~<3~ Weekly Chat Feb 12-18 ~<3~ - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[Onemoreontheway]

Jen, I am super happy for you and oh so thankful. <3

Casmer - I have never heard of a 3rd trimester HIV test. Maybe Hib?

[shastalily]

JynxGirl - that is super great news!  What a relief that things are looking pretty good overall.  I'm glad your Dr. seems so on top of it and reassuring.  Sorry you still have to take it easy with resting but yay for light moving around so you don't go completely stir crazy.  Is that for the rest of the pregnancy or play it by ear until the next appt, etc?

[JynxGirl]

Shastalily- For now it's on an appointment by appointment basis.

[casmer]

Originally Posted by Onemoreontheway 

Casmer - I have never heard of a 3rd trimester HIV test. Maybe Hib?

Not sure...the lady talks SO fast (I'm from the country-LOL) so I'm not sure what she said.  I wonder what Hib is...hope I don't have it...haha!

[BubbleMa]

Jynx, I'm so happy to hear your good news! 

Sorry for not using the form.  I'm freestyling it this week.  I hope no one minds. :)

As for me, I'm officially in the 3rd trimester now!  My next appointment is on the 27th.  Ack!  It's going so quick!  We're totally unprepared!  All we have is clothes, and that's probably the LEAST important thing we need.  lol  I sold some stuff on eBay today, so hopefully we can use that money to get a crib or a carseat.  *Side note* I have a carseat on our baby registry (which is just for family since we're not having a traditional shower) is it rude to ask if anyone plans on getting us the carseat??  I'd hate to spend the money on it if someone else is going to. lol

Oh, food!  The other day I came up with mixing equal parts vanilla yogurt and whipped cream with mixed berries.  So yummy! 

[MLog]

Name: Megan

Weeks/Days along: um... got to look at the calendar... 25 weeks + 2 days.  I used to know exactly how far I was everyday... now I have to check. I guess the novelty has worn off.  

Appointments: at the end of the month

Symptoms: Since Sunday afternoon I have had pain/soreness deep in my left glute.  My monthly chiropractic appointment was today and he worked on it.  It still is pretty painful.  The chiropractor pretty much said it's likely this will continue through the pregnancy.    This is the first time I've had symptoms where I've felt like it's more than I can handle (especially for 3+ more months) and I had the overwhelming feeling for the first time that I want my body back.  So for any of you who have already been feeling that way I'm so sorry!  This is not fun!

Food: We had a pre-Valentine's day couples dinner with a few close friends on Saturday night that involved chocolate fondu.  YUM!!!  I was in heaven and I ate so much sugar - I'm really surprised I didn't get sick.  And then I realized how much sugar I've been eating lately... not healthy at all!  So I'm really trying to cut back on all processed sugars.  No more frosted flakes for breakfast.

Exercise: Still taking ballet once a week though that is getting much more difficult.  Some light conditioning/yoga though my friends are trying to convince me not to do any abdominal exercises.  Really?  I mean I'm not doing 100 crunches or anything, but a few basic pilates exercises.  I pretty much do whatever I can that still feels okay.

Body changes and other milestones: Not that I can think of right now.  Getting bigger of course.

Thoughts: Glad to hear that Jynx is not dilating!

We are starting Bradley classes this Sunday.  I'm pretty excited/nervous about that.

MIL expressed concern again over us flying to CA (from MD) in April.  A distant relative just gave birth 2 months early due to pre-eclampsia concerns.  Mom and baby (2lbs, 11oz) are both doing well.  Baby was breathing on its own within 24 hours.  But of course this sent MIL into a panic.  I actually have a history of very low blood pressure.  MIL wrote in her email that she's worried about my blood pressure (all of a sudden getting really high?) and since the plane will be pressurized... and it really pissed me off (pregnancy rage anyone?) so I wanted to respond and ask if she'd rather I fly at 30,000 feet in an unpressurized cabin?  Because I'm pretty sure that would not be good!   DH was really good about listening to me rant and offered right away to call his mom and try to talk rationally to her.  I appreciated that he offered without me having to ask that he handle this situation now because what will really raise my blood pressure is the stress from MIL!  That's my rant for this week.

Have a great Valentine's day everyone!  DH and I don't actually do anything to celebrate (crazy Hallmark holiday), but we could all use some extra love!

[alittlesandy]

Onemoreontheway you are so awesome for coordinating the bead exchange. I'm so excited!

