Quinn saw his baby pic in this collage and said, “That’s my brother!” 😂
I have a baby date. I HAVE A BABY DATE! The countdown is on. Not that it wasn’t on before but now it’s definite. Baby #2, who is still unnamed, will be here on March 1st. While I’ve obviously known this day was coming, having a date makes it REAL. Like the realist it has been. I think because of the miscarriage, I’ve been very disconnected with the idea of it being over. It’s kind of a defense mechanism to keep in the back of your mind that something could still go wrong. With just days left, everything now feels suddenly very urgent. I came home from my appointment and was like MAKE. ALL. THE. LISTS! Having things out of my head and on paper (or in my phone, some place I can see them) helps ease my anxiety. They aren’t even big things, just lots of little things, like, ya know, packing my hospital bag, the baby’s bag, Philip’s bag, Quinn’s bag to stay at my brother’s house for a few days, re-washing the baby clothes I saved from Quinn and the cloth diapers that we’re going to give another shot. Ordering a new dresser to house the boys’ clothes. Buying new bottles in case I have to pump again. Well, that’s not entirely accurate as I do plan to pump some, so that Philip can feed the baby, I’m just hoping not to have to do it exclusively this time. I need to set up the bassinet but that’s a last-minute to-do because I don’t want to have to fight Quinn about crawling into it 🙄. This is all minimal, really, which is why I didn’t feel like it was too pressing, but there’s nothing more motivating to this procrastinator than a looming deadline 🤪.
The countdown I made for Quinn. He’s very happy about getting a mini Reese cup every day until his brother comes 😂.
I’m sure my anxiety about getting all the things done contributes to some of the irritation I’ve felt toward Quinn on some days. He is so moody sometimes and I’m like, “Could you just stop?” Ugh. When it’s 9am and he’s already on my last nerve, I can put myself in time out, right? Thirty-four minutes? I can’t wait until my birthday next month, so I get another minute added 😂.
Other days, I feel the struggle between wanting to get things done but also feeling like I’m wasting the last of the time I have with just him by not focusing on him 100%. There’s too much pressure to make the right choice. It physically hurts my heart thinking about how I’ll have to spend two nights (at a minimum, assuming everything goes well) away from him 😩😭😭. He falls asleep snuggled up to me and when he stirs in the middle of the night, he finds me like a magnet, inching his way back to me. He often says, “I love Mama,” in his sleep, and the other night when I was sleeping with my back to him, he told me, “Mama, I wanna nap with you,” so I would turn over to snuggle him 🥺🥺🥺. He’s a very flexible kid and I know he’ll be just fine and use Lori as a surrogate while I’m in the hospital, but I will miss him terribly. Depending on how he’s feeling, Philip may go home the second night and stay with him but that’s a tentative plan for now. I’m just crossing my fingers for a smooth delivery, successful breastfeeding, and healthy baby. I’ve had a few people react questioningly when I’ve said I will be having a repeat C-Section and while I don’t owe anyone an explanation about that choice, I’ll tell you all why that will be the case. While it’s possible to have a vaginal birth after cesarean (or VBAC), it doesn’t come without risk of rupturing your previous incision, which can result in a hysterectomy. Not that I want my parts any longer anyway but 🤷🏻♀️. Playing the biggest part in this decision from the doctors’ standpoint is the fact that I have gestational diabetes. I am controlling it well with medicine (that I still hate with every fiber of my being), but the baby was measuring very large at my last growth scan. Vaginally birthing a big baby brings the risk of shoulder dystocia, which happens when the baby’s shoulders get stuck in the birth canal, causing risks to him and a good chance of a needing a C-Section. I want to get my tubes tied, which can be done during the same surgery and wouldn’t require me to go back for an additional procedure. My biggest reason for wanting a repeat Cesarean is that I had a VERY traumatic induction experience with Quinn that I don’t wish to repeat. Due to my diabetes, the doctors want me to deliver at 38 weeks as he will be full term and they don’t want to give him a chance to grow any larger due to my condition. With Quinn I was given meds to try to ripen my cervix, which caused an allergic reaction; a very painful one. I sat in the hospital for three days waiting for it to work, having periodic cervical checks that felt like someone was stabbing me in the crotch due to all the swelling. I endured that while also being 0.2 points away from having a high enough creatinine level that would’ve required me to be transferred to Ruby, a hospital with a NICU, in case my kidneys started shutting down. So, when someone asked me, “Oh, you’re not even going to try?” when I mentioned having another C-Section, the answer to that is, “No. No I’m not.” You can have whatever opinion you want on the matter, but you know what they say about opinions 🤷🏻♀️. Opting to have a major abdominal surgery isn’t ‘taking the easy way out,’ no matter what some people think.
