Passing the Time

Since I’m officially past due, I had my first non-stress test yesterday. It confirmed what I already thought: she’s a very healthy baby who is just choosing to take her time. Plenty of fluid in there, good heartrate, so we continue to wait. I have a feeling that I may go past everyone’s predictions from the “Guess the Birthday” game at the Virtual Shower. I think the latest guess was May 25. I guess this baby just likes to prove people wrong – she may beat out every weight guess, too, as she’s estimated to be around nine pounds.

We’ve tried most of the “natural” induction methods out there, aside from castor oil. Sorry, sitting on the toilet all day with strong intestinal cramping just doesn’t sound worth it to start labor. So now we’re moving on to the Murphy’s Law method of induction. We bought advance tickets to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 tonight, and we’re making plans for the weekend.

The theory is that if we make plans to do something fun, the baby will decide it’s time to spoil those plans. It’s similar to a successful tactic used by a friend to get food to show up at a restaurant – as soon as he goes out for a smoke, the food always shows up. If this method works for us, my water will break just as the previews finish and the opening credits begin.

In the meantime, I’ve been tasked with a meme from Kari to reveal eight random facts about myself:

1. My favorite movie of all time is Moulin Rouge. I’ve watched it way too many times and yet never tire of it.

2. I was originally ambidextrous, and wrote better with my left hand, but thanks to pushy kindergarten teachers, I was forced to write with my right hand “for my own good”. I still use my left hand to open jars and do other tasks.

3. In high school, my normal lunch was a Snickers bar and an order of fries, unless it was pizza day. It’s amazing I grew at all.

4. I have a little “lucky troll” in my car that has been with me since I learned to drive. He must always be in my car. His hot pink hair has has faded to white, and the front half of him is burned black from all the sun exposure, but I won’t get rid of him.

5. I was a rennie for nine years. Translation: I was a costumed performer at a renaissance festival for nine years. I met my husband there, too.

6. When I was in Britain for a summer in college, I hitchhiked once. It was in Scotland, just outside Inverness, and I missed my bus going back from a tour of Loch Ness. It was only a 5 mile or so walk back, so I started walking, but was stopped three times and offered a ride. I accepted on the third one – it was a family with a small child, so I felt safe. Turns out even my travel guide said hitchhiking is safe in the Scottish highlands. Nice people.

7. I have a scar just under my lower lip. During the blizzard of ’78, my mom took me into a store and set me down, thinking I had my footing. I didn’t, and fell on my face (big snowsuit – couldn’t move arms), putting my tooth through my lip.

8. I always feel awkward tagging people to do memes. So if you’d like to play, consider yourself tagged!

Thanks, Kari! That helped kill a little time while I continue waiting. (Don’t worry, Kate, I haven’t forgotten your meme tag, either, and will probably get to it tomorrow!) Now I must get back to my other way to pass the time – chasing after a cranky toddler who has taken to calling me “Mr. Mommy.”



Interview Time

After a week, I’ve finally managed to make time to answer the interview questions Mrs. Chicky sent to me. The rules of the game are simple: if you haven’t played yet and want to be interviewed, make sure I have your e-mail address and let me know you want to play, and I’ll send you five questions of your very own to answer.

Without further ado:

1. What is your dream job?
Oh, this is a tough one. I’ve worked a lot of different jobs in my life: fast food, retail, library aide, graduate assistant teacher, daycare worker, web designer, online course developer, student advisor, writer, etc. And now I’m back in school for nursing. I think my dream job would be something where I’m constantly learning new things.

Clearly I’ve made several job changes over the years, many of which required new skill sets. I think I will be happy with nursing, because there are so many different fields within it to pursue – clinical nursing (and the variety of specialties therein), research nurse, community nurse, insurance nurse, home health nurse, etc. I could even go on for more school to become a nurse practitioner. For now, I think I’d like to pursue labor and delivery nursing.

2. What is the one thing that makes you the most angry?
People who intentionally hurt others, especially the ones who do it for fun and remain anonymous. I’ve never understood that darker side of human nature that drives some people to derive pleasure from hurting someone else. These people are completely lacking in compassion and have no ability to see beyond themselves and their own feelings, which is sad, because they are missing out on so much in life. And in return they bring so much pain to others, sometimes affecting the entire life of a person all in the name of “fun”.

It’s like they think life is one big video game created just for them, and everyone else on the planet is simply a lifeless being here for their amusement. It’s people like that who make me wish I had the power to touch them and make them suddenly feel the pain of everyone they’ve ever hurt, all at once.

3. Who do you think is Anna Nicole’s Baby Daddy?
The baby is totally a clone, with no father at all. Or possibly an alien baby. Or maybe an alien clone…yeah, that could work.

4. Finish this sentence: “Thank God I’m ________” (and elaborate)
…nearly finished with this pregnancy! Seriously, I’m thrilled to be welcoming another little person into the family, but I want my body back! I want a nice big glass of wine, and no restrictions on how much tuna salad I can eat. I want to roll over in bed at night without it requiring a 5 point turn taking longer than 15 seconds. I want to sleep with only one pillow again, instead of three at my head for heartburn and one giant body pillow slowly pushing Aaron out of the bed. And I want to play with Cordy again without having to constantly tell her, “No, you can’t lean on mommy’s belly like that. No, you can’t push mommy there.”

5. If you had your choice for your children, would you send them to public school or private school?
It would depend on where we’re living. If we’re at our current house, I’d prefer private school, because our public school system is one of the worst in the area. If we move to one of several places we have considered, I’d probably be all for public school, since the school systems are pretty good. Although the lure of a Montessori school is a strong one, too. However, we’re poor, so unless the school sucks, public school is always the first choice!

***************

Many of you noticed the new blog design – is it not fantabulous? All praise Izzy and her magical design prowess for the new look!



Real Moms

I was tagged by Mrs. Chicken for Kristen’s Real Moms meme. I had to think about this one for a little bit, and then settled on this:

Real Moms Teach Self-Reliance.




Oh sure, Cordy could have brought that box of cereal over to me in order to get a snack. (Note: even though she’s still in [mismatched] PJs, she had already had breakfast that morning.) But instead, I told her to open the box herself, and after a minute of trying to figure it out, she got the box open and found her own way to the frosted goodness inside.

And while I love my daughter dearly, and gladly do many things for her, having her do something on her own without whining at me to do it for her? That is progress, and a sign of being a real mom. Real moms teach their kids how to do things on their own. It’s part of growing up, and it doesn’t hurt that it means we have a little more time for ourselves, too. After all, it’s not all noble sacrifice.

***************

This week I was also awarded a Thinking Blogger award by Mrs. Chicky.


It feels rewarding to know that my words are making others think and, hopefully, grow as a result. I suppose it’s possible I just make people think about all of the bad writing out there, but I’d like to think it’s more than that.

As goes the award, you must give when you receive. And so I’d like to bestow the award on a few more bloggers who often have me pondering their posts for days, or sometimes just nodding my head furiously until my neck hurts:

Kate at Eucalyptus Pillow
Izzy at Izzymom
Erin at Queen of Spain
Dutch & Wood at Sweet Juniper
Julie at The Ravin’ Picture Maven

Enjoy the award, folks!

Oh, and for those who were asking, Family.com is now live. Be sure to check it out.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...