What’s up?!

So much has been going on lately that I feel the roller coast ride in to the holidays has already begun and next thing ya know, it’ll be 2010 and so much closer to meeting baby Jones!

-I am nearing the end of my semester at St. Mary’s, and although that means a little break for me, I am really sad that I have to take off a semester in the spring.  I will do my best to make up for it next summer session, which may or may not be crazy, but I love being in school and I also want to have those letters after my name as soon as possible.

-D.Jones and I had our first parent-teacher conference yesterday morning.  I thought it was Saturday morning, even though many people thought it was odd that I would have a conference on a Saturday.  When Saturday arrived, Doug’s dad was visiting for the weekend, so we took off to head to Starbucks (upon my demand) before the conference at 10 a.m.  It pushed us a little late, and we didn’t arrive at the school until about 10:05 with D.Jones yelling at me for making us late and making us look bad.  Then we noticed there were no cars in the parking lot.  We tried the doors by Cooper’s classroom and sure enough, locked.  We ran to the next set of doors. Locked.  But this one had a sign that said “go to door 2.”  We ran up the parking lot and around the building.  I thought I would die.  It’s not easy to run with extra baby weight, FYI…especially after you’ve been doing nothing but sitting on your ass for months.  Anyway, by the time we got to door #2, a janitor popped out and asked us what the heck we were doing.  Then he told us “No one is here, but me.”  Hmmm…  Very confusing.  We left a voicemail for the school and decided to head home.  The car had other ideas.  It started running really roughly, and felt like it would die at stoplights, though it never did.  We called the dealership and they requested we come in immediately.  Turns out it was a bad coil or something, which was easily fixed, but the morning was certainly not going as planned.  I was stressed out that Cooper’s teacher was waiting for us God-knows-where, and we were no-shows.  Plus, I couldn’t figure out how I would mess that up!  So not like me!  Anyway, we arrived home just in time to find Cooper screaming bloody murder and crying hysterically.  Turns out moments before I opened the front door, he had dropped a board game on the end of his toe.  Could the morning get more fun!?

The update is that the conference was actually on Tuesday at 10 a.m.  When Ms. MichaelAnne heard that we’d been there on Saturday, she looked at the sign up sheet she’d made and noticed that she had used last year’s template and only changed the date on the top of the page, not the bottom…which still read Nov 21.  I felt a little better, though clearly I’m the only backwards parent who signs up for something and then reads the bottom of the page to see what I just signed.  Regardless, the report was glowing and D.Jones and I left the “real” conference feeling pretty proud of our little guy.

-As you can see from our countdown, Baby Jones is on her way in less than 130 days.  She is moving up a storm, which I love and I had forgotten how much I enjoy this time of pregnancy.  Don’t get me wrong…there’s not much I love about pregnancy, but I do love feeling that babe moving around and getting stronger.  I am pretty excited for April 2 to arrive, which we’re thinking will be the date of my scheduled C-section.   I can’t wait to see her little face and see what she looks like.  I just want to hold her and I’m getting impatient.

-I began my Christmas decorating this past weekend.  Yes, I know…before Thanksgiving.  So sue me.  I like to enjoy the decor on our long weekend, so there.  Anyway, here are a few pics from the night. 

Here’s how Cooper “assists” in the decorating.  Apparently, Christmas decorating requires shades and a saw…

And D.Jones doing everyone’s favorite job…stringing the lights….

-Cooper Jones has been growing like a literal weed lately and has promptly already outgrown most of his school clothes, only 2 months in to the school year.  He is now one of the tallest kids in his class, and his feet are ridiculous!  He’s jumped 2 shoe sizes since the summer!  Today he stretched out on the couch with me while we were deciding what to make for breakfast.  He pulled his pj pant legs up a little bit and looked at his own legs as he declared “my legs are long and skinny.  Like a bird’s!”  He cracks me up, which reminds me….

