Right as Usual

This morning, I’m getting ready for work when I hear a cry of pain coming from our bedroom. I quickly rush over and find Jessie on the bed grabbing her leg. She’s having a leg cramp. These usually start around the second trimester and progressively get worse. 

There’s no real definitive answer as to why pregnant women get leg cramps, but possible reasons include leg muscles being tired from carrying around the extra weight or pressure being applied to blood vessels that bring blood to and from the legs by the expanding uterus.

After I help massage her muscle, I tell her that she needs to stretch more. When I used to actually run for exercise, which was way back in the days, I would get frequent leg cramps because I didn’t stretch enough. I try to show her some simple stretches that she can do, but she doesn’t buy into what I’m saying. The wife says that a higher intake of calcium will help reduce leg cramps. 

I’m pretty skeptical of this and decide to do some more research before delivering my verdict. As usual, I am correct. Stretching is second on the list of things to do to help prevent leg cramps. The first is to avoid standing or sitting with your legs crossed for long stretches of time. Other tips include wearing comfortable shoes, rotating ankles and wiggling toes while sitting, avoid getting overly tired, drinking plenty of water, and taking warm baths.

As far as taking more calcium is concerned, there is no substantial evidence to back this claim. In fact, in one study, pregnant women taking calcium supplements got no more relief than women taking a placebo or receiving no supplement at all.

I hate to gloat, but I told you so!!

Entering the Danger Zone

I like getting up early in the mornings to do chores on the weekends. Does that make me a freak? I find it a refreshing way to start the morning. Everything is peaceful, most people are sleeping, and I like to pretend I have the whole world to myself. After washing the dishes, doing the laundry, and cleaning around the house, I feel like I have the rest of the day to do what I want without having to worry that I have chores left to do.

Jessie’s the opposite. She likes to stay in bed and complains when I get up, even though I’m super quiet. She feels weekend mornings are meant to be taken slowly where we enjoy breakfast together and watch some TV, leaving any household chore to be done later. I won’t argue with that, but if I can finish all the tasks that I want to before she wakes up, isn’t that OK? Can’t I have my cake and eat it too?

Today starts off like most Saturdays, with me doing the laundry in the morning. Jessie gets up and tells me not to put too much in the washing machine, as is my habit. She starts to come over to help pick what clothes should be washed, but being very anal over the order of clothes to be washed, I tell her that I’ve got things under control. Perhaps I was a bit snippy with her and it rubs her the wrong way. In turn, she starts to ignore me. 

We were supposed to go visit a friend in the afternoon and she had been floundering all morning about whether she wants to go or not. Finally, right when we’re about to leave, she abruptly says she’s not going. She gives some excuses about it raining and how she should spend time with her mom instead. However, I know she’s doing this on purpose just to spite me for what I did earlier in the morning. 

We get into an argument during which I decide to walk out before things get worse. But while outside, I realize I shouldn’t leave her alone in the apartment. I man-up, go back to the apartment, and apologize for getting hot-headed. She doesn’t exactly forgive, but at least we’re not fighting anymore. 

Later, I check the pregnancy calendar. She’s 30 weeks into her pregnancy now and I want to see what it has to say about women at this stage. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when one of the first things it said was to be aware of mood swings. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but she’s entered into the third trimester. 

Time to put on the battle armor again. Oh, and no more washing laundry early on weekend mornings either.

Finished

At the end of There will be Blood, Daniel Day Lewis is sitting on the ground after pummeling the crazy Christian freak and says, “I’m finished.” I, too, am finished. Finished with shopping, that is. 

I feel like I’ve gone through 12 brutal rounds with Carter’s, Amazon, Gymboree, Babies R Us, and all the other online baby stores out there. I’m exhausted. But it’s finally all come to a closure. We’re more or less set on clothing and other baby supplies. As cute as the things we bought are, I don’t care to lay eyes on another article of clothing or play toy for a very long time. At least until our free $50 Gymboree gift certificate gets here for spending $100 at their site!

What Sound Does a Rabbit Make?

I’m looking for the perfect stuffed bunny to give to our daughter since she’s born in the year of the Rabbit. On Amazon, I stumbled across one that claims to make authentic bunny sounds. 

Authentic bunny sounds? Do bunnies really make much noise? I used to have two pet rabbits back when I was a kid, and I don’t really remember them making any real noises. At least not any noises that would seem appealing enough to put into a stuffed bunny.

