Dear Husband…Why can’t you read my mind?

Chris and I during a maternity shoot when I was pregnant with Penelope

Communication. The one thing my husband and I fight about the most.

I want him to recognize when I need some help and do it without me asking.

He wants me to tell him what I want help with.

For some reason I find it really hard to do this. I mean really hard. I think I’m just one of those people who has to do everything myself (*ahem ahem* control freak…) and so when it all gets overwhelming (which it seems to do a little more now that I get tired and cranky more easily) I blame it on my husband, who ends up shrugging his shoulders with a perplexed look on his face and saying, “I’d have helped if you would have told me you needed it.”

An example: A few days we were at the pool with family. I had Penelope in a chair next to me and I was feeding her lunch and trying to eat mine at the same time. My husband had just finished cooking the food and was standing near the table eating some chips. Penelope started trying to get down from her chair (while I tried to keep her there) and she knocked over a bowl of cut-up fruit. For some reason (I’ll blame pregnancy hormones), I immediately looked at my husband and snapped, “You could help you know.” He, confused, said, “I didn’t know you needed help.”

Why can’t he read my mind? More specifically, why can’t he read my mind the second the thought, “I need help” blares through it? Maybe I just need to be more aware of situations that could result in the need for assistance and plan to seek aid before things become critical.

In less drastic situations (i.e. I’ve been handling a fussy Penny all afternoon and cleaning at the same time while he’s been reading peacefully) I know what I want just fine (help with the cleaning or the kiddo!), and I don’t think it’s asking too much for him to know as well. I guess it’s true what they say: women work in subtlety and men are more candid. I’ll just need to find a way to relinquish a little control once in a while and maybe he can take some classes in ESP, and we’ll find our way to the middle eventually!

Yay Naps!

Yes…I need all of these toys!

Whew! I’m almost 7 weeks into my second pregnancy and I am pooped!

I remember the fatigue from my first pregnancy – the exhaustion that could usually be cured by lounging on the couch for a few hours with a catnap or two thrown in. No longer! With a toddler that has recently learned that by grabbing mommy’s hand you can take her anywhere you want to go, I spend my days being pulled from room to room to partake in the fun my Penelope has in mind for the two of us. So incredibly cute 🙂

However, for a pregnant lady who is drained by baby-growing, it can be tiring. So I do a new thing now. I take naps.

Yes, whenever my kiddo is down for her midday snooze, I go down for mine. It works out great – I can sleep and wake up rested and ready to run around after her for the rest of the day!

Beautiful, hour plus naps in my comfy, cool bed…ahhhh…I want to take another one now.

But, I’ll have to wait until Bugg’s naptime, because she has somewhere she wants to go and she’s taking me along for the ride!

First Night Without

Well, this is Penny’s first night without breastfeeding at bedtime and it went better than I thought it would.

Our little girl took a bath, changed into her PJs, brushed her teeth, we read a book, said “nigh nigh” to Daddy, and I rocked her for a few minutes.

You might remember that I decided I was going to try to skip the wrap along with the breastfeeding…not so much.

As we rocked, she seemed at a loss with what to do with her arms. She tried wrapping them around my torso, tucking them underneath her, even sticking them under my shirt, but she wasn’t able to find a comfy position. And when it was time to lay her down those little arms that are normally pinned to her sides by her wrap just held on to my shirt when I put her in her crib. Then came the wailing. Heartrending!

I picked her up to rock her a little more to calm her down and back in the crib she went…and she still wasn’t having it.

After about 30 minutes of off and on crying, I went in and wrapped her up. Not a peep after I put her back in her crib.

I guess we’ll try to go wrap-less next week after she gets used to bedtime without boobies.

But I count tonight as an achievement! A baby successfully weaned and sleeping peacefully 🙂

Related articles

• Goodbye Breastfeeding (aubreysimons.wordpress.com)

6 Week Update

What’s New With Mommy

Doctor’s Appointment:

We went to our first doctor’s appointment on Tuesday! We got to see little Baby Simons and we thought we might have seen a heartbeat, but we’re going back at 8 weeks to confirm. Doctor said everything looks good and that it’s not unusual not to see a heartbeat at this stage (especially since I ovulate later and, instead of a March 9th due date as indicated by LMP, Baby is more likely due March 13th).

