Little updates November 13, 2009

Today I woke up at 4am. Not such a big deal since I’ve been waking up at 4am every day for the past month. I usually go to the bathroom and go back to bed but today I decided to stay up.  I wonder why I keep waking up at that time? I guess I better get used to these weird hours, Aiden will be here before we know it and as far as I heard a normal sleeping pattern will be a thing of the past.

Last night I went to dinner with Patrick and my Mother in Law. We talked about her births and pregnancies and what I want out of mine.  The best part was seeing Patrick’s face light up with excitement talking about the birth of his Son. He is SO cute about everything . I can’t tell you enough how the little things make the biggest difference. Patrick always does stuff for me without me asking and the active role he has in this pregnancy means the world to me.  He even wants to go to a breastfeeding class I have coming up. He also keeps reminding me that I need to pack my  hospital bag! I know he’s going to be great when the time comes too.  He told me last night that if any of the nurses are not what I want he will “run them off” .

Our Baby Shower is next Saturday and I’m so excited that he is going to be there! We are going to have more of a cookout type thing rather than a powder puff shower.  We figure we will open presents then send them men off to go play poker or football while us ladies play our shower games and do the cutesy stuff.  Him being at the shower is completely the norm for me. I have never felt ALONE in this pregnancy.. he has been with me every step of the way and us having our baby shower together is just the next step in the process if that makes sense.

This year for my birthday my Mom and Dad got me a prenatal massage! Saying I can’t wait would be the understatement of the year. I am beyond excited for that day. So much so that I booked it a whole week and a half before my actual birthday

We didn’t get to register at the hospital last week because it was our weekend with Rylee and we ran out of time. So we are going to go knock that out today. I’m a little nervous–hospitals will do that for you–even though I know I’m just filling out paperwork.  Maybe they will let me sneak in to a room and take a peek. They do offer hospital tours but only on Sundays and I work every Sunday. I will make my own tour!

I had to take off my engagement ring due to my fingers being fat and swollen . I’m glad I don’t have to remove my wedding ring just yet. I just didn’t want to run the risk of not being able to get my ring off and having to get it cut off. I’ll make due the next couple of months with just one ring.

That’s it for now, I have another doctor’s appointment on Tuesday so I’ll probably update more then–God only knows how much weight I’ve gained now. Last time I went to the Dr it was 25 pounds. I try to justify it saying that my boobs alone probabily weigh 2 pounds, Aiden weighs OVER 3 pounds ( Dr ’s words not mine!)  Extra blood and water maybe 1-2 pounds? So what’s that..6-7 pounds I can rule out? I can live with that. I did read an article about how women now a days are so worried about gaining weight during pregnancy that some over work out and under eat leaving their babies not healthy. Its such an easy thing to freak out about and I’m wondering if that cycle is becoming more normal than the women thinking its okay to gain 40+ during their pregnancy.  We shot ourselves in the foot on that one. We all know someone who just BLEW up during their pregnancy and never really got our pre baby bodies back. We all say “oh that won’t be me…” Some do, some don’t.  Honestly you don’t have to be such a calorie counting freak about it though. If I am able to work out roughly once a month and satisfy my cravings of big juicy hamburgers and a big bowl of ice cream from time to time and not transform into a giant wildebeest then you can too. Although I still have 8 weeks to full term and a lot can happen during that time so lets just stop right there before I’m eating my words as a side dish to that big juicy hamburger  ;)

 

The great name debate November 8, 2009

I’ve liked the name Aiden for some time.  Actually, I dont even think Patrick knows about this, there was a character on Sex and the City a long time ago named Aiden and that’s when I was first drawn to the  name. It just sounded cool.  It was important to me to have a name that sounded good to a baby but also to an adult.  When we decided to go ahead and choose names for the baby, Patrick’s only request was that it be a Irish name. I had two that I really liked a lot, Aiden of course and Connor. Patrick really liked Aiden and once I told him it meant “Little and Fiery” we were both hooked. So our little fetus was then crowed “Aiden Patrick Polasek”. What a great name…apparently everyone else in the US agreed with us.