-I can’t give updates without telling at least one funny thing that Cooper has said lately that cracked up both myself and D.Jones.  I have been watching the listings around us for bank owned properties and foreclosures because it’s possible to score some ridiculous housing deals right now, in this, one of the most spendy areas of the city.  As much as I’m pretty happy with our house, I do want more room, so I just keep an eye out.  D.Jones and I were checkout a 6 bedroom, 3 bath house yesterday and told Coops about it.  He said “6 bedrooms!?  Wow!  That would be awesome!  Then you and daddy wouldn’t have to share any more…we could each have our own!” 

Now I’m off to make my purchases for the veggie tray I am tasked with bringing to Thanksgiving at my brother and sister-in-law’s tomorrow.  How I got off with bringing something so easy, I don’t know, but I’m not questioning it.  Hope you all enjoy your holiday as much as I’m sure we will…a huge Happy Thanksgiving from the Jones fam to you!

 

Pink!

I had two doctor’s appointments on Friday.  One at the U of M maternal/fetal medicine center where D.Jones and I have opted to do genetic testing and all non-invasive tests on Baby Jones just to make sure all is well.  They have also taken over any ultrasounds that I will  have done during the duration of the pregnancy, as their equipment is the utmost in high-tech and the same is just not available at OB offices.

Friday’s ultrasound showed that all is well with Baby at the halfway point.  I can’t believe we’re halfway to meeting her.  And yeah, I said her.  The ultrasound also showed that Baby Jones is a she.  I am very excited!  The ultrasound tech is the same I’ve had a couple of times now, and knows we have a boy at home.  After she asked if I wanted to know the gender on Friday, and I said “of course I do!”, she was all of a sudden grinning at me from ear-to-ear.  I am sort of slow, so I say “what?”  She says “Can you see what I just typed up there?”  I squint up at the big ultrasound screen on the wall.  I say “Um, no.  I can’t see a thing!  I don’t have my glasses on.”  Then I notice she’s still grinning some bizarre Cheshire Cat kinda grin, so I say “Did you type what it is??  Oh my God!  Tell me already!!!”  She laughs and says “it’s a girl, honey”, to which I acted out of sorts for K.Jones and actually threw my hands over my head and let out a whoop that I’m sure they heard in the next ultrasound room.  I think I acted out enough that she was concerned for her reclining chair on which I sat, and she promptly told me to go to the bathroom to empty my bladder.  I did, and upon my return announced to Dr. Williams in the hallway “I am the happiest ultrasound patient you’ll have today.”  He looked at my quizzically and then laughed and said “all from emtying your bladder?”

The only down side of the whole day was that they noticed that I have what they are calling a “marginal” placenta previa.  Placenta previa is a dangerous condition for mom and baby if it’s a full previa, which mine, thankfully, is not.  Dr. Williams assured me that 9.9 times out of 10, a marginal previa will correct itself in the next few weeks, so they want to see me again in January to see what’s up.  If it’s corrected itself, then no issues.  If it hasn’t, then I’ll be required to have a C-section.  No biggie, since I was planning on it anyway.  Hearing the news was enough to get my worrying self to lose sleep Friday night, though, and spend much of my Saturday with a near migraine.  Tension headache, anyone?  I since have determined that I need to chill as everything is well with me and baby and well, truth is, there’s not much I can do about this situation except wait.  Worrying is going to do nothing except make me feel crappy and miserable over something I can’t help, and plus, like D.Jones keeps telling me “what better odds do you want?!”  So, I will be trying to relax until my next appointment.

In the meantime, I’ll be doing a ton of in-person and online shopping for the cutest girl things on earth!   A few examples of what are on my list so far…

Everything except the first item are all available on my friend Cristina’s website www.sassymonsters.com.  Check it out for more of the cutest baby clothes on earth…especially some of the best baby legs for little ones.  Seriously.  Things could get crazy.  I might have to go back to work.

Decisions, decisions

As my Friday doctor appointments approach, I realize that I only have about 4 more weeks from now before my doc is insistent that I’ve made my final decision…to C-section or not to C-section.