I’ve been having some Braxton Hicks contractions but nothing major. The baby startles to loud sounds, especially when I grind my coffee beans in the morning, which is sort of amusing. Yes, I drink one cup of coffee per day; no, I don’t care what anyone thinks about that either 🤷🏻♀️. The Metformin, although nausea inducing, is helping control my diabetes really well and I’m thankful for that. In the practice that I go to, they like to rotate you through the doctors since you don’t know who will be on call during delivery (this obviously doesn’t matter in my case since it is scheduled). Unfortunately for me, my favorite by far has been the midwife, who can’t perform my surgery. I cried to her several weeks ago when I felt like life was just super overwhelming and the diabetes was extremely hard to handle. She told me something that I really appreciate her saying and that was, “None of this is your fault. Your placenta is producing hormones that caused this to happen.” That was a welcome relief when I was constantly blaming myself and feeling like I did everything wrong. Moms don’t need anything else to contribute to their guilt, believe me.
One thing that has really helped relieve the stress of having weekly appointments, especially ones that require me to be there at 8am when I have an hour drive, is that Philip has been able to take half days off from his job to stay home with Quinn. While it was nice that he was able to attend lots of my appointments for Quinn, not having to get us both ready and drop him off somewhere at 6:45am is a major stress reliever. Not that I wouldn’t want Philip to come, it’s just easier this way. His previous job that he had for over 10 years would never have allowed for that to happen and it would have fallen on me to figure everything out so I’m just really appreciating this point in his career. I have enough anxiety, not to mention depression, which can make life seem very lonely sometimes, even when you have a bunch of people around you who are willing to help. I’m not good at asking for help, even when I know I should. If you’ve never experienced depression, you may not understand where I’m coming from. Mine is under control most of the time at this point, thanks to many years of trial and error and finding the medicine that is right for me, but there are still times when I fall into a mental black hole and have to try to climb my way back out.
The only part I enjoy about those long drives is being able to listen to music and sing as loudly as I want 😂. Before Quinn, I used to go shopping by myself quite often and did that. COVID broke my shopping addiction and my ability to just go anywhere, anytime. Well, that, and having a baby, of course. I’ve missed Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 🙂.
This is most likely the last pic you’ll see of me pregnant. This is my friend, Megan, and I at story hour at the library this week showing off our prego bellies. Megan enjoys making an effort with her appearance and looked nice and cute. I, on the other hand, had showered, washed my hair, and wasn’t wearing my husband’s clothes: the maximum amount of effort anyone should expect from me 🤪. Our boys will be born about 5 weeks apart. Megan and I are neighbors so they’ll be forced into being BFFs 😉.
Anyway, I’ll get to what you’ve all come to actually read about and that is my funny boy 🤪. I know in just a few weeks’ time he’s going to seem like a really big kid, so I guess the timing was good to get him a new stool for the kitchen. Thanks to those three inches he grew in the last few months, his other one was putting him a little too high for the counter. Unfortunately, it isn’t adjustable so if anyone is contemplating buying one, look for one that is if you don’t want to have to invest in two. This isn’t really a problem for me since we’ll need a second one eventually anyway. Quinn was so excited when I put it together for him, moving it all around the kitchen saying, “Look where I can reach!” 😂. I guess he forgot he could reach it before, and some things were even easier to get with the higher stool . His favorite part about this one though is that he can jump out of the back of it if it’s not pushed against the cabinets 🤦🏻♀️. Luckily, the tallest step is only 11” high so it’s not too far of a jump. It is, however, just high enough to enable him to climb over the side of the couch more efficiently, much to my annoyance 😩🤦🏻♀️.
🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
He’s still cracking us up every day with the things he says. Some examples:
Q: “Mama, I can have some ice cream?”
M: “Maybe after you eat your dinner.”
M: 🤦🏻♀️
Q: “Quit making a funny face at me.”
*I’m in another room*
P: “Make sure you don’t touch that bowl, it’s hot.”
*I walk into the kitchen and see the bowl with hot food on the counter*
M: “Quinn, make sure you don’t touch that bowl, it’s very hot.”
Q: “Dad already told me that!”
M: 😂
Q: “Mama, I can have some cereal?”
M: “Yes, I’ll get you some.”
Q: “After I eat all the cereal, Imma drink the milk. It’s delicious!”
Q: “Mama, you like skeletons?”
M: “Sure, I like skeletons. Do you like skeletons?”
Q: “No. I. Don’t.”
*We’re driving to my Farmers Market meeting*
Q: “I’m all wound up!”
M: 😳
*Quinn gave Philip a painting we did earlier that day*
P: “What did you make me?”
Q: “It’s a paint and a cardboard.”
