A Rough Patch

So I've heard when it rains it pours. I don't feel exactly soggy, but I do feel like every time the sun is about to come out from behind a cloud a new one rolls in and drizzles a bit. But in telling you this, I also get to tell you something exciting, so bear with me.

Coxsackievirus A16
It's the most common cause of HMFD (Hand, Mouth, and Foot Disease). I always looked forward to the time when I could send my child off to the nursery. I didn't realize the delightful range of illnesses that could be shared through that avenue.

Clumsy Oaf
This one time, when I found out I was pregnant with Gregory, I excitedly shared the news with everyone in my office (some of you may remember). When one lady heard, her eyes got wide and she told me, "Go fall down the stairs." At the time, I was horrified. I did not, however, take her advice. Fast-forward two years, to me carrying a diaper pail down the stairs and losing my footing halfway down. Apart from straining my shoulder, back, and neck, and giving me a bruise to be proud of (Lauren and I like to compare battle wounds...), the incident worried me. I kept replaying the aforementioned lady's advice to me. I am, you see, pregnant once again (that's half of the exciting thing I had to tell you). LUCKILY, nothing seemed out of order (aside from that bruise I mentioned) so we moved on. Also, the blisters all over my hands, mouth, and feet had begun to disappear and stop itching. The sky was clearing.

Playing Mom
My mother is a wonder. Her back is also a wonder, as it curves in all the wrong places. This causes a lot of LOT OF pain for her, and so she decided to get it fixed. Fixing equals cutting the back open all the way down, straightening the vertebrae, fusing said vertebrae together (I didn't even have to look up how to spell that--I'm so proud!) with a mixture of bone scraped from mom's pelvis (OUCH!), cadaver bone and some sort of paste-ish substance, and then attaching stainless steel rods to each side of the spine, and sewing her back up again. It also equals traveling up to Boise, Idaho to visit the best back doctor in the land. So that meant that I would be playing mom to my little brother while she was gone (that's the easy part--oh, did I mention we're living with my parents until the housing market stabilizes? We are.) and then after while she recovers for several months. Some of you may remember my earlier post about role reversal and my feelings about it.

Pain
It's usually something one wants to avoid, and unexplained pain in the abdominal region is generally a bad sign for a pregnant person. The morning my Mom and Dad were leaving to get her back "fixed" (please refer to earlier definition), I awoke with just such pains. Such that I was very nervous, remembering earlier stair incident, and wondering if I had caused a miscarriage. My 20 week ultrasound was scheduled for three days following, so I begged them to let me come in and do it early. All news was good: the placenta was firmly attached, the cervix was closed and the baby seemed extremely healthy. He also appears to be extremely male (there's the second half). So that is a very happy ending to a scary day. We need help with names, so please leave suggestions.

AAAAAAACHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!
The common cold has been the icing on the cake (I just hope I don't find any candles). I'm just sick n' tired of being sick n' tired. But if the ultrasound hadn't turned out as happy as it did, I could be a lot sicker, a lot tireder, and a lot sadder (close your eyes English majors!). So I'm counting every sneezy blessing and curling up in bed as often as possible. Except for early this morning when I couldn't sleep because I'd been sleeping all day and neither could my husband so we got up and played World of Warcraft all morning long and even still couldn't fall asleep but we finally did at six o'clock. Don't tell my dad, he's under a lot of strain already.

Anyways
I figured you would all want the update, and since you love me, and you're still reading this, you must not mind too badly wading through the sadness to find the golden nuggets. So thank you. I will try to be a better blogger so SOME people will stop telling me how bad I am at it.

A Happier Note:
Baby G (as we call him fondly) is growing wildly. As in a wild weed growingness. He also talks CONSTANTLY and we're able to pick out more and more words that WE can understand. Bubbles is one of his favorites. He also enjoys ball, uh-oh (which generally means he wants you to turn on the lights, which are also refered to as ball...), woof woof (which I believe is a noun as well as a sound effect), duck, quack, and thank you. We are very hopeful that that last one means he will turn out all right after all. Someday I will figure out how to upload videos of him dancing so you can all be accosted with the baby-ness which has become my world (which I love).

Mike is still loving his job at Omniture, where it sounds like he plays all day with the guys (haha, yeah right honey). They really do have an abundance of work activities though. How often does the office pay for TUCANOS to welcome the newest member of a team? Basically, when I'm done with my first job (which I guess I never really will be done with, will I?) I want to work there for the food. And so that the office will give me money towards the new formal dress I'm expected to buy for the Black-tie Christmas Party. Did I mention they rented Mike a tux? And Meagan did my hair, and someday maybe I'll put pictures of that up too.

Someday I'll have a house too, and then I can get a new couch like someone I just saw at Costco and was jealous of. But Mike won't let my buy furniture until we have somewhere to put it. It's a double edged sword being married to such a wise, rational person.

KK, that's all I got...and isn't it a mouthful? I'll work on smaller, more regular doses for you so you don't get indigestion next time. Feel free to come to my house for Tums if you need. I also have plenty of cough drops!