I do some research and find out that rabbits can coo, purr, snort, growl, grunt, and let out a “blood-curdling” scream when scared. Those were the exact words the author used. Yikes! I wonder if the authentic bunny sound used in the toy is a blood-curdling scream. 

Me: What sound does a cow make?
Daughter: Moo!
Me: What sound does a dog make?
Daughter: Ruff ruff!
Me: What sound does a duck make?
Daughter: Quack quack!
Me: What sound does a rabbit make?
Daughter: AAAHHEEEEIIOOOOYY!!!!!

Confessions of an Online Shopper

I’ve decided to help Jessie out by looking for clothes online for the baby. I know I said I’d let her handle it, but since she’s been a bit more busy at work and tired at home, I decided it was my responsibility to pick up the slack. 

Buying clothes has proved just as frustrating as deciding between car seats and crib mobiles. Jessie has a “wait and see” method of shopping. She’ll look for clothes, see something she likes, and then wait to see if the price will become lower or if she can find something better. How long this waiting process is, I’m not exactly sure. You might as well ask her the question, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop?” The world may never know.  

This is an extremely flawed method. It’s already hard enough to find something cheap and good that’s available. But because of her “wait and see” method, every time we would finally begin to checkout our purchase, we would find out that it had just been sold out. This would lead us back to square one where we would repeat the whole process of looking, waiting, seeing, checking out…doh! Sold out. It’s obvious we’re not the only ones out there scrounging around for cheap deals. 

That’s when I decided to introduce her to the “don’t think, just buy” method of shopping. In a short matter of time, we were able to buy all the necessary clothes needed for the first few months. On the other hand, I dread the credit card bill that will be coming next month.

Passive/Aggressive

Tonight, the wife and I had a lively discussion over what type of sleep sack to get the baby. In other words, we had a pretty heated argument. 

I have already convinced her not to put any blankets or pillows in the crib with the baby. Doing so increases the chances of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Babies can suffocate themselves if they inadvertently cover their faces with a blanket or pillow. This is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends removing such objects until the baby is at least 12 months old. At this time, the chances of SIDS falls drastically. 

In place of a blanket, I decided to go with a sleep sack, which is more or less a sleeping bag that the baby can’t wiggle out from. There is no chance of the bag covering the baby’s face. Jessie agreed that this would be a good purchase. 

The argument stemmed from how many to buy. I wanted to buy two while the wife only wanted one. Her reasoning is that we should buy one first to test out. Maybe our baby won’t like the one we buy for her, so if we bought two, that would be money down the drain. If anything, Jessie says we can still wrap our baby up in a blanket if the sleep sack gets dirty.

My reason for wanting to buy two was that we should have a back-up in case her diaper leaks or she spits up on the first sleep sack. I don’t want to be caught unprepared. I’d rather be safe than sorry. And even if our baby doesn’t really like the sleep sack at first, I’m sure it’s something that she can get used to. 

In the end however, I concede defeat rather than face a night on the couch. I only order one, but not because I wanted to, mind you. She may have won this battle, but while she was in the shower, I beat her high score on the iPhone game, Knock the Cans, which she had earlier been gloating about. Take that, woman!

I hope our daughter doesn’t inherit my passive/aggressive nature.

Super Nanny to the Rescue

After hearing Jessie go on about who she deems as bad kids, I had to set the record straight with her as to what constitutes as a bad kid. Teaching for four years at a low socio-economic school makes me an automatic expert in this area. A little crying and whining makes a kid bad? Hah!

Back when I was still teaching at my former school, I would watch two shows, Nanny 911 and Super Nanny, to help me figure out ways to best control my students. The premise of these two shows was that a nanny would go to a new household each week that had out-of-control kids and help the parents get them under control. These kids were about as bad as they came. Hitting, cursing, yelling, back-talking, running around wild, you know name, they did it. Perfect for my situation. 

I downloaded the shows and made Jessie watch them with me. She was immediately horrified and appalled at how out of control the children on the show were. She gained a greater appreciation for the kids that she had once labeled bad. They now seemed like perfect angels compared to the children on the show.  

As long as our kids don’t qualify to be on Nanny 911 and Super Nanny, I’ll deem our parenting skills a success.

