little stupid.

The weather has been great here lately, though, melting a lot of our snow. My front lawn is still has a snow blanket, but the sidewalks have melted clear and Luke and I were able to get outside in the past couple days.

We ripped out the vanity in the 'kids' bathroom, only to find that the vanity we needed took five weeks to come into our local Home Depot. So now, big empty area. There's more to that story, but I'm pretty done with the typing here...

Nest, Nest, Nest

13 days until theoretical induction. We haven't scheduled it yet, so it's still theoretical. But I will eat all my doctors car keys if they don't schedule it for week 39... except, of course, if I go into labor before then, and let's just point out that I'm not counting on that. Unlike my friend who said she EXPECTED to give birth at week 38, so really, it was like she was two weeks late when she gave birth two days before her due date (No, it's not like that at all, and don't tell overdue people that lame bunch of BS), I am not delusional that I can will this child out of my body anytime soon.

Excitingly, or really, rather mundanely, and expectedly, I have entered a high nest stage. The last time I picked up a pregnancy book it told me to resist the nesting urges and "rest". Jerks. Clearly these people have husbands or maids who understand the need for the rag shelf to be sorted and organized (largest on left to smallest on right) and do this for the crazy pregnant woman. Instantly. Because I can hardly sit still for thinking about some stupid project that I should be doing. Currently, I want to scour the house for things to sell on Ebay. My nesting is focusing on decluttering and organizing. STUFF MUST GO! GO GO GO! Of course, I have also washed the shower curtain, started ripping out the kids bathroom vanity, and scrubbed/dusted random items (really must develop some sort of pattern of attack for cleaning, other than 'That is dirty! Clean it!').

The more I do, the more my body screams in protest. Ah, pregnancy insanity.

Words words words

Luke is picking up new words and ideas everyday. He's generally interested in his body and our bodies, but not overly obsessed, which I appreciate. I've heard of children who are interested in certain body parts and things that come out of their bodies, and I'm just thankful that so far, Luke hasn't been one of them.

But he is pretty interested in my boobs.

I change in front of him, because he's two, and he generally follows me everywhere. It's hard to hide. Last night, Esposo, Luke and I were hanging out in our bedroom (Luke was laying in front of the mirrored closet doors admiring his beautiful self... we're thinking of putting mirrors on the sides of his bed and his ceiling to appease his nascent narcissim.) and I got ready for bed. I took off my shirt and Luke was immediately interested.

"That Mommy boobs!"

"Yes, Luke those are my boobs." I replied - I try to keep everything factual and nonchalant when it comes to body parts. And then I took off my bra.

"Mommy boobs off!" he observed, then took my bra and held it up "Mommy boobs on! Mommy boobs on!" At this point I started laughing a bit, because wouldn't that be wonderful? To be able to remove these things at will?? I got into my PJ's and Luke stopped insisting that I put my boobs back on.

Instead, he wrapped my bra around his waist and said "Lucas wear boobs!"

I laughed my tail off, kids are AWESOME.

Master Bathroom

WHEE!

I just took a shower in our master bathroom!! The bathroom is FULLY FUNCTIONAL!!! AFTER TWO YEARS!! It's not perfect, I'll be touching things up for months, I know, and we still need to paint and get curtains up to block the neighborhood view, but our first major remodel is coming to a close. I'll attempt to add pictures later...

Let's review the highlights:

1. Bathroom is hideously ugly, including paneling on one wall, a useless storage cabinet over the shower (which neither of us could reach), those ubiquitous brown small tiles on the floor, the ugliest sconces ever seen, blue flowery textured wallpaper, and slowly rotting subfloor around to toilet.

2. We rip it ALL out, to the studs. Walls, floor (well, not the ceiling).

3. Esposo cuts the piping under the toilet to replace it, but doesn't do so immediately, and finds out that the piping is connected to the other upstairs bathroom. Water runs from bathroom 'B' out this pipe and soaks the ceiling over the living room, causing it to collapse.

4. We fix the problem from (3) above.

5. Esposo replaces the subfloor. Simba, curious and stupid cat, finds his way into the walls and under the floor (again, via the adjacent second bath upstairs) and proceeds to get stuck.

6. Esposo rips up the floor, removes cat, and replaces the subfloor.

7. We place the concrete backerboard up around the shower area, finding out later that you do that AFTER installing the shower pan. Backer board is removed, shower pan installed, backer board is replaced.

8. We install the new window. While there are no major issues with it, it sucks a lot as a project and we vow that we will no longer be replacing windows.

