Crazy Things Parents Say

Being a mom has brought out the best...and the worst in me at times.  Despite some trying times, I stay generally entertained by Alison's funny faces and by listening to the strange things that come out of my mouth.  Here is a short sampling from the past two days, just business as usual in the King household now:

"Please try not to pee on me."

"Could you not crash your head into things?"

"Hey, poop on your own time!"

Me: "You look like an earless Yoda!"  Nathan: "Yoda, you look like." 

"Your eye goopies make you look like a zombie." 

[Burp] "Yay!  FINALLY, good burpie!"

"Shut up!  Shut up! Shut up! Shut uuuuuup!" (Something I've really wanted to say in several business meetings.)

"Hey look, it's an arm!  Hand-y!"

10-20-10 - Almost seven weeks!

Kansas, Not What You'd Expect

Kansans don't usually fit their over-religious-everyone-drives-a-tractor-to-work stereotype, but our hometown paper, The Tiller & Toiler, which comes out on Tuesdays and Fridays, apparently didn't get that memo.  Here's a blurb that appeared on the front page of today's paper (reproduced word for word):

"Hi Neighbor" goes out to all the farmers in Pawnee County, and we guess especially to John Dryden.  Jeff Delaney at the Pawnee County COOP tells us that John came in with the record test weight milo the other day at 65.7, where 56 is a common weight. They even made a sign to put up on the COOP door because John thought he deserved a little recognition.  When the sign came down later, John took it home to put on his fridge.  Now Tim Dryden, John's dad came in to the COOP a little later, and was asked if he knew about the great weight, but alas, he hadn't been informed by his son and fellow farmer.  We're guessing Tim's wife Marty might still be in the dark!  That's okay Marty, just go see John's sign on the fridge.  He deserves the recognition according to the folks at the COOP.

So, there you have it!  Kansas, it's not what you expect!

Allie Has Her Own Blog!

In case you're wondering where to get the updates on Alison including extra pictures, Nathan and I have started a collaborative blog just for her!  It is private, so if you'd like to view it, send me a note or post a comment giving me your email address so I can invite you.

 9/16/10

Alison's Here!

The wait is over!  Alison Savannah was born 9/2/10 at 3:16am!  She weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz and was 20.5 inches long.  Technically I'd been in labor for 21 hours after my water broke, but things were not moving along as we would have liked and we ended up having a C-Section to avoid the risk of infection that sets in after your water has been broken 24 hours.

As many of you know, I was looking forward to a natural labor with no drugs (if possible), but as soon as I heard this little cutie bean cry, I realized we'd done the right thing.  I can't explain how incredible she's been so far and how fun it's been being a mom!  We're both doing great!

Even though I'm pretty sleepy, I think we got off pretty easy (so far)!  Alison only cries to tell us she's hungry and only wakes up a couple times per night (only once last night)!  She's a champion sleeper and really curious.  We're pretty sure she said "hi" the other day. :P  Not much more I can say right now, so I'll let these pictures do the talking.  I love my little Allie Bean!

Just Born!

 

What is wrong with us?

What's happened to the art of waiting in this country?

There is very little we can't control and schedule these days.  Smart phones keep us connected at all times and tie us down by synching our work with our home with our friends' calendars.  You can buy a plane ticket at the spur of the moment and fly anywhere on earth you want. Many of us can work whenever from wherever we please.  You can even choose your baby's birth date.

Here, you're expected to be prompt, or at least to call ahead if you can't make it on time.  This is probably the reason why several days BEFORE her due date, people started continually asked me "did you have the baby yet?"!

I'm officially three days overdue and get daily questions about why I'm "still around".  It's super-sweet and I'm glad people are excited about the baby, but I can't help but wonder why everyone is so perplexed that she hasn't arrived on a phantom, magical date based solely on a formula set-up to be the average gestation time for billions of mothers.

