Christmas has officially entered the Wilson Universe. The tree went up today, as well as my, according to Corey, massive amount of indoor decorations. As yet, the outside stuff hasn’t gone up yet and, sadly, I’m not sure it will this year. It’s just been that kind of winter. We’re both looking forward to Christmas this year, for a few reasons. Anyone that knows me knows how I feel about Christmas. I am unable to resist reverting to a giddy 6 year old for the entire holiday season. While Corey pretends to be Scrooge, I think he likes watching me giggle uncontrollably. And then of course there is the baking. The epic baking. I love to make massive quantities of extremely unhealthy food to give away to unsuspecting family and friends. My trick is not making anything that I like, thus ensuring that I don’t gain 400 pounds, especially critical this year with the little one doing it’s damage. Finally, we are both looking forward to ending the year. It has had it’s very, very highs and it’s very, very lows and we are looking forward to what the next year will bring.
The most important thing that next year will bring is Baby Peanut (or Blob, as some refer to the baby). We’ve been calling the baby Peanut just because we don’t intend to find out if it is a boy or a girl and that gives us something to call it besides “it”. The above ultrasound was taken at around 11 1/2 weeks. Peanut cooperated very well, laying still for all the measurements and such. There was, indeed, only one heartbeat, so you can all stop saying twins! The part that made us laugh was when the ultrasound tech turned the screen toward us, Peanut began waving the arms and legs in what was alarmingly good rhythm to “Come on Eileen” which was playing in the background. We still aren’t sure what that says about us or Peanut.
And finally, I want to take a minute to remember someone very close to me. My very first cat, Bootsie, passed away Friday. She was 16 and had been going downhill for awhile. She had a long life and a happy one, I hope. But I still miss her.
Bootsie Lyn Dreher September 7, 1992 - December 5, 2008
Everyone take a deep breath and relax. I have no intention of being one of those pregnant women who over-shares every detail of her pregnancy. I will not be posting the gory details of my OB appointment. However, I ( and I think Corey) had an awesome experience this morning. We met with the Nurse Midwife who I found to be extremely knowledgeable and easy to talk to. The way it will work, I will rotate between her and the other two doctors in the practice so that I am familiar with all three of them. That way, I won’t be surprised by whoever is on call coming in to deliver. We spent the better part of an hour discussing mine, Corey’s and our families medical histories. We discussed the pros and cons of genetic testing, risks associated directly to my pregnancy and all the questions I had accumulated. She determined my due date to be June 14th, only a day off of what I determined. I will have my first Ultrasound next Tuesday and that will confirm my due date. If it is off by more than a week, we will go with the ultrasound date, otherwise, it will stand at June 14th. Her biggest concern for me was my height. Apparently, short women run a higher risk of needing a C-section due to our build. However, I am slightly less concerned because, though I am short, I am also of hearty German stock and we tend to have our hips set so far apart that the baby could come out sideways. But, we are keeping it in the back of our head that we may have to go that route.
After the consultation in the office, we went to the exam room where all of the gory details occurred. Really, the only thing I cared about was hearing the baby’s heartbeat. I have really been looking forward to that. Thus far, my pregnancy symptoms have been extremely mild (yes, I am knocking on wood). The down side of that is that it is hard to wrap my head around being pregnant because I don’t FEEL pregnant. The midwife warned me that at this stage, it might be hard to hear the heartbeat but I shouldn’t worry if we didn’t. Luckily, the peanut cooperated and let us hear the heart. That may have been the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Yes, I teared up and I’m not ashamed! Corey, in true Corey fashion, stated “That’s cool”, which, for him, is impressive.
I’m looking forward to Tuesday and the ultrasound so we can have pictures to annoy people with at Thanksgiving!
As a look down the line towards the arrival of our “wee-one” I’m taking stock of the lessons I’ve learned from my own family experiences…thats not a good thing. I grew up alone in a house hold of people, my father and mother were old enough to be my grandparents…my half sisters were all in High School going into College and my half brothers were old enough to be my own parents (odd indeed having a niece older than you & having one the same age). By the time I came along my parents were done raising children…opps…looks like they didn’t get the memo about me. I’m ranting tonight because I’ve started to see why one of my older brothers doesn’t really speak to my dad. It saddens me that I’m getting this way, but it seems like more and more I’m realizing how short changed I really was in growing up.