I intended to attend an informational meeting of the local chapter of ICAN (a group supportive of regular birth after C-section) this past Monday, but with so many other things being juggled right now, or course I didn’t remember about the meeting until Tuesday morning.  Ooops.

D.Jones hasn’t provided any feedback either way, stating that it’s ultimately my decision and either way, the intent is that we have a healthy baby and a healthy me.  True.  But also true to form is my inability to make a solid decision at all, and I am so torn.  I’ve begged my doctor to make the decision for me, but of course, she just laughs at me.

Basically what runs through my head is that I do not want the stressful situation of Cooper’s birth to occur again.  Long story short, a day and a half of not intense labor until they kicked the pitocin into high gear, which sent me begging for an epidural, and culminating in Cooper’s heart rate dropping so dramatically that alarms went off and nurses ran in to my room from seemingly all directions.  Terrifying.

My dream for this time around is that I get to “enjoy” the experience.  Okay, maybe enjoy is a bit strong when discussing childbirth options, but I wish to not be scared out of my mind, exhausted and then going into surgery.

I recently had a friend who gave birth and described it as exhilerating, telling me that even in the immediate moments following delivery she was thinking to herself “Man, this wasn’t bad!  I could do this again…”.   She swayed me a bit.  Then Doug’s niece had a baby a couple of weeks later, and also had a great experience.  More push toward attempting a delivery this time. 

Then, as always, I spent way too much time online the other night, reading about the benefits of having a planned C-section (many docs think a planned C-section is even safer than a “regular” delivery), and once again, here I am back at square one.

Anyone care to make the decision for me?  Okay, if not, I’m at least open to feedback~

Donuts with Daddy

Yesterday was the big day.  For over a week, each and every morning, Cooper has asked “is today the day Daddy comes to school with me?”  I have had to do a daily countdown for him, which I don’t think meant anything to him because the next morning, same thing.

Thursday was the day, and although I offered to drive them both over there and make sure they went through the routine and found everywhere they needed to be properly, D.Jones insisted he could do it all, so off my boys went. 

Turns out, Cooper’s teachers put on quite the Daddy day!  When they arrived, they got a few minutes of play time to chat with the other Dads and kids, and then the kids got little buckets of shaving cream and big tongue dispensers and got to shave their Daddy.  Doug thought it was hilarious because all of the dads were in business attire, some sporting some very, very expensive suits, which then had a bit of shaving cream on them, but no one seemed to mind.

Next, a fireman came to visit and put on all of his gear, including respirator, and the kids got to go check it out.  Doug said quite a few of the kids were not hip on getting near the guy with that respirator on, thinking it was a bit scary, but Cooper ran right up and high-fived him.  Then they all got to go outside and get on the firetruck.

Afterwards, it was donut time, and then the kids showed the dads pictures they had colored on Tuesday of themselves with their dads.  There was a little more play time and then the dads got to walk the kids to the gym to drop them off for the rest of their school day.  D.Jones got to witness Cooper putting the smack down to some boy who thought incorrectly that Coops might be willing to share a toy with him.  Doug tried to intervene, but said he must’ve seemed quite ineffective because the teacher was there within moments saying “no, no, no…we share.”  Funny.  D.Jones said he all of a sudden felt sort of inept, so he just stepped aside.  No matter how old you are, don’t mess with the teacher, right?

D.Jones also asked me the names of the 3 other boys that Cooper hangs out with all of the time.  As I ticked off their names, he nodded “yes” over and over again.  I then said “why do you ask?” and he said “I had them pegged right away.  They are all crazy!”  Seems the birds of a feather adage may just be true.

Anyway, Cooper was thrilled to have daddy there, and I think D.Jones had just as good of a time as Cooper.

What Not to Say to your Pregnant Wife

D.Jones arrives home from work yesterday.  He eyeballs my protruding stomach.

D:  Wow.  You are pregnant.

K:  Ya think?

D:  I mean really.

K:  Seriously?  I thought my hooded sweatshirt kinda camouflaged it.

D:  Yeah, sort of.  Kind of like, if I didn’t know you I’d think you really liked your Old Style.