9. The backer board over the shower pan is not perfectly straight. We don't know how to fix this, so we call in 'Hal'... he provides a simple solution... which means we have to remove the backer board, add boards, and replace the backer board again. (Backer board placement count = 3)

10. We tile the floor with a textured tile. Despite three washings until exhaustion kicked in, there remains grouts in the textured area of the floor tile.
Scrubbing still needs to be done.

11. One floor tile is wobbly and must be ripped out and replaced.

12. Despite being labeled 'elongated', the toilet we purchased is standard size. We decide we don't care.

13. The wall tiles are places, where we learn that tile spacers should remain for DAYS until the mortar is fully set. The tiles are not exactly even at the wall/ceiling joining.

14. The new window is a different thickness than the old window, and trimming it out causes us mental issues. Second call to 'Hal', who provides us with a solution and carpentry services. We learn that Esposo can not visualize mitered cuts.

15. Shower fixtures are attempted to be installed. We find that the valving in the wall will not meet up with any modern fixtures. Due to simply not tightening things back on enough, a jet of water is created in the shower stall. There are no shower doors up at this point, so the entire bathroom becomes flooded. Water leaks through to the front hallway and minor drywall repair is required.

16. Plumbers are called in, and this is possibly the single largest expense in the bathroom. (The vanity may have cost more...) This also requires ripping a hole in the closet wall, which we had closed up 6 or so months previous.

17. Fixtures are installed, but during the process, two screws have been lost. A call to Moen promises replacement screws for $13 and a week and a half of delivery time.

17. Screws arrive and shower handle is put in place. Shower is turned on triumphantly! Leak is rediscovered in the front hall. I cry. Inspection reveals that the shower drain is not water tight. After options are reviewed, we decide to caulk the ever-lovin' crap out of the shower drain (This is not an appropriate solution. Do not buy our house right now.) until a later date when we will have to go through the front hall ceiling and replace the piping. Solution works. Thank God.

18. Sanding, painting, and decorating are still to be done, but sink, toilet, and shower are functional.

Two

Today is Luke's second birthday. Two years ago today I got out of the shower and found out my water had broken, and then we giddily headed off to the hospital to have a baby. At 11:13 PM, Luke was born.

We just had a small family party for him, because I'm 8.5 months pregnant here, and he's two. He was overwhelemd enough by the presents he received from four people, and has been happily playing all morning. This is great, since it's snowing outside, and after the weekend I'm feeling wiped out. We cleaned our house more than it has been in MONTHS. I think I went through half a lint roller on one couch cushion alone (cat hair).

My mother in law is a cake decorator by hobby, and this year she made Luke a Dora cake. He climbed up on a chair to inspect the cake, said "I need a spoon!" and headed into the kitchen to get one. By himself. He opened the silverware drawer, which is above his line of vision, and grabbed a spoon, and then headed back to his cake, where he dug in with gusto.

When I said no after he took one bite of frosting, he looked at me and said "Mommy go!", because that's what he always does when he's doing something he knows he shouldn't be. I mean, hey mom, take a hike, so I can eat this cake!

He got Diego toys and clothes, a tricycle (with a handle so we can push him until he learns how to pedal, and for when he gets tired.), and books and movies.

Sap

We're three weeks away from baby two here. Three weeks. I'm ready. I'm not ready. This morning I read this quote on Sundry Mourning:

"will I keep loving him more? And more? How can I stand it? And the answer is yes, you will keep loving more and more and more, beyond what you ever thought you could stand, and your heart will accommodate."

And pardon my sniffles, but it's amazingly true, and I can't wait to add more love, more wonder, another whole PERSON to our family.

This Kid is Broken

I finally broke down and joined Gymboree this morning - Luke and I checked it out, and he immediately ran up every slide, jumped, and picked up the giant bouncy balls. The clincher was that he was even participating in the class sort of, listening to the teacher and vaguely following the other children. Who were only vaguely following directions as well.

It turns out, too, that of the five other moms in the class, I knew three.

A couple other moms commented how tired their kids were after these classes, and I dreamed a little dream that this would apply to Luke. Which, of course, it didn't. While he's been more than content to play with all his toys (which are always much more interesting after a few hours away from them), he is not interested in taking a nap. I am.

Meanwhile, last night Luke slept in my bed with me. (Esposo is out of town). I still woke up at 2:30 and was awake until 5, so I heard very clearly when Luke slipped headfirst out of bed (he was laying parallel to the pillow) and landed on his head in an upside down upright position, leaning against the chair and nightstand. Where he stayed for 3-5 seconds until I located him, because I didn't expect him to be STANDING ON HIS HEAD. I grabbed his legs and yanked him back into bed, anticipating indignant screams.

Which didn't happen because he didn't wake up.

How can you fall on your head and stay asleep but fight a nap all afternoon?