I’m writing this not as a dig on my parents per se, I believe in the end we are all responsible for who we choose to become in life so don’t look upon this as a “my parents ruined my life blah blah blah” but as a realization that I don’t really have a lot of good experience on how to be a good father. I guess from the stand point of knowing what not to do I’m in good shape.
It has always felt like I was a hassle. In everything I would do (or want to do) I was always made to feel like I was an inconvience for them. If I wanted to play a sport (I know, hard to imagine now but back in the day) I was told by my mother “If you do this you’ll probably not be very good and end up sitting on the bench, and then we’ll have to go to the games and you’ll get mad that you dont get to play”…..wow, what encouragement. Granted, I have never been that sports inclined BUT I could never imagine telling my son/daughter something like that. Yes, explaining to them that they shouldn’t expect to be the best at something the first time they try it is okay.
In any venture I would take interest in it seemed like I was made very aware of not only how it would effect me, but what impact it would make on my parents busy schedule.
After returning to Indiana my father began trucking and I pretty much never saw him. When I did, he was usually in a cranky mood and too busy with something to be bothered.
Fast forward a few years, I try and include my family in stuff I’m doing (probably something I just need to give up on) only to find out that they are just too busy to drive 45mins to C-Ville because they have to be back home before it gets dark (which means they need to leave by 3:00pm?!?!?!?!). My father said he’d come over and help me build the shed (which Carson and Duncan did this past weekend)…he shows up while we were getting the materials and decides he can’t help since he can’t lift anything heavy and leaves…I knew he couldn’t do much, I just thought he might want to hang out with his son while he’s still alive (him, not me) but apparently he had places to be and crap to do (whats new).
I shouldn’t get mad, this isn’t the first time he’s just not been there but it is still beyond frustrating.
The Land of Wilson is currently under construction. Literally. We have about 9 different projects underway right now. Not really certain why, other than rampant insanity on both of our parts. It started as simply working on converting what was formerly my office into what will become the baby’s room. However, that spawned the project of adding shelves and moving furniture around in what was formerly Corey’s office and is now OUR office. We’ve also rearranged and changed out some furniture in the living room, leaving it a complete mess, with piles of things that need to be stored, put away or otherwise disposed of. We are also still working on completing the bathroom and kitchen renovations that we started some time ago. Finally, we decided that it would be a great idea to build a shed in the backyard with space for some of the animals. We started that project on Sunday with massive amounts of help from my father. We got the floor down and three out of four walls framed out, but there is still a lot of work to go.
If anyone is contemplating any home improvement projects, I strongly recommend you book a hotel, leave for a week and hire a crew of professionals. At this point, I will be excited if I can get rid of all of these piles before the baby comes! (8 weeks down, 32 to go, if anyone is counting!)
Let it be duly noted and documented that Corey, in preparation for fatherhood, is currently sitting on a pillow that as recently as two days ago was drooled on by a 7 month old baby. He does not appear to be having convulsions and I’m fairly certain that no sanitizers have been used. Let’s all congratulate him on his amazing progress as a father. Of course, all I did today was work on forming a nervous system, small beans compared to that. Stay tuned for more exciting updates as they happen.
We found this interesting…
“Scientists have released a statement today with some interesting information regarding the little known and even less understood Wilson Universe. It has been observed that the universe appears to be growing in size, to the point that it is feared it will actually generate a new planet. They seem to be baffled as to the reason for the sudden growth in the size of the universe but one researcher is quoted as saying ‘It’s best that we don’t ask questions’. They are currently estimating that if it continues on its present course, the universe will add the new planet on or about June 15th, 2009. There is speculation that this planet could actually become the center of the Wilson Universe. When questioned, inhabitants of the universe alarmingly do not appear concerned, but rather excited about the impending events.”