It's both frustrating and refreshing to realize that we, as humans, don't really have control over every aspect of nature.  This is a lesson you'll learn if you travel to more laid-back countries like Spain or Tanzania.  They understand the famous bumper sticker from Forrest Gump, and go about their daily lives knowing that people and events will come and go on their own time.  No use rigidly scheduling your entire life because "sh*t happens".

I love the fact that the best surprises of my life have come up without being planned and scheduled.  I never planned to go work in Tanzania, but was just in the right place at the right time.  When I started dating Nathan, he was going to be a boring engineer (like me!) and suddenly did a complete 360, taking us on an amazing adventure, living in National Parks and introducing me to the joys of 16-mile day hikes through unspoiled wilderness.  I had a general idea of what I wanted to do with my life, but these surprises have only enriched it and in many ways have shaped my view of what I want in the future.  At the same time they've made me realize that my most important asset is my flexibility and adaptability.

So, I ask society, what's the rush?  Why should I feel like this baby will "never" arrive if she's one day late?  It's a day, a week, it's not the end of the world.  Why should I be rushed to schedule an induction based on a date that is at best a wild guess?  I trust nature, she'll get here, and I like knowing the "when" is a surprise.

Getting Closer

Anyone want to guess when our little critter will arrive?  I am expecting her tomorrow based on the fortune cookie we got back on 5/11 that said "Remember three months from now, good things will happen".

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!

To Salina and Back

"Can you pull over so I can walk around for a couple seconds?"

Ah yes, traveling while pregnant is fun, so we haven't gone anywhere really exotic this summer.  However, yesterday Nathan and I did take what will probably be the last road trip we take just the two of us for a while: we drove two hours away to Salina, KS!

Not only is this our nearest "big city", which boasts such luxuries as a Kohl's, Target, and the Kenwood Cove Waterpark, it's the home of my Aunt Jeanine, Uncle Allan, and cousins Jocelyn and Ciarra!  We were pretty excited to see everyone and get some errands done at the same time.

They took us to a great Italian restaurant for lunch, Martinelli's, which was exciting given the fact that there are zero Italian restaurants within a 1.5 hour radius of our new house.  We were warned that this was "Kansas Italian", so even though it didn't compare to the amazing "pizze" in Italy, it was quite good for the US - even Kansas.  We also got the Tour d'Salina, which culminated in Salina's most exciting and exotic attraction: the yellow submarine bench!

 We don't live in this.

I insisted on visiting the Kenwood Cove Waterpark in the afternoon, seeing as I've gotten no use out of my maternity swimsuit yet.  It's better than your average pool, with several water slides, a wave pool, lazy river, and separate lap pool.  Weeeeeelllll, the lap pool was closed (due to some cloudy chemical in the water that I'm sure was added because some kid peed -or worse- in the pool), and I was not allowed to ride the water slides.  I thought I'd be fine floating the lazy river and enjoying the wave pool only, until I found out the wave pool, which my cousin Jocelyn warned me was more of a ripple pool, really was just shallow, crowded, and lame.  After briefly considering explaining to the slide bouncer that I wasn't pregnant, just fat, we left to go run some errands at Hobby Lobby and Kohl's.

We stayed for dinner and had some delicious steak burgers and custard at a place called Freddy's, which is the Kansas equivalent of a Culver's.  Even though I am Wisconsin-breed just like Culver's I have to admit Freddy's had better custard, but NOT a better burger.

On the way home, we got sidetracked at dusk and ended up wandering into Cheyenne Bottoms, an amazing rehabilitated wetlands area close to Great Bend.  We didn't see the Night Heron Nathan was looking for, but we did catch a gorgeous sunset instead.

 Almost looks like the ocean, doesn't it?

Good night, Sunflower State

Perfect end to my vacationing days without kids.  Just now I realized this would have been just as fun and probably more fun with the kiddo, so I'm pretty happy to include another person in our future expeditions into the unknown.  Bring it on!