monday miscellany, and 21 weeks

1) Today I am 21 weeks pregnant with our tiny little dude. I wish we had a name for him, because I'm tired of just calling him "him", or "it", or "the baby", or my latest "He who has not been named". He should weigh around three quarters of a pound now, and is around 10 inches long. I have been feeling good, as long as I get enough sleep at night. Difficult nights or early mornings make me very tired during the day. I'm very lucky that Celia is now sleeping through the night almost every night. My reflux started acting up this week. I'm hoping it won't get any worse, but plan to stock up on Tums just in case. We made some progress in the baby's room this weekend, clearing out the things we had stored there. I want to figure out what colors I want the room to have. I don't want typical "boy" colors or themes, so it will take some thinking.

2) We also moved the crib to the baby's room this weekend, because Celia moved into her big girl bed! Chris told her that she could give the crib to her baby brother, and she thought that meant he was coming right away. She kept asking where he was, expecting he'd be using the crib that day :). Here she is waking up from her very first nap in the bed.

Her first night in the bed, she woke up once and called for me. Last night she went to bed at 8:00 and slept all the way through. We actually ended up waking her up in the morning because she slept late! She even sleeps with her head on the pillow now, rather than moving all over the place. So cute.

3) She seems to be getting so big all of a sudden (although she's still so small for her age my opinion always changes when I see her next to other kids). I swear she got taller overnight, that first night she slept in the bed.

4) And speaking of all these big girl changes, I think it's time to potty train very soon. Celia has started telling me she wants to use the potty and wear underwear, and she's pretty consistent at telling me when she needs a diaper change. The only problem is that she only wants to sit on the adult toilet rather than her little potty, so I think we'll have to get a seat that fits on the big toilet in order for her to be willing to potty train. 

5) We need to replace the windows in the new house pretty badly. So we scheduled a couple appointments and an obnoxious window salesman came on Saturday. I can't stand salesmen. They're all the same. Even the ones who aren't that bad are still annoying in some way. So, this guy's sales pitch was completely based on sexism- trying to appeal to us by emphasizing how Chris would like the financial options and the construction of the window (and only discussing these things with Chris) and talking all about how I, as the woman, would be interested in how they open for cleaning and all the cosmetic options for styles of windows (offering me a look book to peruse while the men discussed the important things). AND assuming that Chris worked for a living and that I stayed home. Um, yeah... Although Chris and I do fall into fairly traditional roles, it's totally insulting to be condescended to and for certain things to be assumed. I actually know quite a bit about windows and how they're constructed, and what makes sense for us to get. I was actually interested to see how the windows were put together and how they worked compared to others. I also use tools (GASP!), am highly educated and capable of a successful career (HOLY SMOKES!), and do not plan to paint our boy's room blue (TRAVESTY! And yes, he mentioned that we would want to paint the baby's room blue about four times). Not to mention, staying at home requires a lot more than making things looks pretty (though I like to do that too). It IS a form of work, and being a good stay-at-homer probably requires more multitasking, organization, patience, diplomacy, widespread knowledge, mental toughness and physical labor than most paying jobs. Oh, and you're on call 24/7 and never actually leave your workplace. It's wonderful, but it requires a lot more than decorating and eating bonbons. So there, window man. Chris and I spent the rest of the weekend joking about how we shouldn't burst his bubble and tell him about all the things I can do. Oh, and we're not buying any windows from him :).

6) This article about home birth was in our local paper yesterday. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I am a proponent of home birth, and although I'm having Number Two in a hospital, I still consider home birth an option. The only reason I'm comfortable with the hospital is that I have healthy pregnancies and have midwives I trust and who support natural births within the hospital setting. It's the best of both worlds. I was hoping the article would shed a positive light on home births, but it basically would scare away anyone considering it. It highlights one woman's bad (very bad- don't mean to trivialize it because it's awful) experience with a home birth midwife who was not certified and make mistakes that led to a bad outcome that should have been easily avoided. The article's suggestion is that home births should be regulated so there would be health and safety standards that would always be followed. I think that would be great. It would also be great for home births not to be a freaking crime! Anyway, although the article is clear that the midwife in the case was negligent there's no mention of the fact that she was not typical of all midwives. She was negligent and did a bad job, just like some doctors are negligent and get in trouble for their mistakes. Happens all the time. Also, women choosing home births need to educate themselves on the screenings and preventative care they should be receiving. It was just disappointing because it could have been a great article, but by leaving out certain key information, the article makes home birth seem dangerous and I'm sure it will turn more people off of it.

7) Outfit of the week. Unfortunately the picture came out blurry and then she took everything off so I didn't get another one. We were cleaning out baby boy's room over the weekend, and Celia came in wearing my ski goggles and Chris's ski gloves and neck warmer. And no pants, as usual.