Just around the corner

Today I’m feeling happy. Relaxed. Optimistic!

12 weeks down! Wahooo! Almost ready to kiss the first trimester goodBYE (or more like KICK it goodbye). This morning I had such a pleasant surprise: I did not barf! I’ve been nausea-bound for 5 weeks now (has it only been 5?), and this morning was only the second, maybe third time that I didn’t heave-ho first thing. I hope this means that less-yucky days are just around the corner.

This week’s baby-fruit is a LIME. I think they need to consider genetically modified produce when they make these comparisons because I’ve seen some pretty BIG limes, and it says that a 12 week fetus is only 2 inches long. When’s the last time you saw a 2-inch lime? In fact, I’m pretty sure we had some grapes that size this week.

These pregnancy posts are pretty slow going, so I’ve been wracking my brain for another “angle” so you, my patient family and friends, can get an update here without falling asleep. How about a day at the White House? Hmm, making this exciting may be harder than I thought. I’ll do my best. Here’s what this week’s average day was like:

5am: Jay springs out of bed begging for breakfast. Jeff stumbles out of bed and gets out some cereal. This 5am wake-up-ravenous phase seems to have ended already, thankfully. Now Jay’s back to his 6am wake-up. 

5:45am: Jeff leaves for work. (He likes to get things DONE in the early hours of the day)

Story time with Jay: Jay loves to sit by me and “read” me books. He knows all of our stories so well that he actually does a pretty good job of it. Of course Rose has to sit and read in her chair too. I think she’s munching on the mini dictionary again in this picture.

6am: I sit up and confront the daily dilemma of what to do first: To pee or to puke—which need is stronger? After that battle is won (or lost, depending on how you look at it), I try to recover in my chair while Jay reads me a story or talks about Star Wars.

6:45am: Rose wakes up, and I send Jay to open the door so she can come out, Bink-hair and all. She greets us with a cheery “Hi Mommy! Hi Day! (Jay)” The children beg for breakfast. I beg for mercy, but hobble in, grab some cereal and milk for them, and then quickly throw together a purple BB smoothie (blueberry banana) for myself. Collapse back into recliner with frosty purple drink. Sit still while stomach settles. Start sipping smoothie. I have no idea why something so flavorful works so well for me so early in the morning, but I’m not complaining. After the purple smoothie, I normally eat plain unflavored oatmeal.

after breakfast: coach Jay through helping Rose out of her booster seat and coax her over to me with a dish rag to clean her up.

7:30-ish: Rose poops and I have major issues changing it.

8am: Steph comes to check on us. Sometimes she changes Rose’s diaper instead of me, if the timing is right. It’s awesome.

Sometime between 8:30 and 9:30am: a sweet friend comes and picks Jay and Rose up to play, leaving me in blissful undisturbed peace. I have 3 friends who have been taking turns watching my children one day each week. They are THE BEST. It helps me so much to have quiet and no kids to care for. One day this week I had Jay and Rose all day all by myself, and it was SO HARD. It made me even MORE thankful for my wonderful friends’ help. Jay woke up on Friday and said “whose house am I going to play at today, Mommy?”

9am-2pm: I ignore my nausea as best I can by watching Netflix, taking breaks to grab food from the kitchen. Ramen won every day for lunch. This week I finished Scarecrow and Mrs. King (on Amazon) and started Bones (on Netflix) again. Nothing like a suave male agent with an inexperienced female sidekick to distract and even entertain a sicklady.

Sometime between 1:30 and 5pm: Jay and Rose get home. Rose takes a nap (if necessary) and Jay watches Sesame Street.

4:15pm: Jeff gets home.

5 or 6pm: Dinner! A kind person from our ward delivers dinner to us on most Mondays, Wednesdays. Fridays, or Jeff dreams up a quick meal on Tuesdays and Thursdays. One night, Jeff let Jay and Rose eat at their kid table. Rose kept escaping though, so she got stuck back in her booster at the big table.

6:30pm: Jeff cleans up the kids and the food and starts getting the kids ready for bed. Family scripture and prayer time.

as close to 7pm as possible: Bed for the children!

7:30pm: Jeff collapses on the couch to rest from his long day. We watch an episode of BBC’s Merlin on Netflix sometimes.

9-9:30pm bedtime for the rest of us.

Funny quirk: Jay is still a tippy-toes boy. He has been all his life. He shuns shoes and walks on his toes. Even when he stands still for a long time, he’s usually on his tippy-toes.

Can you believe that even in my weakened state I didn’t take any more pictures this week?