It seemed that since we officially chose Aiden as the name of our Son, we have been hearing the name EVERYWHERE. When people ask the name of our baby and we tell them the response is usually something like this…”OH I LOVE THAT NAME, my sister has a boy named Aiden! and her friend ALSO has a son named Aiden, there is also a boy named Aiden in his class who has a best friend, dog and a sister named Aiden as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

UGH

So. Do we change the name that we love based on the fact that our son will potentially share his name with 5 other Aiden’s in his class? Do we try to find a name that we may like less just to try to be a little bit more original?

What we decided was this… What child has had a hard life because his name was popular? Jennifer was the top baby name for like 8 years around the time. I thought that was pretty cool growing up, that and I never had a problem finding my name on a novelty mug or a mini license plate–big deal for a kid!  My Mom’s name is Ruby and while that is making a strong comeback now a days when she was growing up she couldn’t find her name on anything. That has to be disappointing I would think.

Besides, to us he IS Aiden. When we talk about our son we call him by that name. Family and friends reference him as Aiden. We genuinely love the name, therefore Aiden he will be.

And in class he can just go by “Aiden P”

Dreams of certain things November 5, 2009

One of the weird pregnancy symptoms I heard about at the start of my pregnancy are the weird dreams that come a long during your 9 months. I haven’t had that many but the ones that I do have are definitely ones to make me wake up and say “whhhaaa??”

Dream 1:

*Let it be known that I had this dream before finding out Aiden was a boy **

Our son was born and we had him in one of those collapsible strollers even though he was a newborn. We went to a BBQ place for dinner and I turn around and Aiden is a plastic baby doll. I gave him mouth to mouth and he turned back to a real baby.  I go back to what I was doing, turn around again and he had a plastic bag over his entire body and was dead. I gave him mouth to mouth again and he lived for about 2 seconds then died again.

Yeah that dream was NOT my favorite

Dream 2:

I was about 7 months pregnant and decided I could not wait to see him anymore. So my Mother in Law and two sisters in law, Deanna and Ashley took Aiden out via forceps so I could see him. He was a perfectly healthy baby so I put on his little ducky outfit we got him from Carter’s . He was hanging out with me for about an hour when my  Mother in Law told me it was time for him to go back in. So they positioned Aiden “down there” with his arm stretched upward to my girl parts ready for him to be “sucked back  in”.

Dream 3: Last night’s dream…

I had Aiden and we were at a family function where all eyes were on me as a Mom. I went to pick up my son and everybody in the room yelled at me to “support his head!!!!”. Then I breast fed him out in the open when my former best friend walked in the room. She asked me what all the white dots I had on my nipples were and I told her that they were dried milk–like it was a normal thing. I then changed his diaper with my Mom and she used these weird pink circular diapers. I then couldn’t find anything for him to wear when in all actuality I honestly believe Aiden has more clothes than I do!

It makes you wonder what they all mean in regards to my insecurities as a new Mom.

It real life news

We are going to register at the hospital on Friday. It’s getting down to the wire. My Mother in Law said to me the other night ” you are going to be having a baby next month”. She’s completely right. One day I will be super stoked to meet my Son and start a family with my Husband.  The next day I will be scared of what that means–no more spontaneous date nights, no more sleeping late. No more walking around the house naked.  In the long run I’d say that the gain is more than the loss, it’s still the change of the life that I’ve gotten accustomed to that is the biggest shock.

Patrick and I made a pact the other day–sealed with a pinky–that I would never let him become “Fat Dad” if he would never let me become “Fat Mom”. Call it vain or what have you but it seems that a lot of women think  that they get into a family lifestyle and they can just let themselves go, gain weight and start shopping at stores like CATO and Dress Barn. I I had that discussion with a coworker of mine the other day.. At what age is it acceptable to get the “Mom” haircut.  I’ve always had long hair and luckily Patrick loves long hair too– I don’t see myself cutting it off. But I guess when you have 3 kids running around that you have to take care of it’s a lot easier to just chop it all off  than take the time to fix your hair.

Random thoughts I know–but that’s the sort of thing that runs through your head 2 months before Mom-dom I guess

The Miracle of Childbirth? November 4, 2009

The absolute worst thing a first time Mother-to-be can do is watch a childbirth video. Not the cutesy “Baby Story” or “Bringing Home Baby” shows that highlight all the adorable parts of newborns. No, I’m talking graphic, uncensored..BIRTH.

