It worked for Mikensi...

Dear Lily,

Your contract expires tomorrow, September 2. Please vacate the premises as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Your Landlady

I've been having a rough day today. At last weeks appointment I was told that I was 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Exciting! Today when I was checked she said that my cervix was so far up that she couldn't even tell. Come. On. Is that even possible? She said that the baby's head moved down, possibly in a posterior position, so it pushed the cervix back. It just doesn't even make sense to me. ALL BABIES MOVE DOWN. THAT IS HOW THEY GET OUT. On both of these occasions I felt like I was begging just to be checked. The way I see it, it is my body and I have the right to know what is going on with it. It's not like I was asking for a quick surgery. These are prenatal nurses. IT'S WHAT THEY DO. They also keep giving me the run around for the induction process. It's like they won't discuss it until it HAS to happen. I was 2 weeks late with Oliver. My mom was late with all of her children. I know my body. I'M GOING TO BE LATE, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE PROCESS. This is what I have been told so far... They won't induce all the way at 2 weeks, because they don't want to be on the edge (whatever that means). They don't induce on weekends, which includes Fridays. So even though my 2 weeks overdue-ness is the 16th, the latest they'll induce is the 10th. When I asked if they could just induce this Thursday, she looked at me like I was asking to be induced 6 weeks early and said "We don't do elective inductions." So at some point between September 4 and September 10 we cross the line between "elective" and "medically necessary" induction. But when? I'm having a non-stress test done on Monday and then another appointment on Tuesday. Maybe MAYBE they will actually discuss induction then. The frustrating part about this whole pregnancy (since we moved to Dover) is that the workers at the doctors office don't really listen to the patient. I've encountered this with the nurses, the nutritionists, the lactation specialists, and the social workers. They have their set script and their 30 seconds with me, and anything beyond that they let you know that you are putting a dent in their style OR just ignore what is being said. The whole experience at this practice has made me really want to get my nutrition degree. Now that I've been on the receiving end of nutrition "advice", I know how demeaning it is the way that it is delivered. And the thing is, I remember learning these methods in my nutrtion classes. The methods all make the recipients feel like children. And what do you do when you are made to feel like a child? Act like a child. So in a way, these people are perpetuating the behavior that they are trying to change. Okay, okay. Deep breaths, deep breaths... It will all be over soon...

Nesting

When I nest, it's nothing helpful. I don't cook a bunch of meals. I don't pack my hospital bag. I don't clean the bathrooms. No. I choose completely inconsequential tasks to take on. With Oliver I cleaned my parents' piano. Dusted and scrubbed all the pollen off of the keys. With Lily I reorganized the linen closet. Something no one will ever see. But, boy howdy it looks great now! I was really proud of myself when I was done. I refolded every single bath towel, hand towel, face cloth, sheet, and blanket in there. I love just going and looking at it. What is great is that Oliver can't get to it so it STAYS clean. I guess thats why I love it. I vacuum the house everyday, but by the next morning, you can't tell! I do the dishes everyday, but by dinner, the sink is full again! The stove never stays clean for more than 5 minutes. The bathroom is perpetually messy. And then there's Oliver's room. Don't even get me started. So to see something that I cleaned that STAYS that way is nice.

Today I have my 39 week appointment. And then I have no more plans for the day, which is nice because I had a VERY full day yesterday. I picked pears, dropped some off to a friend, had lunch with friends at the beach, visited other friends up from New York, dropped by my parents' house to pick up a bathrobe for the hospital, made brownies, had friends over to watch Wipeout (and eat banana splits!), and finally got Oliver to bed at TEN THIRTY!! So today it will be nice to go for a loooooong walk with Oliver and enjoy the gorgeous weather.

Does anyone know how to preserve pears? Is it okay to freeze them before they're ripened? They're a lot easier to peel before they're ripe, but I don't know how they'll taste when I want use them. The last time I froze pears, I cut them up into small cubes, but they came out pretty mushy. I think this time I will just peel, halve, and core them and then freeze them. Also, does anyone have any killer pear recipes? I have a great pear bread recipe, but I have probably 2.5 dozen pears, so I'm going to need LOTS of recipes:)

Potty Time!