Nice.

Not Quite As Planned

At noon today I went to pick up Coops from preschool and I was so excited to hear about his costumed field trip.  They had gone to the elderly residence area of a care center to show off their costumes, and I knew his froggy costume would have been a hit.

I stood in the hallway outside of his classroom, looking at the art projects they’d done today after their return from the field trip.  All of a sudden, one of his teachers is standing beside me and says “So…uh, Cooper.”  Oh no.  A blur of all of the shocking and appalling things he could possibly have done in front of the old folks flashed through my mind.

“What happened” I asked, scared for the answer.  Ms. M. tells me that after they arrived at the residence, they all went in to a room where the residents could check out the kids.  Cooper’s costume was, in fact, a hit, and the old folks had sort of circled around a few of the kids, pointing and marveling at their cute outfits.  Apparently there is a limit to the amount of attention Cooper actually seeks out.  Who knew!?  He wasn’t hip on it, I guess.  Ms. M. proceeds to tell me how amazed she was that he maintained his composure, waded his way through the sea of elderly residents, parent chaperones, and numerous other children to find her, at which time he announced “I don’t like this so much, and I wanna go home now.”

Ms. M. asked if he was a little scared by the attention and he nodded in the affirmative.  She asked if he wanted her to step outside in to the hallway with him, and he did.  After getting out of the craziness, he was just fine, so all was well, and Ms. M. told me how impressed she was at his verbal skills and non-melt down.  Awww.  My boy.

She said he was still apparently a little freaked out and asked to sit by her on the bus ride back to school.  She said he sure could, and he not only sat by her, but climbed up in her lap, which is not really like Cooper, so he must have still been nervous.  Not nervous enough, however, to not notice that they were sitting in an emergency exit row and ask Ms. M. why the door looked bigger and different than the main door.  She said “because this door is for emergencies” to which Cooper responded “Well!  I hope that doesn’t happen!”

I was sad that Cooper’s field trip didn’t go quite as planned and that he didn’t have a great time, but I must admit, I was bursting with pride when Ms. M. told me how proud she was of him, and how impressed she was with him…and I admit to having to wipe my eye when she finished up by saying “he’s an excellent little boy….exceptional, actually.”

 

 

Back by Popular Demand

…and the fact that I am pressed for time.  So bullets it is!

-We have a sick Yorkie at the House O’ Jones.  Not sure what’s up with her, but she spent Tuesday night puking her guts out, and has no energy since.  She rarely moves from her curled up post on a throw pillow on the couch.  I’m going to give it another day or so before seeking medical intervention, but hopefully she’s okay.

-Last night I spent my 3 1/2 hours of lecture at school learning about disorders usually diagnosed in infancy and childhood.  Not one of my favorite topics.  I am usually good with keeping things outside of myself when it comes to school topics, but this time, I struggled.  A video of short interviews with parents of children suffering with things like being on the severe end of the autistic spectrum reduced me to tears.  At one point they spoke to a mother whose husband bailed out after their child was diagnosed, and she was required to quit her job to stay home with him.  For 12 to 14 hours per day the child rocks, self-injures by banging his head, and screams a high-pitched wail.  I sit by the same woman each Wednesday and we talk freqently.   I leaned over and said “I feel like I’m going to lose it after a 15 minute temper tantrum sometimes.  How does she function?”  She looked at me and said “My daughter was diagnosed with autism, and OCD.  I sometimes felt like I didn’t sleep for a year.”  I had no idea that she even had a child.  Turns out, her daughter is 20 and just entered a group home where she is doing pretty well.  I felt drained when I left class.  I called D.Jones from the car and said “We are lucky, Doug…we are so, so lucky.”

