Adjusting to Life on the Inside

Well, here I am. Things are looking up now that I have a laptop and some Internets. Also since I got transferred from the room with the "window" that provided a lovely view of the hallway. Now I get to look at the half-empty duck pond, cars driving by, and mountains. The mountain is my favorite.

For those of you who haven't heard, I have placenta previa, where the placenta is sitting directly over my cervix. So early Monday morning when I started bleeding I followed instructions and headed to the hospital, where I have been ever since.

So it's a possibility that I may come home, although I will be on bed rest for the rest of this pregnancy, however long that is. It seems sort of unreal to think that I have a major complication that could have life-threatening consequences. So I'm being good, laying around, and taking care of myself and this baby.

But I'm keeping busy. I'm brushing up on my crocheting skills, am going to re-learn how to knit, watching a lot of tv and going through books at an alarming rate. Providentially, I was able to check my e-mail the other night and so was able to line up an editing job for the next couple of weeks. Keeping busy helps me to keep a positive attitude. And I can't deny it's a little bit nice to take a break from cooking and cleaning (Jon, don't read that last sentence since you'll be tempted to twit me on my "vacation" once again).

Last night Nathan was able to come visit. Although I'm only allowed three visitors, my mom was able to take me for a wheelchair ride out of the wing, where they have areas that we "undelivered" moms can go spend some time with our kids. There's I think four of us right now, just hanging out, not having babies. Nathan especially liked helping to push the wheelchair. He would have done it all by himself, if only he were tall enough to reach the handles.

Thanks to everyone for your help and prayers. I feel really blessed to be surrounded by people who are so willing to take over parenting duties for me. Not having to worry about Nathan has made this a lot easier. I really feel that although this is not a pleasant experience, everything will work out.

I'll keep you all updated as I know more.

What do you do with a yard full of leaves? Why, turn loose your nephews on it, of course.

The weather was perfect for an afternoon in the leaves. Don't eat them, though.
Nathan wasn't sure about them at first, but he soon got the hang of it. He also loved watching his older, more capable cousins leap and be thrown into the leaves. He walked around the yard laughing in delight. Things are usually much too quiet around our house for his taste.
This next is a pretty good action shot. Nathan got bored of all the leaf throwing and took off in disgust.
By the time we were all played out, the leaves were pretty munched up. And we had plenty of helpers to get them bagged up. We have a front yard left. Any takers?

An Equal-Opportunity Sucker

Nathan loves his binkies. He especially relishes the unparalleled luxury of having two binkies in his possession at once. Usually he will clutch one in his hand, one in his mouth, always making sure to rotate them regularly, like every ten seconds. Double-binky sucking is a full-time job. You can't play favorites with binkies. Or, if you're up way too early in the morning, and you forget that you already have something in your mouth, you end up with this:
I'm really not sure how he managed to do this. But somehow the handle of the first-inserted binky aligned just right for the nipple of the second-comer, and they stuck together like they were designed for this. I may not have found this so funny, but it was five in the morning. And everything is really funny or really annoying at that hour.

Yet another post about our boy

I bet you'll all be glad when we have another kid to write about. Then every post won't be all Nathan, all the time. But really, we're always learning something, so life keeps busy.
Lately we've been stacking. We'll stack anything--breakfast toppings, random things from the cupboards, pieces of dinner on top of sippy cups. We love stacking.
We've also discovered Nathan is a fairly good hiker. What he lacks in focus he makes up for in enthusiasm. He would have been happy to roam up and down the same stretch of trail still in sight of the trailhead. We tried to teach him that the point of hiking is to hike, but he taught us that it's enjoying the sights. We did make it a little farther up the trail eventually, and we had a great time.

So far October...

Getting ready for a ride last Friday, somebody (who had been exploring the garage) decided he needed a toy. He even said "ball" so I let him bring it. It was really fun for two minutes until he kept dropping it and wanting it back. Turns out balls roll in moving cars. It being October and all, we decided to get some pumpkins. Nathan didn't care so much about them. I mean, they were neat and all, but guys, have you seen this wagon? It has wheels and moves when you push it. This is the coolest thing ever. He didn't get the hang of pulling it by the handle, but pushed the wagon from the back while dad steered. So, bringing pumpkins home, not so much. But he really objected to leaving this cool wagon at the produce stand. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind for Christmas.

Also on Friday, we bought him this cowboy hat for his Halloween costume. He loved it in the store. He did not love it on Saturday when he was actually supposed to wear it. But, hatless cowboy or not, he did win the first cupcake in the cupcake walk at our family Halloween party.

And that's pretty much been October for us so far. Currently we are all recovered from our bouts with a stomach bug (which got me out of both speaking in church and accompanying the sacrament meeting's musical number, conveniently), so things are looking up. Let me just go clean up the potted plant mess that was Nathan's latest exploit. We're having a battle of wills this week that usually devolves into humongo tantrums. Two kids? What was I thinking?

What did you do conference weekend?

I stayed awake. The entire eight hours, while sleepy husbands slept and babies took refuge in cribs. Amazing accomplishment? Yes. But I couldn't have done it without Amazing Accomplishment #2:

I'm the sort of crocheter that if the end product turns out looking anything like the pattern, it's an amazing accomplishment. So while this didn't turn out perfect, I'm pretty pleased with it. Although I may need to make another hat. Following the pattern turned out an impossibly small hat. I guess we'll just have to hope that baby #2 comes out the right size to fit these clothes, after I went to all the work of making them.

And the results are in...

Well, Brady totally won. By all indications, we are having a human baby. Whew. As for prizes, you mainly get the satisfaction of having made a good guess.

"So you want a girl?" This seems to be the question written on my face, because everyone keeps asking me that. They assume that since I have a boy, I must be pining for a girl. The perverseness in me wants to tell everyone I want a boy, just to be contrary to expectations. Because I'm like that. In reality, I don't care what I have. As long as it's healthy (and human), I'll be happy.

Now, with my little rant over, I can tell you that I was right. And so were many other people--Sofia will be having a girl cousin. They're probably both in heaven being friends right now.

The receptionist at the ultrasound desk gave Nathan a sucker (his first). We let him play with it, since we figured he wouldn't know what to do with it. We give our son too little credit. First he chewed on it still in the wrapper, then somehow pulled its plastic covering off. So by the time I got home, I had a sticky green son chewing on a pulpy sucker stick.