Grape Did It

Junebug - Day 4

Still hoping to begin on the birth story soon. My friend Kathleen got some really great hospital shots - no, not going full-on hippie action shots if you know what I mean - so I'm excited to share a few of those.

In the meantime, here is our little Junie, Junebug, Junie bug, JB, baby girl (to name a few of her rotating nick names). Aaand with that one little sentence I am crying. Hormones!

Introducing

June Bancroft Sypert

7 lbs 4 oz

February 3rd, 2012

Born 10:02pm

Quick update

Looks like this baby is following in his/her big brother's footsteps. My water broke while I was playing in the backyard with Truett yesterday and then...a big fat nothing. This is so frustrating because the one thing I wasn't counting on was this type of labor all over again. HAHAHA FOOLED HER AGAIN. -Life

But - here we go! The exciting bit is that we're about to be a family of four! And that is beyond awesome - and scary.

I'm going to work on moving things along until later this afternoon when we'll go ahead and go to the hospital. A little castor oil, if you will. A good friend is on her way to help with Truett - and me! - and then Summer will be here later today. Between them and Bud, I'm in great hands, and feel so lucky.

Thanks for coming along for the ride and we'll update everyone as soon as we can :)

No, no, the light has to be a whiter-shade

I had planned on a big mother-ish post about What To Do What To Buy etc for new mamas - incidentally this is NOT a hint as this'll be my second rodeo and though I'd love some head petting, the guide(s) are more for 1st time mamas. Or whatever, I won't complain.

But Truett took a less than stellar nap today and I took that as a sign to begin preparing for the brain-melting unpredictability of a newborn. That's the thing, isn't it? Sleep deprivation = very hard. Not knowing if you've got a ten minute nap or two hour nap on your hand, if you'll be screamed into nursing at any moment or if you just miiight be able to cram this brownie in your face in time is the real torture. Forget water boarding, hand someone a newborn, a schedule and a smile.

Instead let me tell you a quick Truett story. We've been struggling with Truett getting into our bed at night - perhaps more a dilemma for me than him - and so last night before bed I reminded him that he could not climb into our bed until morning. So there has to be light outside of his window, okay? He assured me he understood and then ran to bed. 

This "morning" he stumbled into our bedroom and I mumbled to Bud to check the time. 5:30. Hm. Kind of a grey area, right? I began to stand up to use the bathroom - for the bajilliontieth time - and Truett said, "Come heah! Comheah!" I followed him into his room and he proudly pointed at the window where the orange soda light from the street came through the mini-blinds. 

A house hunt update

About - oh two ish months ago, Bud sent me another email full of houses he thought worth looking into. This is a sticking point in our house search because he's very Action Oriented and wants to Get It Done Now whereas I'm kind of like, We Cannot Make the Perfect House Just Appear. Anyway, personality styles aside, there were two I decided to go look at. 

The first I don't even remember which should tell you something, but the second. Well the second was like, um, what's wrong with this picture? I fully expected not to like it because it had been on the market already a couple of months and I was sure we'd looked at EVERYTHING that might work. Point one for the more tenacious in our relationship.

The house was in a neighborhood we like, full of charm and sunlight, big fenced in backyard, updated (mostly) and in our price range. 

Turns out the big red flag is that the damn thing is a short sale.

I'll pause in recognition in case you've ever fought through to buy a short sale because you deserve that, at least. 

We made a relatively conservative offer and then waited the 2-3 weeks the selling agent said it might take to hear back from the bank(S) - as in, two lenders! Yay! More red tape!

Then we waited 3 more weeks. About 6 weeks in we heard from our agent that our offer had been accepted! Totally accepted! Not a penny more, not a penny less! We were understandably excited. 

The next night we signed an offer extension and waited for certified letters from both lenders saying they were on board with the offer. That was two and a half weeks ago. 

Yep! We wait. And continue to look, though it's difficult to look for me when I have a house I love juuuust out of reach.

In the meantime I continue having contractions - some of them quite uncomfortable - when I lie down or sit for any amount of time. Then I stand up and it's all HA HA! THAT WAS JUST A JOKE CONTRACTION! Get it?

The Bets w/Out Money are Rolling In

I woke up between 5-6 this morning - courtesty of Truett - but once awake could not fall back asleep because I was having mild contractions. This is nothing so terribly exciting given that I've been having them for a week or more, but the problem is this:

Wait? Was that a contraction? A REAL ONE? Are we going to have a baby? OmyGOD are we? Wait, today?