JynxGirl Glad to hear things have stabilized!

MLog, I'm totally impressed that you're taking ballet! I'm so jealous! I've always wanted to take ballet. I can barely bring myself to do my yoga DVD, lol.

Janellody and Cristeen, my DH blames everything on pregnancy hormones and it's seriously pissing me off. I call that "gaslighting," which is basically a term that means men have a way of dismissing women's concerns or arguments by making them feel like they are crazy or stupid.

As for me: I'm 28 weeks! After my previous losses, I never thought I'd make it to the third trimester. Woo hoo! However, I am seriously uncomfortable, which does not bode well for the next ten weeks or so, lol.

I am so behind at work it's really depressing me and stressing me out. I need to get organized and prioritize, make some to-do lists, and get some projects completed before this baby comes. Also, our house is a disaster. It doesn't help that we left town for three days and had a huge 3rd birthday party for DS. He got a ton of crap and I got stuff for the baby too. We had a blast, but now my house is worse than before. Not sure how everything is going to come together in the next two months or so.

[SaguaroMoon]

Hi all! Just want to sympathize with you all about the hormonal rage thing. One of my jobs is seriously pissing me off right now.

I had to run a meeting yesterday for the scoring committee of scholarship program that I administer for a school district (but that is run by a board of an association). People were complaining about not liking the new application process (including people from the board that had CHOSEN the new process months ago - their choice, not mine) and asking really stupid questions like, "Now that the applications are filled out online, how do we know for sure that a student didn't just ask their brother to pretend to be a teacher and give a recommendation?" (Uh, how did we know for sure that a student didn't just ask their brother to pretend to be a teacher and give a recommendation when the applications were on paper? There's NO difference here). I seriously just wanted to scream at people, but managed to answer these and other equally ridiculous questions politely. And despite these constant interruptions, managed to provide everyone with the information they needed to score applications, and thanked everyone for being there. And waited until I was walking to the bus alone to start:

  

Fortunately, on the bus on the way home, this adorable 5th grade girl sat down next to me, and started telling me all about her great interest in dead bodies, and how she wanted to be a forensic scientist someday so that she could work with them. She was really funny and rather macabre in her discussion of this, and was telling me in detail what an autopsy entailed, and how she hoped she could observe one soon; at first her dad looked really embarrassed (he's probably asked her not to start conversations about dead bodies & autopsies with random strangers before this), but when he saw I wasn't shocked or offended, he relaxed, and we had fun talking all the way to their stop.

I absolutely adore quirky kids, so this cheered me up a bit, and by the time I got home, my poor DH only had to deal with instead of   when he asked me how my meeting went.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by janellody 

forest - thanks I didn't know that about protein..  I need to get more greek yogurt as mine expired in January.  And I still used it a few days ago.  Is that bad?  I am awful with expiration dates when not pregnant.. if something looks ok I eat it and I am always fine!  But now I feel bad, I shouldn't do that with dairy items huh??

ALso you put yogurt with frozen fruit?  Then it's hard and icy though? I need to experiment.

Fat and protein both are good for sugar cravings. 

Yogurt is one of those things I don't pay any attention to the expiration date on.  Actually, there are a lot of things like that, but for yogurt, it's already "bad" (fermented) - until it starts growing mold, it's fine to eat, and that may take months.  Check the container for green/gray or orange/pink patches, and if you see it toss it.  This is assuming plain yogurt obviously, yogurts with dyes and fruits in it will turn sooner and will be harder to tell. 

As for the frozen fruit, stir it up and let it sit 5 minutes, it won't be frozen any more.  The temperatures will equalize pretty quickly.  It'll still be ice cold, but not completely frozen.  If you can let it wait 10-20 minutes, it'll usually be softened. 

Originally Posted by BubbleMa 
  *Side note* I have a carseat on our baby registry (which is just for family since we're not having a traditional shower) is it rude to ask if anyone plans on getting us the carseat??  I'd hate to spend the money on it if someone else is going to. lol

I wouldn't send out a mass email asking, but I would pick someone and ask them specifically if they'd be willing to get it for you.  That's what I did with DS, I emailed one of his grandmas and told her that we had everything else we *needed*, but that we still really needed a carseat, and would she mind?  It was on my doorstep a few days later.  I'll probably do the same this time, since I need a new seat for DS so this babe can have his old one (that he's about to outgrow).  A friend gave us the bucket her youngest just outgrew, DS is about to outgrow his convertible, and I'll ask the grandparents for a combo seat, and we should be set until baby is at least 3 (if this one grows faster than DS does, oh man, we're in trouble! ). 