I don’t know how I got it into my head the other day that it was something I wanted to see. Something I took the time to search the internet and find and spend the next 12 horrifying minutes of my life viewing.  How something so disturbing was not only something I couldn’t tear my eyes away from, but something that I would be going through within the next two months!

That night, I told Patrick he is to stay by my head at all times. Some things need to remain a mystery–what it looks like to see our son squeeze himself out of my body is something that will FOREVER be unknown to him.

It also made me wonder how Millions upon Millions of Trillions of Women have all done this before me? Did they have the same “HOW IN THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO THIS” moment that I did?

Milestones… October 25, 2009

How far along? 30 weeks tomorrow, 10 weeks to go–Crazy

Total weight gain/loss: 20 pounds –Sad face.

Stretch marks? two on the bottom left side of my belly that Patrick said looks like the number “4″

Sleep: I can nap like a champ but I wake up every 2 hours or so at night time.

Best moment this week: Watching Aiden moving around my tummy. It is the most memorizing thing! Plus, setting up and decorating Aiden’s room some more.

Gender: Boy

Belly Button in or out? In still but stretched flat

What I’m looking forward to: Our Baby Party on November 21st and starting my 8th month in 2 weeks!

Aiden’s room October 22, 2009

Here are some shots of Aiden’s room and how it’s looking so far.

We are still planning on painting the room but need approval from our landlady first. The most amazing thing is that we have not had to buy a thing for our son yet. The crib came from Jodie’s sister, the changing table, glider and shelf/blanket holder was from a friend of Christine’s. We were lucky enough to just have this stuff given to us. It was all in immaculate condition–bonus! The canoe shelf in the corner was also given to us by Christine. Patrick repainted it a pretty light blue and white. All the clothes you see on the bottom of the changing table are from Ashley’s son Bryson who has outgrown them. The crazy thing is what you see there are ONLY newborn clothes. We still have 2 boxes worth of 3-6 month and up clothes we got from Christine!  We did of course have to buy one thing…

Ah Its so cute I can’t take it We got it from the Carter’s outlet which is AMAZING. Everything there is under $20 I swear.  It’s all such cute stuff too. So far this is my favorite outfit of his..we keep it in his crib. My favorite toy of his so far is …

This little cutie is a blue seahorse my Mom bought Aiden. When you push the tummy in it glows and plays a song. It’s the cutest thing.. He also resides in Aiden’s crib.

I will post more pictures after we paint and get more stuff set up. I can’t wait to see the finished product!

Also, I need to tell you about Rockabye Baby. These CD’s have been around a couple of years and I always thought that they were cool but haven’t had a reason to get them. They are currentish songs made into lullabies for your baby. They have artists like No Doubt, Bob Marley and Queen. I just burned a whole mix of them on my IPOD and play them sometimes in the car.  They are great

oh God… October 13, 2009

My Mom gave me a couple of bras when we saw her last as I only had ONE that fit me and it didn’t even fit me well. I didn’t look at the size I just tried it on and found out that it held my boobies so I was satisfied.

That was two weeks ago.

Last night Patrick saw one of said new bras on the floor in our room and asked me what size it was. I told him I didn’t know.. he looked.

38 DD.

I went from perfect 36 C ’s to a 38 DOUBLE FREAKIN D.

I feel like the Venus of Willendorf for goodness sakes

Here I am in my Third Trimester… October 11, 2009

I can’t believe I’m on the last leg of the pregnancy race. It’s all gone by so fast. It’s hard to imagine my little fish out of my belly and into my arms in three months or less. It’s also going to be weird to not feel his little kicks and pushes everyday. However the weirdest missing pregnancy element of all will be lack of belly stares.

It’s funny how peoples eyes go directly to your stomach the minute you start to REALLY show. When there is no denying the pregnancy.  It’s also funny how men react so awkwardly to the whole concept. I spoke with the Area Director of my company the other day and he asked me “How my health was”..not how is the baby, no how are you feeling.. It was just funny phrasing I guess.   This is the same guy who asked my direct boss if I could work full time “In my condition”, like I was dying.

I had my Glucose screening the other day which really wasn’t as bad as I have heard. I downed a Sunkist type drink as fast as possible, per nurses orders then had my usual Doctor’s appointment. After that I still had about 30 minutes to spare so I visited with my Mother-in-Law and headed back. I was also able to schedule out my Doctor’s appointments for the rest of the year. I have another appointment on Oct 29th and after that my appointments move from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks.. then every week…then it’s baby time!