-Cooper Jones is off to his costume party today at preschool.  After his weird fits about wearing the froggy costume in the car, I finally persuaded him that it was okay if the “googly eyes” touched his car seat and we were off.  Once we got to school he was so pumped about being in costume, that he was randomly running in to other classrooms and high-fiving teachers as he yelled “ribbit!!”  That’s right…once again, our child is by far the most shy kid at school, right?  As we made our way down the hallway to his own classroom, he high-fived parents along the way, giving them “ribbits” as well, and overheard a smaller child say “what’s that green guy?”  Cooper yells down the hall “I’m a froggy…RIBBIT!!!”  That’s my boy.  They are on their way to a health care center where I’m sure he’ll do a good job of amusing some of the patients.  There were other absolutely adorable costumes to be seen, too.  I was bummed that I didn’t get in on the chaperone list for this one.  Another girl in Coop’s class was the cutest little pink cupcake that I’ve ever seen!  I can’t wait to hear about his day~

Here’s a glimpse of the frog on his way to school this a.m.~

And a froggy with a froggy blankie…

Learning Points & Humbling Moments

Since I’ve elected to keep Cooper home from school the latter half of this week due to the crazy number of H1N1 cases at his school, I’ve learned a few things.

1.  I’ve always worried that my son would be smarter than me by the approximate age of 7.   There are a few reasons for this thought process.  One is that he’s been smart since day 1.  One is that my math skills are ridiculously lacking, and I’ve been positive it wouldn’t take long for him to surpass them, and also that he’s half D.Jones’ child, and D.Jones is smart in a way that I’m not.  He’s analytical, extremely detailed, and, well, mathematically inclined.  Double math points against me! 

What I realized this week is that it won’t take until he’s 7.  We may be on the cusp of him leaving me in his dust any time now.

For instance, yesterday I told him we could make those kleenex ghosts that hang from string for Halloween, but that we don’t have any string, so we’d have to go to the store.  Cooper informed me quickly that “Daddy has a roll of twine on the bottom shelf in the garage, just past the recycling.”  He then advised me to put my shoes on before I would go out to look, because the garage “is outside, you know.”  I sort of complied and put on my slippers as I headed out to the cold garage.  Sure enough.  Right where he said it would be.  How bizarre to be directed around, correctly, I might add, by my 3 1/2 year old!  And it got worse.

Later in the day yesterday, we were reading a book about farm machines.  I read something about how a particular tractor mashes up grass to feed to cows, called silage.  I pronounced it “sigh-ledge”, figuring I was close, but my child began fervently shaking his head from side-to-side.  “What?” I ask him.  He says “that’s not right, mommy.  You say it “say-lidge” with him clearly pronouncing it with the emphasis on the first syllable.  What!?  Seriously.  I know it couldn’t have been his father who would’ve told him that!  Was the child a farmer in a previous life!?  Craziness.  I didn’t believe it, so I looked it up.  Sure enough.  He wins again.

2.  Number two is more about being humbled than learning, I guess.  Thing is, I’ve been the chld’s favorite adult since he was born…as it should be as his mother, right?  I figured it would be like that for a while, and then maybe, some day when he plays football or something, he may enjoy his father’s company more.  And then some day after that, we’ll be ousted together in favor of his friends.  Imagine my surprise, not to mention the crazy blow to my self-esteem, when on Tuesday night he accidentally slammed his finger in the bathroom door while getting ready for bed.

I called to him from the living room to come show me his finger, and then made the usual show of hugs and kisses and comforting words…only to have him turn tail and sprint back down the hallway toward D.Jones saying “no…I just want daddy.”  Crushed, I tell ya.

This first blow was followed harshly by his repetitive questions about when daddy will be home from work, if daddy will be home when he wakes up in the morning, and wanting to only play with daddy after we have dinner.  Grrr.

The only vindication was that last night, as I rested on the couch and D.Jones did the bath duty, I heard Cooper tell him in no uncertain terms “You’re not washing my hair right!  That’s not how mommy does it!”  Sweet boy.  Tell him what’s up, Coops, tell him what’s up!

Now that the week is coming to a close, we’ve made our Halloween crafts, we’ve made Halloween cookies, and tomorrow we head to my parent’s house for the annual pumpkin carving competition.  Hopefully Cooper doesn’t have to show me how to hold my knife…

So, how’s your appetite?

