Tonight the boys came up to my bed and just hung out. They don't normally do this. I am not the hang out parent. I'm just not very good at it. I am the we gotta get this s!*t done parent or the we can have fun as long as we do it in the next 10 minutes in this very specific way. I try to relax and go with it, but it is so hard for me. I usually just bow out and watch. Tonight though they climbed in bed and chatted and chatted and made fun of each other. It was Luke who surprised me the most. Being the middle boy, the peacemaker, and the soft spoken one his jabs on Jack were funny and unexpected. He is so deadpan that at first you wonder if it is a joke, but then he gets this smile or gleam in his eye. Christmas came up as a topic of conversation and the boys were trying to decide what they wanted. I suggested to Jack that maybe he could get new sheets/comforter for his bed since his current ones are of a character he doesn't care about at all. He wasn't interested and said he didn't care what his sheets were. This is when Luke said, " So princess and doll baby sheets." It isn't super mean but the timing and delivery were pretty funny. He has been doing this a lot lately. I guess pre-school has brought out his inner sass.
I took Jack to Taekwondo tonight, and about half way through the man in charge sat next to me and asked how I was doing because I looked tired. It wasn't an insult, and he was able to say it in a way that expressed concern, which must be a special talent that most people do not have. I began to explain why I was tired and said well I was pregnant, and here I sort of paused and expected him to be surprised or unaware or shocked even, but no he said- well yeah. I guess since people haven't really said anything to me about my being pregnant I figured they didn't know or couldn't tell. I guess this assumption was wrong. My new assumption is that people feel sorry for me and don't want to bring it up or they are embarrassed for me that I could be pregnant while still having a baby I carry around everywhere. After that the conversation went well, I just had to suck it up and remind myself that after a truck load of pregnancies people would obviously be able to tell, after all I am in my second trimester.
I let Pete cut my hair. I figure I should write it down just for posterity. In an effort to save money we bought better hair clippers and a pair of hair cutting scissors. Pete is way better at this job than me so he does it. Bless his heart too because our children are crazy and can't sit still. He has cut all 3 boy's hair a few times now. He has even cut his own hair a couple times, and it actually looks really good. The other day I mentioned getting my hair trimmed, it had been 5 months so um it was past time. He said he wanted to try it. We both agreed outright that if it went poorly I would just get it fixed. So he went to work. I said well you know just an inch is fine, but as he began to work he became very focused on cutting the back and it was no longer a trim it was a hair cut. It was quite short and varying lengths or layers I guess you could say. Still it didn't look too bad and then it was time to move to the sides and front. It was here that I think the real trouble occurred. It ended up not looking so hot. Still you have to give him credit for trying even though there was the possibility that his wife would go crazy when she saw the end result. However, seeing how much he laid it all out there I never got mad, but I did make that appointment to get my hair fixed. It is short and I have had it this short before, it is more that around my ears there are chunks missing that she couldn't fully fix or that the back does have so many short 'layers' that will take a few months to even out, and she had to raise my neck line an inch or so. Honestly, it doesn't look too bad. I think the reaction people have when I tell them that I let him cut my hair is hilarious so it was totally worth it.
On Sunday and Monday I experienced very painful cramping and pain. Monday was by far the worst, and at various points during the day I couldn't stand up straight. I had a doctor's appt. already scheduled for Tuesday, but the pain was so bad I called anyway to see what they had to say. I was told to stay in bed, rest, and drink water till I felt like vomiting. Luckily, Pete was able to be around for most of the afternoon and evening. When he wasn't there the boys got to enjoy a lot tv. Meg was nice enough to sleep for most of the time. Pete was very helpful and told me to stop acting like I could and had to do everything by myself. He has helped put the boys to bed a few nights this week, and the hardest part is letting go because I do things at a certain time in a certain order, and with Pete it is sort of whenever we get around to it and bedtimes be damned. However, at the end of it the kids are in bed and I was able to just chill in bed and relax. At my appt. my cramping was less but still there so the doctor put me on progesterone shots once a week. I had also had a slight fever earlier in the week and some pain near my cerclage, so he also put me on antibiotics. I am feeling better, but not great. The cramping is still there but to a much lesser degree. I also learned that I can no longer wear Meg. When we go to the store or anywhere really I wear Meg because it is so much easier than anything else. However, I took Meg and Thomas to the grocery and wearing her caused my cramps to increase and the pain was so bad that I was almost in tears.
Pete has been working hard on redoing his NSF application. It is due on Wednesday so he has been spending a lot of late nights revamping it. He is keeping all the same letter writers so that is one less thing that he has to worry about. This will mark the beginning of applying to post docs. Just as last year he won't find anything out until January.
With so much going on all around just keep us in your thoughts.