I also had an ultrasound this week. The last ultrasound they were unable to find all four chambers of Aiden’s heart and they couldn’t fully see his face, so I had to come back . It was pretty cool to see how much he’s grown in the last month.  From what I could see on the screen he has big old chubby cheeks, my nose and HUGE eyes He looked pretty cute to me although his face pictures the ultrasound tech printed out told a different story…

Look at that huge noggin!

I hope that was just a close up because pushing that cranium out will not be a pleasant experience for me. Let it be known that I will love my son, big head or not

We also got this picture out of the ultrasound..

How cute is that? His little feeties . My Mom swears that he has our families feet–although I think they look like regular old feet and toes to me.

Aiden has been extremely active lately with the kicks and pushes. I felt him on both sides of my tummy the other day so I think hes stretched out across my tummy jumping around. My sister in law, Brittany gave us a fetal heart monitor when we saw them in VA a couple weeks ago, so when Aiden is most active I throw on the headphones and listen to his heart beat.

Let it be known that over the past 3 weeks my feet have started to resemble clubs.. like the kind Cavemen used to carry around. There is no separating my calves, ankles and feet. They all kind of just merge together in what my husband so lovingly calls “fankles”.  Thanks Honey.  Luckily it only happens at the end of the day when I’m at home and nobody can see them.  The other night Patrick walked in on me crying the living room due to the hugeness of my fankles. He came over and rubbed my back as I wailed about how I didn’t know how he could stand to look at me and my hideous feet. I could hear him holding back his laughter–and for that I love him.

Will update again soon with pictures from Aiden’s room and my professing of love for the Carter’s outlet.

Side note: Google Chrome has an automatic spell check and they keep telling me Aiden is spelled wrong. I’m not changing my son’s name for you Google Chrome! I’m not ! You can go elsewhere with your smug little squiggly red line! IE likes it so suck on that! –yeah my emotions have taken over.. I need a nap and a chicken sandwich.

Bye Second Trimester :( I’ll miss you… September 23, 2009

I need to start this latest blog with a goodbye note I have written to my friend The Second Trimester.

Dear ST,

It pains me to write this, but our time has come to say goodbye. In a week and half I will be saying goodbye to our relationship and will be  joining  up with the Third Trimester.  I mean it when I say my time with you has been nothing short of spectacular. Thank you for all the times you let me come home from work and not fall asleep as soon as I take off my shoes. It was really nice to not have my husband walk in on me sitting on the couch with my head back and mouth open, snoring. That image wouldn’t have been pretty–so thanks for sparing him that! Thank you for letting me be supremely hungry and eat every 2-3 hours and only gain 7 pounds.  (*writers note: thats 7 plus the 5 I gained in the first trimester–lets be realistic people, me only gaining 7 pounds in my six months of pregnancy is like Lindsay Lohan NOT taking her 16 year old sister out drinking and clubbing.. its just not going to happen. Maybe in a perfect world…) Thank you for taking away my tendency to gag when I think of diced chicken or pita bread.  Thank you for letting me enjoy feeling my son move around in my expanding tummy without seeing one stretch mark.  Thank you for letting my feet still fit in my shoes. Thank you for the ability to still be able to wear 30% of my pre-pregnancy clothes. I will miss all these good things you have given me during our 3 months together, and I do not look forward to the day the Third Trimester takes them all away  and laughs in my face.  Maybe down the road (way, WAY down the road) we will meet again, but until then I release you to go bring happiness to another grouchy, tired, lazy pregnant woman.

Best Wishes

Jennifer

That was hard to do..

Moving on,

Aiden’s kicks have been getting stronger and stronger but it seems like every time I put Patrick’s hand on my belly to feel them, he just STOPS. Like he knows whats up and is being difficult. Well last night we finally caught him! Patrick had his hand on my belly then WHAM! He got to feel what I have been feeling for weeks now. Well, kind of. He got to feel it from the outside, he will never know what it’s like to have a baby swimming around in your tummy like a 1 1/2 pound goldfish. I will tell you though, Patrick feeling Aiden was like me eating chocolate cake. He couldn’t get enough! He kept fussing at me to stop moving, STOP LAUGHING, okay, STOP BREATHING! Because he couldn’t feel him. I was beginning to wonder if Patrick would be joining me at work the next day as  he would be too fixated to take his hand off my belly.