Sandy - yeah, DH is having some difficulty right now with his emotions, and then blames me.  Unfortunately he caught me on Sunday after a really long, tough day on Saturday, and my reserves were really low, so rather than being able to back off and give him space I blew.  Big time.  It was not pretty.  He instigated it, but I have to take my share of the blame on that one.  And it was the worst I've ever gotten - I was completely out of control emotionally.  He really has no idea how bad it was, he was so busy being pissed off at me for stupid BS. 

So what's everyone's plans for the evening?  I don't have anything special planned.  I made hot fudge sauce last night, and I have a pint of peppermint ice cream in the freezer, and DH brought home a bag of GS cookies last night, so I'll probably throw together a sundae after dinner tonight.  Dinner is a pork roast, since that's what I pulled out of the freezer yesterday, and I have a case of asparagus in the car, so that covers dinner. 

Other than that, my biggest issue right now is that DS is being super clingy during his daily therapy, and it means I have to hide in the back bedroom so he doesn't see me (and start freaking).  I really need to be able to be in the kitchen during his therapy, but he can see me in there.  But I can't even get the dishwasher loaded, and I have some canning to do (the aforementioned case of asparagus, and several pounds of tomatoes I need to get out of the freezer so I have space for freezer meals).  I'm getting really frustrated - I was counting on being able to use that 5 hours/day constructively, not to be having to hide out in the bedroom.  I went into the kitchen this morning to make my breakfast (therapy started at 8 today, and he didn't even wake up until 7:55 so I didn't get breakfast), and he flipped out, and kept flipping out for another 10 minutes after I was back in the bedroom.  Ugh!

[persephassa]

Name:  roxi

Weeks/Days along:  28wks, 6d --although at my appointment today the midwife said i was measuring 2 weeks behind

Appointments: this afternoon i had one, next prenatal on march 6, some other things coming up next week, touring a birth center, etc.

Symptoms:  i feel pretty good, the baby kicks & moves a lot

Food: i was inspired by all the discussion about peanut butter, except i got cashew butter... mmm cashew butter & honey sandwiches. have been having a lot of smoothies (yogurt, oj, strawberries, bananas, blackberries, pineapple) and making burritos (black beans, brown rice (+ tomato sauce, olive oil, spices, onion, garlic, carrots, bell pepper), cilantro, lettuce, sour cream, avocado, purple onion, tomato, lime juice, salsa (roasted chilis & tomatoes, etc). the midwife said i need to make sure to get protein, but i am pretty sure i have a decent serving of protein every day--we've been having lentil soups and things like that, too. she also said to lay on my left side, & i do that, too. dunno why he is measuring behind--last appointment everything was on track. she might schedule me for another ultrasound after the next prenatal visit.

Exercise: walking, yoga on netflix, wii fit

Body changes and other milestones: a little bigger, i guess

Thoughts:  i torrented 'happiest baby on the block' so maybe i will watch that while i work on quilting the flannel baby quilt i just finished piecing. we've finally had a littile snow, so that's nice. i went and got some flowers after my appointment--we won't do much for valentine's day, my husband has class today & tomorrow & is feeling overwhelmed (it's his first year teaching, he's a professor). excited for our birth class to start--two weeks from today :)

happy valentine's day!!

[Onemoreontheway]

Cristeen that sounds rough. May I ask what your sons special needs are? Do you have a blog or something? Asparagus sounds good though...mmmm

My evening plans involve me whining, lol.

I have to take the kids to the local book delivery service "Bookmobile" here in a bit. Then I will come home and hopefully have energy to tackle the kitchen (3 days of dishes in there. serious.) and start making some enchiladas. I just finished a midterm. and wrote 2 papers yesterday and I am exhausted.I really just want to curl up on the couch and knit and watch some kind of documentary.

I have clothes to wash also. Eldest needs help with math homework..

bahh.

I did dye a bunch of prefolds yesterday in between breaks writing my paper.

I am just going to force myself to do the dishes now.

I will go check the mail when I go to the book mobile. So will update about beads on the thread then. Have a good night everyone!