And then I can't fall back asleep even though so far it's been nothing but little jabs from the universe who is snickering on the sidelines, like, watch this, I can totally make her get excited and not go back to sleep.

Well guess what universe, you chump? I ATE TWO WAFFLES DRENCHED IN BUTTER AND SYRUP AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I DID, FALL BACK ASLEEP.

Until of course T woke up around 7.

Anyway. Here are the votes so far. If you add yours in the comments, I'll be sure to update this list! (Oh and by the way, my sister in law decided to add sex to the game. SEX OF THE BABY. Jeez louise, you.)

Georgia: February 13th, boy

Ameer: February 5th

Bonnie: February 3rd, boy

Mom: February 11th

Dad: February 11th, 8:46 AM

Mary: February 9th

BW: February 20th, boy

Summer: February 7th, girl

Cutchin: boy

Ella: girl

Michelle: February 2nd

Tammy: February 1st 

Becky: February 12th, boy

Cari: February 6th/7th

Miriam: February 8th, girl

Jill: February 14th, girl

Sarah S.: March 3rd, girl (damn you)

Nancy: February 7th, Alf

Hannah: February 7th, girl

Baby date count down!

A few family and friends have been throwing out their "bets" (my mother never let us use real money when we bet growing up and since she reads this website I won't say that we still did, a little, under the table anyway) on when this baby will show up. This weekend was Bud's - whoops! - and someone else guessed next Sunday. 

If you'd like, leave yours in the comments section. I'll jot them down and then announce a winner in the bleary first days of baby. 

Winner doesn't exactly get anything, but bragging rights and maybe a future in baby-date divining. 

37 weeks picture + my bikini wax and massage experience if you'd like to keep reading

37 weeks and 1 day.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early with me dragging my very pregnant ass into Truett's bed in a sad attempt to get him to stay in his own bed all night. Right? Make sense? This post is going to be about the pregnancy massage and bikini wax - if you can take it - but right now I've got to diverge just a little. 

Truett has gotten into the habit of climbing into our bed in the middle of the night. This happens to be something I love. I mean, it's nice that he goes to bed in his own bed, that Bud and I have a couple of hours to ourselves afterwards - for me this is why I couldn't co-sleep all the time (though I understand totally). But then he'll drag his sleepy self into our room and cuddle right up against my back and fall asleep because you remember how that feels, right? You wake up alone in your own room, heart pounding from some odd baby anxiety and then climb into your parents warm bed and your heartbeat immediately slows to a soft thud and you bliss back out to sleep? Me too. But we have a newborn about to make his or her appearance and I just can't wrap my brain around the many-wake-ups in our bed for nursing + Truett sleeping in between. So now I end up in Truett's bed when he gets up. MAKES PERFECT SENSE.

Truett and Bud trundled into Bud's truck - T very excited and hollering about how "the forest" was his "faborite! faborite! faborite!" They had an excellent and muddy time and I got to sneak off to my pregnancy grooming appointment.

I scheduled the wax for before the massage in the hopes that the sequence would be pain THEN relaxation. Here's what actually happened.

The waxing attendant (?) asked me to lie down on the table - standard - and helped prop my back up with a few towels. Here's the thing, before you get pregnant, lying on your back pregnant seems like no big deal. But for some reason it is SUPER difficult. Baby and everything with it puts so much pressure on organs that aren't used to being pressed and it's just...weirdly uncomfortable. 

Then there's the pain of the actual ripping. (I realize some of you are rolling your eyes like, and this is necessary why?) My upper lip began to sweat and I could feel the bile rising. I closed my eyes, tried to breathe. This is all in your head Hope, RIIIIIP! ALL IN YOUR HEAD HOPE DEAR JESUS I PROMISE TO QUIT SPLASHING YOUR NAME ALL OVER MY WEBSITE IN VAIN RIIIP! JESUS CHRIST.

So yeah. I had to ask for a break. In the middle of a bikini wax, with a belly as big as the above picture, no pants on and throw away underpants. 

I crouched onto my side until my heart rate returned to normal and then she was able to finish. She brought me a glass of water and some pretzels and looked terrified that maybe she'd done something wrong but I just kept trying to explain to her that on the spectrum of pregnancy my body falls squarely onto the far-wimp side. It wigs out easily.