A New Life for an Old Toy

Inspired by the light projector mobile, I decided to make my own. A year ago, the wife and I had taken a trip to Hong Kong. While there, I saw a small handheld, mini projector that I thought was the coolest thing. It cost a good chunk of money, but I figured I could use it in the classroom whenever I wanted to show the kids something on the Internet. 

Like with a lot of ill-advised purchases that I make, this one ended up hardly being used after the first few times. But now, I had a chance to redeem myself and find a new life for it. The light projector mobile has only one picture scene that rotates in a circle around some stuffed animals, and I figured I could improve upon it. 

While infants see colors when they are born, they gravitate more towards, black, white, and red patterns and objects. I made a video clip of various patterns with this in mind and added some soothing lullaby music to it that I could play with my mini projector. 

I showed my creation to the wife and while she was impressed and happy that I had finally found a use for my expensive toy, she was concerned that instead of putting the baby to sleep, it would keep her awake. A good point, but no customer which commented on the mobile said that it kept their baby awake, so I’m not too concerned. Also, I’ve got a couple of babies lined up to be test subjects for my mini projector. 

This also brought up the question as to why I purchased the light projector mobile if I was already making one. Another good point. I guess looking back, I should have gone with the rainforest mobile to add a little variety, but how was I supposed to know at the time that I would come up with such an awesome idea.

Crazy for Stuffed Animals

So far, I’ve gotten a play mat, rocker, and a crib mobile for our baby. Next up on my list are stuffed animals! I’ve found two that I really like and have already given them names. There’s an alligator that I want to call Rory the Alligator and a bunny I want to call Funkee Bunnee.

Stuffed animals have always held a soft spot in my heart. Back when I was a kid, my mom would take me to the arcades and we would play the game where you drop the crane and try to grab a stuffed animal. My mom used to be a pro at this and thus, my closet was full of them. 

In college, I moved on to Beanie Babies. This was about the time the craze was at its height and I seriously thought they would be the next big thing to invest in. Therefore, I diligently got up in the wee hours of the morning to stand in line with moms and their daughters at the toy store, hoping to get the latest Beanie Baby before it got sold out. 

All my money went towards buying these things. Once, I had spent all my laundry money for the month on them, so I had to resort to going commando for a good two weeks before finally receiving more money from my parents.

Beanie Babies were my drugs of choice. I had to have them. There was the time where I signed up for an experimental drug treatment to earn a little side money. And in the final two months one semester, I sold all my college textbooks so I could get some extra money to buy more. Studying? Psshh…who needs that. My little stuffed animals were going to make me rich! 

Of course, they’re now lying in boxes in the attic, completely worthless. However, on a positive note, my daughter now has enough stuffed critters to last her a lifetime. That helps ease some of the pain at the thought of how much money I spent on them.

Decisions, Decisions

We’ve just recently started getting serious about baby stuff. No more talking, it’s time to start buying! She’s in charge of clothes, and I look for everything else. For the past couple of days, I have been looking at crib mobile and have finally narrowed it down to two that I like. Now I keep flip-flopping over which one to buy. 

Rainforest Peek-a-Boo mobile

Precious Planet 2-in-1 mobile

One is an intricate rainforest mobile which I think would keep the baby occupied and interested. The other is a light projector which shows some moving pictures on a screen. I keep searching through customer comments trying to find the one that has some sort of deal breaker that would make things easier for me, but both seem to have their pros and cons. 

The wife laughs at my intensity and gusto at deciding which mobile to purchase. I’ve read every review, watched every YouTube clip, dissected the way they look, move, and sound, and have their music on a continuous loop in my head throughout the day. You’d think that I was planning on making a huge investment instead of buying a $30 toy. 

In short, I take my job seriously. However, a thought does cross my mind as to why the heck I’m going through all this trouble. The baby could probably care less as to which one I buy. She won’t have any recollection of how cool the mobile looks when she’s grown up. She’ll be too busy eating, sleeping, and pooping to even notice it. I could probably make a mobile out of wire hangers and tie some rolled up paper balls to it and she’d be happy. 

The thought of this frustrates me, but I carry on in my quest. In the end, I finally settle on the light projector mobile. It’s the first step to getting our baby addicted to TV. Don’t judge me.

You Can't Have One Without the Other

Victory! After several months of persistence and with the help of Sally’s kids, I have done it. Jessie has finally conceded to the name Rosie. While not openly agreeing to the name Rosalyn, this is close enough to me. It’s a package deal. You can’t have one name without the other. 

The wife better not back out of this.