Speaking of belly…

WABAM!

and I finally had to take out my belly ring It was a sad moment and my stomach looks so naked. I’ve had that thing in for 10 years, cut me some slack. I didn’t want a deformed belly button–thats the one deformity on my stomach I WILL have control over!

That’s enough for today, I’m hungry. I will post soon with pictures from Aiden’s room as well as some polaroid’s we have taken for our photo collage we are making him.

Before I go, I looked at my stats from this blog and it tells me how many hits I get in a day and where they come from and whatnot.  Its interesting because it also includes what people have typed into search engines like yahoo or google and ended up at my blog.

The funniest : Toe Nuggles

The most common: Boobs… go figure.

3 1/2 years and a lot has changed August 31, 2009

You can blame this next post on my hormones

Today I was going through some old emails. Im talking OLD…okay not that old. Just from when Patrick and I started dating back in April of ‘06.  It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come as a couple, as friends and as a family.

I met Patrick at our mutual friends house. It was a complete and total blind date set up even though we were all going to Cheeseburger in Paradise as “a group”. I didn’t talk to him much, I thought he was too cute and he made me nervous! When we were all getting ready to leave for the restaurant, our friend Kourtney asked if I wouldn’t mind driving some people. I looked back to see only Patrick following me  as the “some people” I would be driving.  Well played Kourtney, well played.

At Cheeseburger Patrick and I sat next to each other and talked like we had known each other for years. I had ordered one of their yummy special margaritas and they brought me a extra shot of tequilla on the side which PATRICK spilled all over the table. To this day he SWEARS I was the one who spilt it but we all know the truth, don’t let him fool you. We had a great time at the restaurant but I left early to meet up with my friends at 80’s night. He called me the next day and I just about lost my mind I was so excited to hear from him. It was St Patricks day and him and his buddies were all meeting up at this sketch bar called RJs. I ended up going up there later on that night and that’s when he laid it all out for me. We sat in that smelly, noisy, bar and he flat out told me “Look, I really like you and you need to know I am in the middle of a divorce, I have a daughter and I’m moving to Texas next year when I get out of the Army”.

……

So I did what any other 23 year old at the start of a new relationship with a super cute guy would do.. I told him “THAT’S OKAY.. I LOVE KIDS!!!”.

wow.

We joke about it now that if I had any idea what the next year would bring I would have walked right then and there. But I had no idea. and I’m glad I didn’t. Had I given up I would have missed out on my entire life. We don’t need to go into the gory details of the first 6 or 7 months of our relationship but it wasn’t easy. There were a couple factors that insisted on making our lives together as difficult as possible.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bitter. It’s just amazing to me that I just knew.. I have NEVER put that much effort into being with someone. Nobody was worth my time, but Patrick was. We knew that if we made it through that difficult time together, while barely knowing each other that the rest of our relationship would be a piece of pie. I overheard him talking to his cousin shortly after we became engaged. Patrick told him that anyone who would put up with what I put up with to be with him is someone that he needs in his life forever.

We’ve gone through mulitple moves, we’ve been broke, we’ve had money, we’ve survived 2 car accidents. He’s given me a life that I never knew I even wanted.  The life that I have that I get to share with my best friend every day. We’ve gotten smash drunk at the bar together, we’ve spent nights at home alone, ratty t-shirts, junk food and all. We laugh every single day. We call each other “Bils” when we make stupid mistakes, and we forgive each other when we make the mistakes that hurt.  We play pranks on the poor cashiers at drive through windows and I convince him to flirt with our lady landlords when we are going to be a couple days late on rent.  We sing loudly in the car and horribly on purpose at Karaoke.  I fall asleep on him when we nuggle so he forces me to sit up so I can stay up later. We toe nuggle at night time. He gives me two smoochies when I make my “predator” kissie face. He tells me I’m beautiful first thing in the morning. I love him deeper and deeper with every single day..even after 3  1/2 years and I am so lucky to call him my husband and the father of Aiden.

” I don’t get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest”

Ben Folds–The luckiest

(our first dance song at our wedding)