Then I made my way to the room next door for my massage. Now. I have never had a pregnancy massage before and it sounds glorious. Your body's been carrying around 15, 20, 25 extra pounds for several weeks now and hello? Ahhh. My concern though was how I was going to maneuver into a position to have my back rubbed? I'd heard of different ways: pregnancy chairs, table cut-outs for belly and lying on your side. This particular spa uses tables with cut outs for your belly.

I don't know, I just think this is naive. Even with a cutout, you're still putting pressure on your belly, hips, breasts. But I gave it the old college try - which a few years ago would have meant getting drunk ahead of time - and it started out okay. Until the room started spinning and the reverse feelings of pressure began to make my upper lip sweat, my organs felt like they were about to come out of my mouth and finally I was all fuck this, I've got to speak up. Speak up girls! Speak up!

She was super accomodating and helped me wallow onto my side, put the insert back into the table and even handed me some pillows for support. It ended on a fantastically relaxing note and now I can share with you these words of wisdom if you find yourself in a similar position:

1. yes, having someone rip hair from between your legs is sort of awkward, but don't be afraid to speak up. Taking a little break is no big deal and you can always laugh and insert something deprecating about pregnancy once your heart has stopped blending itself to shreds in your belly.

2. if you do get a pregnancy massage - and I recommend you do - explain ahead of time that you might like to try two or three positions before you're sure of being comfortable. You can even say, "my crazy friend Hope nearly yakked during hers until she realized being on her side worked best." I don't care. But you're paying for a massage, make the best of it.

3. get a recommendation for people who have worked with pregnant women before. Both of these ladies were super professional, accomodating and the wax - while not pleasant - was well-mitigated because I could tell my attendant was a professional.

Cheers to happy pregnancies!

Friday tidbits!

This weekend begins with a pregnancy massage for me tomorrow morning while Bud takes Truett to a work site. Traipsing around in the mud is right up both their alleys and Truett might even get to see some tractors!

I am also hoping to get last minute baby stuff in place - rearranging the furniture in our room and getting the dresser/changing table set up. I just read a tip about bringing your own nightgown for labor so I'll be perfusing the store for that this weekend after I get T this baby homecoming gift. Although I'm pretty sure this baby is good and comfortable where s/he is, I have been having contractions when I lie down. In other words, the more we prepare, the later baby will make an appearance. Babies are ALL OVER Murphy's Law.

A few links, then:

Missing cat posters. So wrong, in the funniest kind of way. 

I have a little rainy-day type list and on it is Get a haircut. This is an even better version.

This rustic tabletop zooms straight to the top of my favorites. 

I loved Ryan Gosling BEFORE he became an internet meme but that's mostly probably because he looks like Bud. These pregnancy posters are hysterical.

One of my very best friends is Palestinian and so this Shit...Says hit a chord in the best kind of way. Reminded me of all of the growing-up visits I did to her house. (hi, Zaina!)

That's it! Have a fabulous weekend and see you guys Monday! 

image via willowslodge

Babysitting

One of the boys next door - and everytime I say this Bud rolls his eyes because they are in their early 20's - got a new puppy a few weeks ago. He is the cutest darn mixture of a black lab and pit bull and so we play with him sometimes or even pick him up over their fence for a surprise play-date. Surprise! Your dog is over here in our yard!

Late this morning Truett was outside playing in the backyard while I had dipped into the kitchen for something - probably food - when I heard someone talking to T. I didn't exactly panic, but it is a weird feeling to hear your two year outside conversing with someone who has an adult voice. We do have friendly neighbors though so I'll just say I rush-ish-ed outside to see what was up.

It was the puppy owner and I asked him how everything was going and he kind of rolled his eyes, took a drag of his cigarette and said he really likes his dog, but sometimes he's really annoying. I mean, I couldn't help it, I laughed. I KNOW. Thirty-something married and pregnant with second child laughs derisively at younger and less experienced adult. Totally fucking annoying. But it just burbled out. I told him I was sorry, but it just sounded so much like having a child (I was struuung out for the first few weeks of Sadie-caring).

"Yeah well, he just ate a bunch of my Twizzlers."

"Oh. That's not as bad as chocolate though."

"We're about to go to the zoo so I'm worried about leaving him."

Which is why we've been babysitting the little sucker for the past couple of hours. His name is Luke and Truett asked if we could keep "Yutie Yute" forever.