Friday, November 18, 2011

Throwing up the Sash

Chris and I have been together for seven Thanksgivings and have spent every one of them together with his family, and all but two have been in our  home. I always get excited, but this year is different and I can't really explain why.  Thanksgiving is a BIG holiday in the Rowland family.  Maybe the biggest.  I am so stinking excited for the entire holiday season that I just can't sit still.  I hate to admit this part, but I am already listening to Christmas music and have painted my nails the most festive color of reddish-pink that I can tolerate!

My excitement for the holidays is absolutely uncontainable.  Maybe it's the whole "I'm gonna have a baby" thing. Maybe it's because I know this is the last year that I have to celebrate Christmas without a legitimate visit to Santa (I love him!!).  The reason doesn't really matter.  The fact is that I am really excited and really happy, and isn't that what the holidays are all about?

Chris happened to be folding laundry in the bedroom portion of my office while I was listening to XM Holiday Traditions this week.  While he was in there I heard a man reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  When he got to the part of "...then out on the lawn arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.  Away to the window I flew like a flash.  Tore open the shutter and threw up the sash."  I added, "I guess I shouldn't have eaten so much sash" and burst out laughing.

My husband thought I had officially lost my mind.  I didn't make it up.  It was on a Christmas card that Grandma Melanie either received or gave, or something.  But regardless, I think she reused it EVERY year...she may have bought a million of them, I don't know for sure, but I am pretty sure it was her favorite!  And it was a perfect Christmas memory.  Family, do all of you remember that too?

So, with that, whether you like this or not, I will break out the first MERRY WOOLEY of the season!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Aversions Converted

I know I've written about how miserable the first trimester was.  The nausea, the food aversions, the tiredness, the nausea, did I mention the nausea?  Well, that passed and the second trimester began with really weird food aversions.  The smell of some foods that I love would seriously have me running away from the table.  And then all of a sudden, as if by magic, that went away too.  And has been replaced by the need to eat things I wouldn't normally eat. 

For example, I was watching TV earlier this week and saw a commercial for Wendy's. I don't really like fast food and would opt for a bowl of cereal before I'd eat it...until that dumb commercial showed a Frosty.  It's their chocolatey, ice creamy, super thick and rich cup of deliciousness.  I can't remember the last time I had one.  In fact, I can't remember having one...maybe ever (although I am sure that's not true).  But I needed one.  It was late, I was tired, and I resisted the urge to jump in the car and go get one.  Besides, there is nothing in a Wendy's Frosty that I need nutritionally.  Whew!  Dodged that one!

Sunday afternoon I had gone to Costco for a few cheap things (their Diet Dr. Pepper for Chris is super cheap and I had a $3 off coupon for paper towel).  As I looked for my favorite Greek yogurt, I walked past the Jimmy Dean turkey sausage links and for some reason I tossed them in the cart.  They were much cheaper than at the grocery store...for three dollars more I got four times as many.  And now I can't stop thinking about them.  I had three little turkey sausage links, some pickles and an apple for lunch yesterday.  The pickles and the apple are a staple for me anyway, but the sausages?  That's just weird...even for me. And I will probably have that again today.  Seriously?  Turkey sausage?  Non-pregnant, the sort of stunk to me.  Now, they smell like a perfect lunch!

 Then last night something made me think of root beer.  I needed a can of root beer.  But not any root beer, I really wanted the Whole Foods brand and I wanted a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it.  Then I decided that chocolate chip ice cream would be even better in it.  I don't like chocolate chips in my ice cream...they get stuck in my teeth and that's if they aren't threatening to break a tooth!  There's no nutritional value in any of that so I resisted the urge (again) and another, WHEW!  Glad that passed! 

One of these days, some odd-ball craving like this is going to strike while I am in a place that will enable me to do something about it. Please don't let it be something so weird that the clerk at the grocery store thinks I've lost my marbles!

With the exception of this sinus infection, this pregnancy thing just started getting a whole lot more fun.  Thank goodness I don't keep junk food in our house or I'd gain a million pounds! 

Monday, November 7, 2011

Relief

I know that I am only 16 weeks, 4 days pregnant. I also know that sometimes, my need to "answer the question" can sometimes overshadow the importance of patience.

Per the suggestion of most of my friends with kids, Chris and I started shopping for daycare as soon as the first trimester was over and we were "out of the woods," so to speak.  We had it in our heads that we would take our son to a "center" such as Kindercare or someplace similar.  And based on what we knew from our friends in Dallas and our friends here in Denver, we thought we had a pretty good grasp on the monthly expense of daycare.  Well, we were wrong.  We learned that the price of taking your child to a center is based as much on your zip code as it is on the quality of care.  And it was not going to be affordable for us.  And my "not affordable," I really mean, it was going to be more than twice what we THOUGHT it would be.  So, we weighed our options and forged ahead, just in a new direction.

A few weeks ago, I used the State of Colorado website to help me locate private daycare providers who are licensed through the state.  It even allowed me to see who had violations and who did not, and when their last social services surprise inspection took place.  I was a relief to learn that there were several who fit my irrational criteria of being perfect and also happen to be close to our home.

The only problem is that most in-home private daycare providers are limited to two children under the age of two, and only one can be twelve months or younger.  That tightens the scope a little.  Or a lot.  Of the seven I called, three never called me back (which removes them from my list automatically), three said to call back in April to see if they have availability and one said, "yes." 

We went to visit Violy today.  Her name is pronounced like ravioli, the food, only without the "ra" at the beginning.  On the phone, my impression was that she would be a great temporary solution until we found the perfect spot.  When we got to her house and got to meet her, I feel in love.  I wanted to shrink her down and put her in my pocket and keep her forever and ever.  She has a HUGE backyard with all kinds of play stuff, and unless it's muddy out, the kids play outside every day.  She makes lunch that is things like stir fry and chicken and homemade soups.  Every summer she grows all kinds of veggies in her garden that she uses to feed the kids.   They sing and read and color and practice the alphabet and counting.  And her house smelled good.  I mean REALLY good.  And that's saying a lot, coming from me.  Violy was warm and nurturing and motherly.  She seemed caring and genuinely loved what she does every day.  Her terms are fair and her price is in our budget.

My engineer of a husband hates "buying the first thing you see" but when we actually talked about it, this makes a lot of sense.  None of the others can't guarantee us today that our son will have a loving environment outside of our home when he's only six weeks old.  In fact, they don't really even want us to walk through until a spot becomes available.  A few cared so little about caring for our child that they never called me back.  And then there was Violy.  I am a pretty good judge of character and I felt very comfortable in her home.  So comfortable that I wondered if I could go nap there every afternoon.  If just felt good.

So, as soon as I publish post, I am calling Violy back and telling her to print the paperwork for us so that I can pick it up tonight and drop a check off to her for two weeks of daycare.

If being a mother didn't seem real before, it sure does now.