I had one of my quickie prenatal appointments set up for Friday morning long before we planned to use that day to road trip to Doug’s Dad’s house in Wisconsin.  It’s nearly impossible to get appointments scheduled with my OB-GYN, so there was no way I was attempting to reschedule, and D.Jones and I decided we’d get the car loaded, and he and Cooper would visit the Bruegger’s Bagel shop on the next block while I went to see my doc.

Friday morning came and I headed over to see Dr. O.  Because my OB-GYN group is affiliated with the University of Minnesota, they are a teaching clinic.   Some of you may recall my genetic counseling appointment a few weeks ago, where there was an intern and a resident in tow?  Anyway, after the initial stuff with the nurse, she says “Dr. O has a med student following her today.  Is it okay if he comes in?”   I say “Sure!” and realize it’s beginning to be old hat.  I really couldn’t care less who wants in on the action at this point.

A few minutes later, I hear something brushing on the outside of the door to my room, and I expect the usual knock and enter, but instead I hear a male voice saying “what if she has lots of questions?” and then good old Dr. O saying “How many weeks have you been following me around!?   Answer them or write them down!”  I’m snickering to myself in the room.  There is another long pause, then a knock.  In walks a  clearly nervous med student who introduces himself as “Matt the med student.”  He asks if I have any questions while we wait for Dr. O., so I, in a fit of meanness, start firing questions at him.  Things like “what are the odds of a doctor nicking my bladder during a scheduled C-section?  How long will they let labor go on in a VBAC situation?”  and finally…”if you could decide for me, which would you pick, C-section or VBAC?”  His voice was a little shaky and his hands were worse.  He made few attempts to actually answer questions, and took a ton of notes.  His favorite answer was “Oh, uh…um…Dr. O. would be better able to answer that for you.” 

Finally, he says that he has a few questions he has to ask me for the doctor.  He obviously forgets them in the next few seconds and blurts out “Um..so, uh, how’s your appetite?”  I smile. “My appetite?” I ask.  He says “oh, uh, that’s not what I was going to ask.  I was going to ask..uh…have you had any cramping?”  I had to try so hard not to start laughing.  It was very cute.

He then excused himself and I could hear him briefing Dr. O on my questions outside of my door.  Then they both re-entered.  Dr. O answered my questions, then said she’d listen to the heart rate, which she couldn’t find.  I pannicked a bit, but tried to remain calm, since she didn’t seem worried at all.  Then she says the words I was hoping to hear…”let’s just do an ultrasound.”  I was so hoping to find out the gender on Friday, but knew there was no ultrasound scheduled until Nov 13th.  I nodded my enthusiastic agreement, and she wheeled in the ultrasound machine, but not before she glanced over at Matt and said “how did you find the heart beat?”  He stammered “Uh, I didn’t do that.”  She rolled her eyes and said “Wow…I was about to be impressed with you that you found it and I couldn’t…but nevermind.”  She smirked in my direction.  I love Dr. O.

She quickly found Baby J. and the heartbeat on the ultrasound machine, and exclaimed at how off she’d been in her attempt, as she was checking low, and Baby J is tucked in ridiculously high.  Ah ha!  He or she has been hiding already.

She then said “Alright baby, c’mon…mom wants to know what she’s got in there so show us the goods!”  Baby J was uncooperative until Dr. O said “well, no luck today” and went to switch off the machine, at which time she says “Oh wait!! It flipped, it flipped!  That’s right, baby!  Show us what we want…” and then laughed as she told me that the baby is moving so fast, she couldn’t get a shot that wasn’t blurred!  So, we did, in fact, have a cooperative baby, but no answers.  Oh well.  Hopefully November 13th we’ll have some news to share.

By the way…how’s your appetite been?

Like a Donut?

Actual conversation had with Cooper enroute to school this morning:

Cooper:  Mommy, I love you so much that I love you like a donut.

Me:  Awww.  That’s so sweet Cooper!  Does that mean that you really love me a lot?

Cooper:  No.  It means I like donuts.

Hmph.  Thanks a lot kid.