[BubbleMa]

Originally Posted by SaguaroMoon 

Hi all! Just want to sympathize with you all about the hormonal rage thing. One of my jobs is seriously pissing me off right now.

I had to run a meeting yesterday for the scoring committee of scholarship program that I administer for a school district (but that is run by a board of an association). People were complaining about not liking the new application process (including people from the board that had CHOSEN the new process months ago - their choice, not mine) and asking really stupid questions like, "Now that the applications are filled out online, how do we know for sure that a student didn't just ask their brother to pretend to be a teacher and give a recommendation?" (Uh, how did we know for sure that a student didn't just ask their brother to pretend to be a teacher and give a recommendation when the applications were on paper? There's NO difference here). I seriously just wanted to scream at people, but managed to answer these and other equally ridiculous questions politely. And despite these constant interruptions, managed to provide everyone with the information they needed to score applications, and thanked everyone for being there. And waited until I was walking to the bus alone to start:

  

Fortunately, on the bus on the way home, this adorable 5th grade girl sat down next to me, and started telling me all about her great interest in dead bodies, and how she wanted to be a forensic scientist someday so that she could work with them. She was really funny and rather macabre in her discussion of this, and was telling me in detail what an autopsy entailed, and how she hoped she could observe one soon; at first her dad looked really embarrassed (he's probably asked her not to start conversations about dead bodies & autopsies with random strangers before this), but when he saw I wasn't shocked or offended, he relaxed, and we had fun talking all the way to their stop.

I absolutely adore quirky kids, so this cheered me up a bit, and by the time I got home, my poor DH only had to deal with instead of   when he asked me how my meeting went.

That's awesome!  What an interesting kid.  I think it's neat when kids that age are interested in things other than the "typical" stuff.  :)

Originally Posted by cristeen 

Fat and protein both are good for sugar cravings. 

Yogurt is one of those things I don't pay any attention to the expiration date on.  Actually, there are a lot of things like that, but for yogurt, it's already "bad" (fermented) - until it starts growing mold, it's fine to eat, and that may take months.  Check the container for green/gray or orange/pink patches, and if you see it toss it.  This is assuming plain yogurt obviously, yogurts with dyes and fruits in it will turn sooner and will be harder to tell. 

As for the frozen fruit, stir it up and let it sit 5 minutes, it won't be frozen any more.  The temperatures will equalize pretty quickly.  It'll still be ice cold, but not completely frozen.  If you can let it wait 10-20 minutes, it'll usually be softened. 

I wouldn't send out a mass email asking, but I would pick someone and ask them specifically if they'd be willing to get it for you.  That's what I did with DS, I emailed one of his grandmas and told her that we had everything else we *needed*, but that we still really needed a carseat, and would she mind?  It was on my doorstep a few days later.  I'll probably do the same this time, since I need a new seat for DS so this babe can have his old one (that he's about to outgrow).  A friend gave us the bucket her youngest just outgrew, DS is about to outgrow his convertible, and I'll ask the grandparents for a combo seat, and we should be set until baby is at least 3 (if this one grows faster than DS does, oh man, we're in trouble! ). 

Sandy - yeah, DH is having some difficulty right now with his emotions, and then blames me.  Unfortunately he caught me on Sunday after a really long, tough day on Saturday, and my reserves were really low, so rather than being able to back off and give him space I blew.  Big time.  It was not pretty.  He instigated it, but I have to take my share of the blame on that one.  And it was the worst I've ever gotten - I was completely out of control emotionally.  He really has no idea how bad it was, he was so busy being pissed off at me for stupid BS. 

So what's everyone's plans for the evening?  I don't have anything special planned.  I made hot fudge sauce last night, and I have a pint of peppermint ice cream in the freezer, and DH brought home a bag of GS cookies last night, so I'll probably throw together a sundae after dinner tonight.  Dinner is a pork roast, since that's what I pulled out of the freezer yesterday, and I have a case of asparagus in the car, so that covers dinner. 

Other than that, my biggest issue right now is that DS is being super clingy during his daily therapy, and it means I have to hide in the back bedroom so he doesn't see me (and start freaking).  I really need to be able to be in the kitchen during his therapy, but he can see me in there.  But I can't even get the dishwasher loaded, and I have some canning to do (the aforementioned case of asparagus, and several pounds of tomatoes I need to get out of the freezer so I have space for freezer meals).  I'm getting really frustrated - I was counting on being able to use that 5 hours/day constructively, not to be having to hide out in the bedroom.  I went into the kitchen this morning to make my breakfast (therapy started at 8 today, and he didn't even wake up until 7:55 so I didn't get breakfast), and he flipped out, and kept flipping out for another 10 minutes after I was back in the bedroom.  Ugh!