M: “Duh, Dad.” 🤪🤣
*Pretending to be a doctor*
Q: “I looking for French fries in your ears” (something Dr. Gary always says to him).
M: “Did you see any?”
Q: “No, I just saw ear wax.”
*Philip and Quinn were sharing an ice cream sandwich*
P: “It’s almost gone. I’m going to finish it.” *He knew this would rile Q up*
Q: “No! You know I eat the last bite!”
*Quinn comes to me looking all sleepy*
Q: “Mama, what time is it getting to be?”
M: “It’s almost nap time. Are you ready to lay down?”
Q: “No!”
M: 🙄🙄🙄
Q: “I don’t like dinosaurs.”
M: “Are you lyin’?”
Q: “No, I a boy!”
M & P: 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Q: “Why you think that’s funny?”
*Quinn and I were in Walmart, and he was talking entirely too loudly, being hyper*
M: “You need to calm down, mister.”
Q: “You need to calm down, mister Mama.”
M: 😆😆
*Playing with his farm toys*
Q: “Mama, I can’t find my lawnmower.”
M: “Look over there by the barn.”
Q: “I just had the lawnmower in my hand!”
***This is a funny observation considering he has literally asked me where his bink was when it was in his mouth 🤦🏻♀️***
He has picked up saying, “So,” before the start of a conversation, “Oh my gosh, what happened,” “Oh, that’s cool,” whenever he hears my timer go off, he says, “Time to check your sugar, Mama,” and thanks to watching stupid Steve and Maggie, “You’re a naughty, naughty, naughty, naughty, naughty bird.” 🤦🏻♀️Man, do I hate that show 😝.
Steve and Maggie taught him the finger song, and if you have or know a toddler, you probably know it, too. Quinn makes up his own versions though and instead of the standard Daddy, Mommy, etc. fingers, he says things like, “Grogu finger, Grogu finger, where are you? Here you are, here you are, how do you do?” I’ve also heard cheese, blue, car, and vampire versions, too. Quinn loves songs and we have a family song we sing to the tune of Wheels on the Bus. It includes lyrics like, “The Quinn in the bed goes snore, snore, snore/ snore, snore, snore/ snore, snore, snore/ the Quinn in the bed goes snore, snore, snore/ all night long.” His favorite verse is about Sophie though because she goes toot, toot, toot all night long 😂.
Even though I hate Steve and Maggie, I think Cocomelon would be a far worse show to endure. Quinn loves music though so I try everything I can to keep him from wanting to watch that. He’s not usually into cartoons, preferring instead to watch shows with real people, however, he does like the Wheels on the Bus episode of Cocomelon. The timing of him discovering that one coincided with Quinn’s need for a new toothbrush and Burst coming out with a new toothbrush for kids that features Cocomelon. Philip and I have Burst toothbrushes and really like them, so we planned to eventually buy one for Quinn when we knew he liked his Spinbrush from Walmart. The Burst one is more expensive; however, you can get replaceable heads for it whereas the Spinbrush just has to be thrown away when you need a new one. You guys know I couldn’t deal with that wastefulness 🤪. Not to mention, I got it for him in November and had already replaced the batteries in it twice. Five dollars seems like a good deal, but it isn’t really when you factor all of that in. Anyway, I didn’t want to encourage his Cocomelon discovery, but I wanted to ask him what color toothbrush he wanted. I tried only showing him the blue, pink, and purple ones but he saw the green, not even realizing it was Cocomelon, I’m pretty sure, and chose that one 🤦🏻♀️. He tells me nightly that he likes his new toothbrush. Luckily, it hasn’t seemed to influence his tv preferences 😉. You parents who suffer through that show daily are mentally stronger than me. It gives me major sensory overload. I can’t imagine what it does to some little brains 😳.
Quinn still thinks that I’m capable of creating anything he could possibly want. The other day he requested I make doors for his helicopter toy. That one wasn’t too hard, I just cut some out of cardboard and taped them on. However, when he asked for a Halloween party made of kinetic sand, I had to insist that I do, indeed, have limits to my creating abilities. The Halloween episodes of Steve and Maggie are his favorite, so I know that’s where he got that idea from. His interests vary from day to day, usually getting stuck on something for about 2-3 days and then moving onto something else. Most recently he was really interested in his barn, animals, and tractors, but now he has spent the last several days playing with his counting bears and kinetic sand. He loves hiding and finding things so that’s what we often do with them. Philip had a fun idea to hide the whole bucket of bears and make a trail leading to them so Quinn could find them. He really liked doing that. Quinn and Philip play hide and seek most nights; they add their own twist to it by barking like a dog when they’re ready for the other to come search for them 😂.
I was able to recreate legs and a tail using pipe cleaners on his cow that Sophie had chewed off 😂.