The doctor talked a little bit about delivery (so soon?), saying he is more lenient about induction with second pregnancies. He is on-call during the week and the reasoning is he could induce me on a weekday and he would be the doctor there at delivery (I went into labor with Penny on Friday night and she was delivered by the on-call doctor on Saturday). One of the things I really wanted during my last pregnancy and that I want for this one is to do it as naturally as possible. I really want to labor at home for as long as possible. But I’ve decided I’m not going to put much thought into that yet. I just want to enjoy this pregnancy as much as I did my first!

Symptoms:

This week I’ve noticed a definite increase in nausea or morning sickness, and a little bit of fatigue (those three flights of stairs up to our apartment have started taking it out of me). I’ve been battling the morning sickness by eating small meals every couple hours and it seems to take the edge off…even though eating is often the last thing I feel like doing. I’m thinking about getting the Preggie Pop Drops (they helped last time around).

I’ve also been extremely moody. For example, while watching an episode of A Baby Story the other day I went from sobbing to giggling in the span of about 5 minutes. My husband, being the sensitive-type, took out his iPhone and filmed me.

Oh! And the saliva! Pregnancy can bring up all sorts of weird symptoms and this is definitely one of them! I’ve had a lot of extra saliva lately, which doesn’t help with the nausea, but other than that it doesn’t really interfere with the day to day.

Baby Bump:

I haven’t noticed a bump yet (although my husband says he thinks he might see something). What to Expect When You’re Expecting has a much prettier explanation…bowel distention (beautiful…) I don’t know if this is the case, but I find it hard to believe that I am already showing. Some says 2nd timers can show as early as 8 to 10 weeks. We shall see.

I’ve started the Belly Butter regime (I use Burt’s Bee’s Mama Bee Belly Butter – it’s AWESOME because it doesn’t really have a smell and it’s not greasy or too thick.) I didn’t get stretch marks last time, but I’m not about to chance it or chalk it all up to genetics this time around.

Weight Gain:

None so far. Still clocking in at 121.

Sleep:

Extremely vivid dreams! I usually only remember my dreams maybe once or twice a week, but man oh man…I wake up every morning remembering every detail of whatever crazy dream I had. It’s exhausting!

Cravings/Aversions:

I’ve really had no appetite to speak of. There have been moments that I’ve thought I might actually want something, but I make it and then…I change my mind. There has been one exception.

Yesterday I had my first real craving. I really had to have some thick slices of tomato on a turkey sandwich. Now…this may not seem that weird, but I’m not a huge tomato fan. I put them on sandwiches and burgers normally because I’m trying to squeeze in some veggies, but I don’t look forward to them. Not so yesterday. It was the tomato I wanted and the sandwich without it just wouldn’t have cut it. P.S. It was DELICIOUS!

What’s Up With Baby

Size:

Baby Simons is the size of a lentil or the head of a nail (about 1/4 of an inch).

Growth:

Little arms and legs are forming and Baby will start moving them around toward the end of this week. There are also dark spots where his or her eyes and nostrils will be. There are little indentations that will form the ear canals, and the heart is forming the different chambers and has started beating (looking forward to seeing that flicker at our 8 week ultrasound!) Lungs, intestines, pituitary gland, brain, muscles, and tissues are forming as well.  Basically, Baby is doing a whole lotta growing 🙂

Movement:

None that I can feel, but those little arm and leg buds are waving around like crazy!

Goodbye Breastfeeding

A little nostalgia for me 🙂 She’s not this little anymore, of course, but who can say no to a good baby picture?

Tomorrow will be the last night of breastfeeding for me and my Penelope.

I have mixed feelings. I’ve spent 14 months bonding with her in this way and I don’t know that I’m ready to give it up. On the other hand, I’ll be breastfeeding again in 8 months and the break will be nice. Also, the Bugg (one of our nicknames for Penelope) isn’t really that into it anymore. She gets bored after a few minutes and starts looking around, grabbing my face/hair, and sticking her little feet up in my face with a devilish giggle.

I didn’t plan on breastfeeding this long. I thought we’d get to 12 months and be ready to wean. But, Penny’s first birthday came and went and we continued breastfeeding before I went to work, at naptime, and at bedtime. Summer arrived and we cut out the morning feeding and, not long after, we stopped the naptime feeding. But the bedtime feeding has endured.

It’s such a special time for me. A wind-down-from-our-busy-day time for both of us to share. And, I’ll admit, it calms her down before bed, which is one of the things I’m worried about tomorrow. I hope she gives up her bedtime feeding as easily as she did her naptime feeding. (I’m also planning on finally getting her to sleep without her wrap…the thing’s in tatters and it’s way past time she gets to sleep without it…) I’ll post on Tuesday letting you all know how it went. Wish us luck…