I only sent the registry to my mom and two sisters so far.  So a mass email wouldn't be too bad.

SO has to work tonight, so we went out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory, and then went to get cupcakes.  :)  He also got me a card, flowers, and a Butterfinger bouquet last night.  :)  DD and I will just chill here tonight.  I packed her a pink and red lunch today, and we got her a card and a cupcake.  BUT...she left her cupcake on the coffee table and left the room, and the dog ate some of her frosting.  So she's in tears right now.  She's done that about 3 or 4 different times now, and every time she ends up in tears.  I keep telling her that she can't be mad at the dog, and that she needs to stop leaving food where she can get it.  Maybe this time it'll stick, since it was cupcake and not some boring snack?

Originally Posted by persephassa 

Name:  roxi

Weeks/Days along:  28wks, 6d --although at my appointment today the midwife said i was measuring 2 weeks behind

Appointments: this afternoon i had one, next prenatal on march 6, some other things coming up next week, touring a birth center, etc.

Symptoms:  i feel pretty good, the baby kicks & moves a lot

Food: i was inspired by all the discussion about peanut butter, except i got cashew butter... mmm cashew butter & honey sandwiches. have been having a lot of smoothies (yogurt, oj, strawberries, bananas, blackberries, pineapple) and making burritos (black beans, brown rice (+ tomato sauce, olive oil, spices, onion, garlic, carrots, bell pepper), cilantro, lettuce, sour cream, avocado, purple onion, tomato, lime juice, salsa (roasted chilis & tomatoes, etc). the midwife said i need to make sure to get protein, but i am pretty sure i have a decent serving of protein every day--we've been having lentil soups and things like that, too. she also said to lay on my left side, & i do that, too. dunno why he is measuring behind--last appointment everything was on track. she might schedule me for another ultrasound after the next prenatal visit.

Exercise: walking, yoga on netflix, wii fit

Body changes and other milestones: a little bigger, i guess

Thoughts:  i torrented 'happiest baby on the block' so maybe i will watch that while i work on quilting the flannel baby quilt i just finished piecing. we've finally had a littile snow, so that's nice. i went and got some flowers after my appointment--we won't do much for valentine's day, my husband has class today & tomorrow & is feeling overwhelmed (it's his first year teaching, he's a professor). excited for our birth class to start--two weeks from today :)

happy valentine's day!!

I was measuring two weeks behind last time too.  After measuring two weeks ahead almost the entire time, it kind of freaked me out.  The midwife said it was normal, but it's nice to know an actual person who is experiencing the same thing.  Your smoothies and burritos sound so yummy!  I've been craving smoothies, but we don't have a blender.  I found some pre-made smoothies in the frozen fruit section at the grocery store, but they were kinda pricey so I didn't get any.  Maybe next time.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Onemoreontheway 

Cristeen that sounds rough. May I ask what your sons special needs are? Do you have a blog or something? Asparagus sounds good though...mmmm

He's autistic.  Diagnosed HFA right around Thanksgiving, so we're still in early days of ABA therapy, since they didn't even start until mid-January because of the holidays.  And we only went to 5 hours/day... last week?  Or the week before.  I don't recall.  The morning therapist is having trouble controlling him, so I talked to the clinical director about that this afternoon, so she's going to work with her some on ways to keep him on-task better.  Our house is fairly open - they have therapy in the LR/DR space, which is right next to the kitchen.  I have a gate up in the kitchen door, but he can walk up to the gate and see me in there.  The master bedroom and bathroom are both off the kitchen, so I can hide in one or the other, but just walking from one to the other means I'm within sight, and it's instigating tantrums.  And if I have to go downstairs to do laundry or want to go outside or anything like that, then again I have to walk through the kitchen.  The afternoon therapist seems to be better about keeping him on task, but she's been at the job longer so she has more experience.  I discussed it with her this afternoon though and she's fine with me being in the kitchen, and working through the constant mommy demands with him, so that's good. 

