The First Big Thing and Girl Parts

Okay, it's the second, really, but the first first thing isn't working out so well.  What the heck am I talking about?  Baby stuff!  Yay!


A couple of months ago my niece gave us her old dresser.  It's the right color and size, and the style even works with the girls' room.  But my brother and his wife are heavy duty smokers.  We have had that dresser and all the drawers spread out over our patio on sunny days and wiped it down with vinegar five or six times.  The smell seemed to be gone well enough that we moved it upstairs to our loft.  Still didn't notice any bad aromas.  We had Mad's party and the big reveal on Sunday (more on that later), and put the drawers back into the dresser just for tidiness.  When I took my dad upstairs to show him Mad's "new bed" we stopped and took a whiff of the dresser.


I can barely smell anything, but as soon as we opened the drawer, I could smell that smell.  Ugh!  If anyone has a workable solution to get the stench out, I would love to hear it.  Plan B is to post wanted ads on Freecycle.org and hope we get a better dresser.


So what has supplanted the dresser as the first big thing?  We got the baby's mattress.  As we've learned more about being green (I'm proud to say we were green before green was cool... but embarrassed to say we're lazy... so maybe we're really teal? aqua?) and health conscious, we have learned about all the nasties that get put into crib mattresses.  So Mad has our family's first organic mattress.  And by organic, I don't mean the cotton cover is organic, but sprayed with chemical flame retardants.  I mean it's got an organic rubber core and cotton and wool padding and cover.  Wool is a natural flame retardant.


We love the mattress, but hated the whole process of getting it.  I found a website for a company based in Vermont, called and made the order.  The 2-3 weeks estimate for shipping turned into 10 weeks.  It almost didn't arrive before Madelyn!  And when it did arrive, it was folded in half in a box.


Even if that company were still in business, there's no way I'd send them my money again.  We found another company, EcoBaby Pure Rest, that not only manufactures their own mattresses, they have a showroom.  And they're in my hometown, San Diego!  I called to confirm that they had mattresses in stock, Nance and I made the drive and picked one up.  It's leaning against the wall in our living room right now.  Shipping is only $35, which is about what I spent in gas, but I was glad to have it in my hands immediately (okay, after about two and a half hours of driving).  The bonus of the day came when the sales guy, Victor, told me they give a 20% discount for coming to pick it up.  I saved $88.  Yay!


To make it less of a spent-the-whole-day-driving kind of day, we went over to the harbor and had a fabulous lunch at The Fish Market in an enclosed patio right over the water.  The only downside for me is that I haven't completely regained my taste buds from this pesky cold.


In other Baby Fynn news, I had the EKG done yesterday.  Her heart is strong and healthy.  Even though I have some minor heart things, she does not.  The doctor asked if I avoid caffeine.  I do, in part because of my own palpitations and mainly because who wants to have a hyper baby en utero?  Then he told us something we'd never heard before:  Caffeine during pregnancy is linked to babies developing skipped heartbeats, too.  Who knew?


After he was done checking out her heart, Doc spent a little time doing another ultrasound.  For part of it he switched to 4D.  I saw my daughter's face.  It felt like meeting her a little.  I can't wait to really be face to face with her.


And, causing me to think these ultrasound people are more than slightly obsessed with genitalia, he reconfirmed that we are having a girl.  The picture he printed is pretty grainy, so to be sure we didn't forget that we're having a girl, he typed "Vagina" and put three arrows pointing to it.  If that wasn't enough, he also typed a message in the corner.


JUST LIKE MOMMY!


Thanks, dude, for the picture I will never show (at least until she's, you know... annoying me around her friends or something).

The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

Today I did something that will either lead to another something that is completely, overwhelmingly great... or not. We will either have so much to talk about during the visits with family over the holidays... or we'll say, "Meh... it didn't work out like we'd hoped." The thing is, there will not be any not talking about it. We've already brought it up in our excitement and anticipation.

If I'm honest, I'll tell you I think it won't happen. I, personally, would like to blame that on our jinxing it... specifically my jinxing it... by talking about it.

If it doesn't happen, I do know it just means we're not ready. And maybe we'll be able to find out what needs to be done so we are ready. And in the meantime, we've had a lot of fun exploring new possibilities. But I do hope that it happens, even though it would mean going through a period of extra stress, and who needs that, but I don't care, because this is HUGE.

What the heck am I talking about?!?

Did I mention that a friend gave me a cup of tea this morning? She wanted to soothe my cough, and had some tea that another friend had brought from London. It was lovely. Nearly the best tea ever (Indian tea is really my favorite). I forgot to ask if it was decaffeinated. It was not. I hadn't had a caffeinated beverage since July of 2007.

Any 12 things I can do for you?

Chocolate, Naps

Since thinking that I might be pregnant, I gave up all sources of caffeine, including chocolate and coffee. That was July of last year. I'm avoiding the math, because it's just too freaking long no matter how ya look at it. Well, I exaggerate a bit; I did resume drinking decaf when Mad was about four or five months old. Here's how pure my system has been: I can feel the caffeine in decaf coffee, even if it's not from Starbucks.

I know that a lot of women have all sorts of coffees and chocolates throughout their pregnancies and even while nursing. I don't judge. It works for them, and in every single case I know, the moms and babies are none the worse for wear. I've always been sensitive to caffeine, so even at the height of my Starbucks addiction, I couldn't have more than a grande half-caf misto (half steamed milk and half steamed coffee... and half of the coffee was decaf) per day... and frequently I didn't finish them.

I went to a breastfeeding support group the other day. Did I ask for any new suggestions to help increase my milk supply? Did I mention that I'm now down to pumping less than four ounces a day... and not all at one time? How about mentioning that I'd love some tips for dealing what has become a standard two weeks of PMS? Nope.

"When can I have chocolate?" Hmm... maybe I did cover the PMS thing after all.

The other moms looked at me like I was from another planet. I guess the whole, I didn't judge your choices thing wasn't reciprocal, but that's okay. The group leader, Jeri, said... *drum roll, please*

"Well... now. Just don't have a whole bunch. The thing with chocolate is the caffeine, so don't have chocolate and coffee."

The first person I told was my son. Why? Simply because right after group, I picked him up to go to my mom's. If I'd been at the top of Mt. Baldy, I'd have been yodeling it down into the valley, believe me. The thing is, I don't just want chocolate. I want damn good chocolate. I want XOXO Truffles chocolate. Yes, that means driving up to San Francisco (unless somebody can show me a link to their website... all I can find are mouth-watering reviews), and no, Tom's brother doesn't live there anymore, so we'd also have to get a hotel room. I know that's a lot to do for a truffle. Have you tried them?

Aaargh!

Tonight Corey and Tom had guy night. Somewhere along the way, Tom stopped and bought me a bag of Ghiradelli's dark chocolate squares. I tried not to scoff and sneer at this pathetic little imitation. I tried not to rip it open and eat them all in some horrifying impersonation of Cookie Monster, too.

Ugh! I took a nap this evening when Mad did. I figured she was about to wake up in half an hour, max. I'm already up later than I should be. I know that if I have one of those squares tonight, I'll never get to sleep. So I'm signing off now to go enjoy some chocolate dreams, but tomorrow... it's on!