Oliver peed on the potty on his own for the first time today!! He's peed on the potty a few times when I have placed him on it after he has already begun the act, but this time was different. He was running around, playing naked. He stopped, pointed at his willy, and said "Pee Pee". I asked if he needed to use the potty and he said yes, so I got it out, he sat on it, and he peed!! How exciting!
In other news, the weather has been terrible here for the past week or more. The humidity has been ridiculous but we survived somehow. Today is a tiny bit better, and tomorrow is supposed to be even drier. By the end of the week it is supposed to be in the low 70's with moderate/low humidity so that is something to look forward to. I'm not a huge fan of summer. I need a few days of sun and pools and beaches, but really a week of summer would be good for me. I love the fall and the spring, both have a great feeling of anticipation and the weather is so pleasant. I can't wait for this autumn, mostly of course because I get to welcome a beautiful baby girl into the world! I'm also excited to take Oliver apple picking and go for walks in the nice crisp air.

Scrap-tastic!

This weekend, from Friday evening to late Saturday night I attended a scrapbooking party and busted out 13 pages! My mom's friend has an annual scrapbooking weekend when everyone can share their tools, ideas, and lots of food! She also lives on the beach, so we took advantage of that, too:) I was hoping to completely catch up with Oliver's scrapbook, but I came close enough to feel accomplished. Once I get batteries for the camera I will take pictures of the pages. It was my first time away from Oliver for a whole night. I think we both handled it well. When I went to take a shower Sunday morning, though, it was too much for Oliver and he'd had enough of being apart and screamed the whole time I was in there! Luckily he went into nursery with no problems. In fact he has learned his teachers names and whenever we talk about nursery he excitedly says "Jone-Jones!" Adorable!

37 weeks

The countdown is on. I am now considered full term. This means that if I were to go into labor today, they would "let" me have the baby. Of course, I don't think that will happen. I'm hoping for a week past my due date this time around. If anyone wants to put their guesses in for the due date, feel free! Your prize will be the satisfaction of knowing you were right:) My guess is September 9. My due date is September 2. Happy guessing!

Haircut and visit with friends

On Wednesday we took Oliver for his first real haircut at the barber. The barber we took him to was so great. He was so patient and really catered to Oliver. Of course, we forgot the camera so we don't have any action shots of the haircut. Shane took some on his phone, but we don't know how to get them off!
Later in the day Oliver and I drove up to Laconia to hang out in the pool with our Boob Group friends. After we played in the pool, we locked them all in the tennis court and they had a great time playing together and chasing after balls! We got a really sweet picture of all of them holding hands. We miss hanging out with our friends. We're still having a hard time finding friends down on the Seacoast, so we head up to the Lakes Region whenever we can.

On Thursday we took a trip over to Hampton Beach with our friends Shauna, Carter, and Hamilton. Shauna and I had to keep track of 3 kids under 2...at the ocean! It was a challenge, but worth it to see how much they loved to dig in the sand, play in the wave pools, and chase the waves (okay, that was mostly Oliver...he LOVED running straight into the waves and getting knocked over by them!)
Friday we went to Portsmouth to play with Amy and the two little girls she watches; Shaye and Molly. Molly LOVES Oliver and follows him everywhere. When they were eating lunch, she kept feeding him her mac and cheese. It was so cute! It was a hot day, so we filled up the kiddie pool and the three kids splashed around in the pool. Adorable!

While we were having all of these visits, Shane was in Boston at an Intern Conference for Liberty Mutual. He got to meet the CEO of the company, learn more about the benefits of working for Liberty, ate a ton of food, went on a Duck Tour, built a bike for charity, and played trivia. I'm glad he got to have that experience.

Boston

Last week we went to Boston with Shane's parents. We had a great time just walking around the city. We ate at an Irish pub called Solas and it was DELISH! Everyone really enjoyed what they had. Shane had decadent macaroni and cheese with ham, Irene had a grilled chicken sandwich with goat cheese, Tom had meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and I had chicken curry. I thought mine was the best, but noone else would try it (because it had raisins in it)! Oliver's favorite part of the day was a splash park we happened upon. We stripped him down and let him loose. It was a nice hot day and I think he needed the cool off to get through the rest of the day. We wanted to go to Mike's Pastries but the line was a good 30 minutes long and it was over 80 degrees out, so we decided to keep on moving :( We finished the day off with Cold Stone. A perfect end to a wonderful day!