My "big" problem is we moved my computer out to the LR a few months ago so that I could actually use it again, since I'd barely touched it since DS was born since he can't go into the office.  And now I'm having to be out of the room for 5 hours/day for his therapy, so I don't even get computer time.  I suppose ultimately it's a good thing since it means I can get other things done, but it's frustrating right at the moment when we're in the transition phase. 

But tomorrow I'll pickle asparagus, and then hopefully next week I can do some of the ketchup - I have about 30 lbs of tomato puree in my freezer from last summer just waiting to be turned into ketchup.  That'll free up some freezer space for pp meals.  I also have pastured lard in the freezer that needs rendering (30 lbs), and I'm going to start pulling the goat milk out and trying to use some of it (think there's about 5 gallons of that).  5 hours/day of DS-free time means I can actually hopefully get these projects done sooner rather than keep putting them off, since I really need them done before baby arrives.  Then there's the basement that needs cleaning out and the back room that needs cleaning out.  Both of which I'll do in between my canning projects.  I'm actually excited about all of it, but it's predicated on his therapists being able to control him. 

And I suppose I make it sound like he's totally out of control, which thankfully he's not.  But he is VERY attached.  And while his separation anxiety is far less now than it was even 6 mos ago, it's still pretty intense, and the simple fact that he can't get to me whenever he wants to is what is freaking him out.  Before we started therapy I rarely was out of arms reach of him unless I was pretty sure he was distracted enough that I could go do something (like laundry).  And while moms of NT kids probably think that's crazy, that's really what he made clear he needed.  He started with the anxiety attacks around 18 mos, and I've just had to do my best to "control" them (meaning avoiding triggers). 

Ok, so I wrote a book.  Sorry about that.  I really only know 1 person IRL with an ASD kid, and he's "moderate" (and he's 9), so it's a totally different ball game for them.  I'm still just trying to figure all this stuff out. 

[smilingsara]

jynx, I've been following your story along! I'm so glad everything is going well with the baby and you and everything! I'll continue to keep good thoughts coming your way! I suggest your hubby get you some good books and magazines and ordering you watch instantly netflix! We love netflix!
 

Originally Posted by BubbleMa 
  *Side note* I have a carseat on our baby registry (which is just for family since we're not having a traditional shower) is it rude to ask if anyone plans on getting us the carseat??  I'd hate to spend the money on it if someone else is going to. lol

no, its not rude! I say go a head and ask. You'll need it before the baby comes incase they grace you with their presence a few days early! 

[Onemoreontheway]

You didn't write a book. I asked. :) 

I see your babe is 2. Good for you on early intervention!

Life at 6 with a child with ASD is a lot different than at 2 or 4 even. We deal with anxiety attacks here also, panic attacks. Meltdowns over the most benign things. An example would be curious George. I started reading it to the kids one night and George getting put in jail just set off a crazy panic attack. It took over an hour to talk her down from that one. She just kept repeating over and over, and tearful freaking out. Dumbo did the same thing the other day. It can be a song, or words someone says.

 Things like that....I couldn't get many moments free either at 2.

At 6 she can read on a fourth grade level and she LOVED (is obsessed) with books! She comes up with the most surprising things to say. Sometimes its really intelligent "I can't chew with my incisors today." sometimes its odd..."I scratched a goodbye note on my leg when I woke up." LOL

Things do change and get easier. Always new challenges.

Originally Posted by cristeen 

He's autistic.  Diagnosed HFA right around Thanksgiving, so we're still in early days of ABA therapy, since they didn't even start until mid-January because of the holidays.  And we only went to 5 hours/day... last week?  Or the week before.  I don't recall.  The morning therapist is having trouble controlling him, so I talked to the clinical director about that this afternoon, so she's going to work with her some on ways to keep him on-task better.  Our house is fairly open - they have therapy in the LR/DR space, which is right next to the kitchen.  I have a gate up in the kitchen door, but he can walk up to the gate and see me in there.  The master bedroom and bathroom are both off the kitchen, so I can hide in one or the other, but just walking from one to the other means I'm within sight, and it's instigating tantrums.  And if I have to go downstairs to do laundry or want to go outside or anything like that, then again I have to walk through the kitchen.  The afternoon therapist seems to be better about keeping him on task, but she's been at the job longer so she has more experience.  I discussed it with her this afternoon though and she's fine with me being in the kitchen, and working through the constant mommy demands with him, so that's good. 