I also made him a new barn from a cornmeal container.
He loves mowing that grass and we flip it over for “dirt” since it’s glued onto cardboard.
I made a potty for Damon out of cardboard and duct tape—neon yellow, at Quinn’s request.
Including the one he calls “my dad” 😂. Quinn tried to sit on it, too, of course.
Some of his fave hiding spots: the trash closet,
Underneath the kitchen table,
Underneath his stool 😂. He will direct you where to look for him, too. Like, “Mama, look in the cabinets.”
We’ve been busy doing all kinds of fun activities so far this month, focusing on heart shapes.
We celebrated the start of the month by making heart shaped sugar cookies.
Quinn’s favorite part was just eating the icing. He said, “I just want icing and no cookie.”
We made salt dough heart ornaments to paint to decorate the fireplace. Quinn learned there are different kinds of dough and salt dough doesn’t taste good 😂😂😂.
We practiced catching hearts on a hook and hanging them on a “tree.”
He rescued candy hearts from a trap…
They were Smarties hearts and he had never seen them before so he didn’t know they were candy at first. When I told him he could eat them, he said, “It’s like Halloween!” 😂
We attempted a lint roller/sticker/stamping activity. It would’ve worked better with a good quality lint roller. No worries though, Quinn decided to just make hand prints 😳
As you can see from the color choice, it looked a bit like a crime scene on my kitchen floor before he was done 😂. It cleaned up easily though.
I made him a matching game with all of his favorite characters from the shows he watches.
Thirty spots is quite a bit for his age so we did it in reverse. Instead of uncovering them to find matches, we covered them up.
I made him a target and arrows to throw through it. He wasn’t a big fan of this until we took it to Lori’s and Kate and Lincoln played with it, too. Sometimes the activities I attempt don’t last for more than 2 minutes and that’s okay. It’s always up to him and his interest. We just try again later if it’s a miss.
This was the cardboard and paint he made for his Dad 😉. He’s often a regifter when it comes to artwork. He’ll tell me he’s making something for me but then when we show it to Dad later, he says it’s for him 🤪.
We threw in a puffy paint resist picture by putting a heart shaped piece of contact paper on the card stock and painting all around it, and then peeling it off when the paint dried.
Just for a change of pace, we brought the water table inside from the building and put colored ice cubes, letter ice cubes, squirt bottles, and several other kitchen tools by time he was done, as is his style. Have I mentioned our dishwasher is broken? 🤪🤦🏻♀️
We tried heart stringing—felt hearts onto a silly straw.
We did a painting in a bag for a different experience…
That wasn’t enough though, of course; he had to actually paint. I put the enormous amount of packing paper Amazon likes to send to good use.
We reused our pipe cleaner hearts from the tree activity by filling them with kinetic sand to make beds for bears. We talked about how many would fit on each due to their different sizes.
For Valentine’s Day, I made him an edible sensory bin with different textures and flavored candies. Some of them were sour 😂.
To add to our activity from last month, I decided to make him a vinegar spice jar. I didn’t tell him what was in it and instructed him to smell it and tell me what it was. He knew immediately that it was vinegar and answered, “No,” when I asked if it smelled good 😂.
He loves using the spray bottle to “clean” his toys so I gave him water to spray on the window and we counted the foam hearts as he stuck them to the water.
We did an experiment with baby oil and colored water.
The dropper didn’t last long and he just poured them in to make brown 🤦🏻♀️ But we had a good discussion about the oil floating to the top. It was fun until he got some on his feet and decided to run across the kitchen, away from me, saying, “I think that’s funny” 🤬🤦🏻♀️. Thank goodness for blue Dawn.
I made a jumping game in our hallway with foam hearts from the window. He liked seeing how far he could go, getting all the way to six at one point.
All of his animals had to take a turn, too.
He jumped for about 30 minutes straight. Obviously this was a great pre-nap activity to wear him out 😂.
Sophie was very confused by the all the animals blocking her path 😂.
Another great activity that wasn’t an activity was giving him a balloon to try to blow up. He spent over 20 minutes telling me he was blowing it up, that he was doing a good job, and then, when he pushed out the minimal amount of air he managed to get in it, that he popped it 😂.
He said it was full. Maybe full of slobber 😆.
Today was a really great day with Quinn. Yesterday he woke up with the squirmies at 6am, filled with full moon feelings, I guess. He spent the entire day being sassy while the girls felt the need to be touched every five minutes. Sansa is shedding globs of hair, driving me crazy. By the end of the day, I was ready to rehome all three of them. But then today, Quinn miraculously woke up in a completely different mood. He was sweet and polite and happy all day. I enjoyed him so much 🙂.
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