RoyalMom

After switching over to Wordpress, from Movable Type, I guess there are a few bugs to work out. Jeffrey, once again, alerted me to a comment problem. THANK YOU!!! I found my way into the Wordpress site moderation page and found a load of unread comments.

My own brother and sis-in-law, Jeffrey, and new chicken friends like Elizabeth, have been stuck in a comment check point. Sorry guys!

It really made my day to read all the comments. :)

Jason will help me see about turning off the filter, so the comments will show up immediately. But, at least I now know where to check.

They are coming close to another escape from the back yard.

I found them all up in the cherry tree, that borders close to the fence. The neighbors are moving and a new family is moving in. I hope they have a sense of humor. ;)

Per my usual pattern, preeclamsia has started to set in and I am gaining about 4 pounds of swelling every week. Not pretty, my friends. After an hour of activity, I am short of breath and feeling miserable. :(

My blood pressure is creeping up and I am ordered to lay down often, with doctor's appointment weekly. I've officially taken my maternity leave from both my job at the hospital and my photography business, until June. If we follow the same pattern as we did with our last baby, we could be coming home with baby #3 in two weeks.

My next pregnancy photo is due on Saturday, and it will be done...the metamorphosis is nearly complete. Let me see if I can dig up the first time I went through this. Poor, poor Jason. It was our first year of marriage and he had to watch his new bride balloon up 80 pounds. And then do it again...and again. What can I say? I do an EXTREME yo yo diet. :D

photos coming soon...

Okay, it was before our big digital crossover, so I had to dig out a couple to scan.

And this is basically how it goes for every pregnancy:

before: (notice the awesome selective coloring? Mad skills.)

Birth of Isaac, and a new coat of 80 pounds:

After (with Isaac):

Why would anyone want to do this again (and again)? I do not know. And, although the weight gain happens just as effortlessly each time, the weight loss gets more and more difficult, with each new babe. I have to change up the plan each time to keep my focus.

I did Weight Watchers. That was great the first time, but going back a second time wasn't the same. Next, I did several days a week at a fancy gym and tracked my calories on fitday.com. That worked for the second round, and now I need to come up with my next plan.

This time, I think I'll still do some gym workouts, but use the ghetto pool gym instead of fancy gym. I probably won't have to worry so much about looking up and seeing my GYN, or several of the docs I work with, on the elliptical machine in front of me. And this TOPS group sounds good. Its a weight loss support group, but nonprofit, very cheap, and I manage my own diet.

That's the plan.

I could totally sit on Jason and crush him to death at this point. But, then I couldn't "manage" all the baby preparations from my bed rest status. Nesting has set in, and he is organizing the extra bedroom with all things Simon. I love my baby-daddy. xxoo

This ones getting tiny. Click for the bigger size.

...is the mascot/character costume people phobia. They really freak me out, almost as much as clowns. They can see us, but we can't see them...and, where exactly am I supposed to look at them? At the big character eyes? The sudden inhibition to cuddle on my children, like its okay for a complete stranger to do so, really creeps me out too.

Sadly, my kids both run to them with open arms every single time.

I'm watching you Red Robin! One questionable move and I will come down on you so fast, you won't know what hit you. One move!

...and to think how careful we were when they arrived in the mail. Only a few days earlier, they were brought into the world like this:

I was groaning with laziness, when I read over the assignment to have Isaac read a poem on video camera, and send it to the teacher. First, I'd have to find a poem he would be able to read. A three letter word poem has yet to be found, but it was agreed he could simply recite one from memorization.

Jason took over the assignment today. yay!

We have yet to take our 5 year old to the emergency room for a single thing, but Xander manages to have an incident each year. He scratched his cornea in the first year and would not stop crying and would not open his eyes...so off to the ER we went. Not too long ago, in his second year, he smacked his face into the concrete at the park and fractured his tooth. One emergency dental appointment later, he got a brand new smile.

Last night, while snuggling with me in my monstrous recliner (purchased and lugged upstairs by one great hubby, to accommodate my pregnant butt until the semi-bedrest is over), Xander fell over the edge. He was bridging himself over the arm and reaching for the end table for something when he fell flat on the hard floor. Usually something like this he'd shake off in a matter of seconds, but when he wouldn't stop crying and complained of his left shoulder and left chest area we headed out to the ER.

One X-ray, a sling and a dose of vicodin later, we were sent home to nurse a fractured clavicle. Our little guy! I can't believe how painful he is. Jason and I are really babying him with pillows and medicine and juice.

He really loves his dinosaur sling...

And his good drugs...(don't try this at home!)

Despite our attempts to not follow the "rules" of parenting, these kids seem to reach milestones all on their own. We refuse to potty train...well, I show them the toilet and step stool and say have at it whenever it suits your fancy. Because I believe it's all about physical readiness and nothing to do with "training." We also let the kids sleep in our bed from day one, and told nay-sayers they'd sleep in our bed until they are 18 and than Jason and I will "cry it out."

Nevertheless, both kids have been loving their own room and beds for the last year, and now Xander is totally accident free, for three weeks now, day and NIGHT!!! It is so weird to not have any diapers to change this last month. Of course, that will all change soon.

Time is creeping along for me now. All is going well, since I quit working and started taking it easy. We could go another two weeks, making it to my official due date...March 17.

Xander's fracture must be healing up quickly. He flung off the sling after the second day, and is cruising around the house. He has figured out how to keep the one arm close to his body and pull up onto things with his other arm. He still manages to beat on Isaac with his one good arm, and then he gets to run to me and tattle that Isaac made him hurt his shoulder again. Nice.

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