My "big" problem is we moved my computer out to the LR a few months ago so that I could actually use it again, since I'd barely touched it since DS was born since he can't go into the office.  And now I'm having to be out of the room for 5 hours/day for his therapy, so I don't even get computer time.  I suppose ultimately it's a good thing since it means I can get other things done, but it's frustrating right at the moment when we're in the transition phase. 

But tomorrow I'll pickle asparagus, and then hopefully next week I can do some of the ketchup - I have about 30 lbs of tomato puree in my freezer from last summer just waiting to be turned into ketchup.  That'll free up some freezer space for pp meals.  I also have pastured lard in the freezer that needs rendering (30 lbs), and I'm going to start pulling the goat milk out and trying to use some of it (think there's about 5 gallons of that).  5 hours/day of DS-free time means I can actually hopefully get these projects done sooner rather than keep putting them off, since I really need them done before baby arrives.  Then there's the basement that needs cleaning out and the back room that needs cleaning out.  Both of which I'll do in between my canning projects.  I'm actually excited about all of it, but it's predicated on his therapists being able to control him. 

And I suppose I make it sound like he's totally out of control, which thankfully he's not.  But he is VERY attached.  And while his separation anxiety is far less now than it was even 6 mos ago, it's still pretty intense, and the simple fact that he can't get to me whenever he wants to is what is freaking him out.  Before we started therapy I rarely was out of arms reach of him unless I was pretty sure he was distracted enough that I could go do something (like laundry).  And while moms of NT kids probably think that's crazy, that's really what he made clear he needed.  He started with the anxiety attacks around 18 mos, and I've just had to do my best to "control" them (meaning avoiding triggers). 

Ok, so I wrote a book.  Sorry about that.  I really only know 1 person IRL with an ASD kid, and he's "moderate" (and he's 9), so it's a totally different ball game for them.  I'm still just trying to figure all this stuff out. 

[Onemoreontheway]

I cheated for dinner. We went to the deli market and the kids got chicken corn dogs (yeah nutrition sometimes takes a back seat. I'll be the first to admit it. I just want them to eat and be quiet some times lol)

and I got 8 dolmas and a veggie pasta salad. the dolmas were good. I came home and did the dishes up. still got more housework to do and kids to bathe. I am just tired, but feeling like I have more energy than this afternoon. 

Working on a knit soaker at night...might be what I give for the gift exchange- not sure yet. It's a little larger than newborn. Maybe like 9month old size. I really suck at making stuff for the newborn phase.

[janellody]

Ahhhh my back hurts!!!!!!!!!!!  I did 4 massages today and boy am I feeling it... Valentine's Day is a busy day for massage therapists :P  I am due for a massage of my own but my LMT has been so busy lately.. I feel like I'm gonna die!!! And I have 4 hours of chair massages tomorrow which is actually way worse than regular so I am dreading tomorrow!!! :(

[smilingsara]

Originally Posted by Onemoreontheway 

Working on a knit soaker at night...might be what I give for the gift exchange- not sure yet. It's a little larger than newborn. Maybe like 9month old size. I really suck at making stuff for the newborn phase.

don't bother! DP made all kinds of stuff for shay for his 'tiny newborn stage' and he was born out of that stage. Babies get big, its what they do, it'll fit eventually! 

[MLog]

Sandy - it's never too late to start!  I love teaching adults ballet because they are usually so eager and intellectually of course they understand things on a different level than the kids.  You should look into it after you've settled into a routine with the new LO.  My studio offers "bring a friend" twice a year.  Maybe there's something like that near you and you can give it a try.

 

Originally Posted by alittlesandy 

MLog, I'm totally impressed that you're taking ballet! I'm so jealous! I've always wanted to take ballet. I can barely bring myself to do my yoga DVD, lol.

[forestmushroom]

My daughter loves ballet, and I have always wanted to take the adult class offered at her studio.  Seems like great, fun exercise! 

My heart always goes out to ASD kids... most of the ASD kids I know are really cool kids! But they can be challenging... and I think a lot of people don't understand how hard it can be (I know I don't totally understand)...

A Massage sounds really nice right now! 

Right now my 2 year old is eat chips watching some gardeners trim a hedge next door out the front window, without any pants or diapy on... I am so thankful for the gardeners entertaining him!  He is telling me everything they are doing-- play by play.  But he has been so occupied, I've gotten a ton of stuff done today and the time is passing so quickly!