A tribute of sorts

In light of the fact that we've had four celebrity deaths in less than a week, I feel the need to pay my respects to at least one of them. And since I have a really great oxyclean story, I'm going with Billy Mays.

When Dan and I got married, we inherited a lot of furniture from my parents, including their cream-colored couch and loveseat. One evening (sometime in the first year of our marriage), I was gone and Dan decided to relax in the livingroom with a full glass of cranberry juice. As soon as he sat down, he hit his arm on something and the full glass of cranberry juice spilled all over the side of the cream-colored couch. Dan proceeded to freak out. He called my parents. My mom answered. He asked to talk to my dad. "Duane, Erin's going to kill me. I just spilled cranberry juice all over the couch and I don't know how to get it out." My dad, not knowing either, gave the phone back to my mom. My mom coached Dan through making a solution with oxyclean to try to remove the cranberry juice. Dan hung up, made the solution, and was feeling pretty confident as the red faded. But wait! It started turning green. Everything that had been red was now green. I'm sure the freaking out was off the charts. (And as much as I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, I'm kind of glad I wasn't around).

Lucky for Dan, the green was just a temporary chemical reaction and the whole stain eventually did disappear. Like magic! Poof! And in plenty of time for me to be none the wiser. But, of course, Dan had to share the story with me. It was too good to keep to himself. And we both decided that we could make one heck of an oxyclean commercial. And really, I've been sold on the stuff ever since!

Thanks for selling oxyclean to the world, Billy Mays. You and your off-the-charts enthusiasm will surely be missed.

What I have to look forward to

I have referenced a favorite blog of mine, Dooce, a number of times. Well, we were pregnant together until a couple of weeks ago. She gave birth to a beautiful little girl on June 14. She just has such a lovely way of putting things into words, and I particularly liked this little gem. I'm soon to join the ranks of those who have succeeded in bringing a second child into their families. And while I can't WAIT, I am also trying to be realistic about how interesting it will be for some time. :)

"I think the best way to describe what it's been like to bring a second child into the family is to imagine having a jazz band blasting an improvisational set in your left ear while listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Christmas carols in your right ear, and there you are, a drummer in a rock band, and you're on stage in front of 30,000 people trying to keep the beat to an acoustic version of 'God Save the Queen' by the Sex Pistols."

One week and counting

To my due date, that is. To actual delivery? Who knows--it could be tomorrow or in three weeks. Yeah, I'm hoping it's not three weeks. But I just have a feeling I'm in this one for the long haul. It feels much different than when I was about to have Jack. I was actually okay with going late with him--the longer I went, the less time I'd have to come back to work for at the end of the school year. This time, I am much more anxious. I just want to meet her. I want to see those feet that have been kicking me for months. See that little butt that sticks out of my belly when she's shifting positions.
The good news is that I am progressing, at least a little bit. I've been having contractions - not very painful and certainly not consistent - for a couple weeks, and I am 70% effaced and dilated to 1 cm (as of Monday). I wish that meant something, but I could very well walk around like this for a while!
In produce news, Leah weighs about as much as a mini watermelon. Yum! :)

Paper or plastic?

I just have to share my experience at Target this afternoon.

We were on our way home from my grandpa's 80th birthday party, and I had decided that I would leave as soon as we got home to go grocery shopping. Well, within 5 minutes on the road, Jackson fell asleep. So we decided instead to stop for groceries on the way home--I would run in and be really quick, and Jack could keep napping in the car. Dan dropped me off at the door and went to find some shade to park in. I was instructed to call him when I got in line so he could come get me.

I went about my shopping, really quickly, and proceeded to find a lane for checking out. It was rather busy at the lanes, but I managed to find a seemingly short one. I pulled in and called Dan. "Honey, I just got to the check-out, and I'm the second person in line." Well, with the person who happened to be the first in line, I may as well have been the eighth in line. She didn't have a ridiculous amount of stuff, but she had a few key items that needed a head cashier's help (like two really expensive Norelco trimmers). Paired with an uber-slow cashier, it was starting to get painful. I kept adding my things to the belt as there was room. And then I just watched, becoming immediately aware that this cashier wasn't even trying to move things along. Scan, pause, bag. Scan, ponder which bag to put item in, bag. Scan, pause, bag. Lift filled bag as if it's the heaviest thing EVER and sigh loudly.

FINALLY, the scanning was complete. Then, the best part. Woman-who-was-first-in-line pulled out her STACK of coupons. Honestly, and I do mean honestly, she had at least 30 coupons. Oh, at least. I wish I had counted. And of course, not all of them were easy to scan. She had a couple coupons for her expensive trimmers, and just like the trimmers themselves, the coupons needed Ms. Head Cashier. (By this time, I'm telling people who get in line behind me that they should probably pick a different lane--this one is taking a while).

FINALLY, the woman in front of me is done (after slowly getting the rest of her crap into her cart) and on her way. My turn! I push my cart to the credit card reader and slide my check card as Ms. Slow Cashier rolls my watermelon across the scanner. She puts it in a bag and sighs loudly again as she practically drops the bag on the platform for me to take. "Oh, I'm so exhausted," she says as she apparently decides to take a break from scanning for a minute. Sorry, lady, I can't have you doing that. "Edith, I'm kind of in a hurry. Could you keep scanning please?" Then my phone rings, which I don't realize right away because I got a new phone this morning and I'm not used to the ringtone yet. Of course, it's my poor husband wondering why the heck I called 20 minutes ago (no lie) and am still not outside. "Don't even ask. I'll *hopefully* be out in a minute."

In the meantime, 'hurry it up, Edith' has apparently been translated as 'get this woman's crap into bags as quickly and haphazardly as I can and get her out of my lane.' Again, I couldn't let it go. "Could you please be more careful and stop throwing my things into bags?" That one drew looks from the couple in the next lane. :) She finishes her "scan and drop" method, presses a few buttons and mumbles something (I'm assuming the total) toward her screen. I handed her my ONE coupon (free deli cheese when you buy deli meat!) and let her take care of it. I had already scanned my card, so my receipt popped out and she held it toward my general direction in her left hand as she began scanning the next woman's items with her right hand. "Thank you," I tried, but Edith was done with me.

I exited the store, having spent twice as much time in line as I did actually shopping, and unloaded my bags into the van. I tried to explain to Dan what just happened, but I was still processing it myself. Of course, Dan wants me to call and complain, but having been a cashier at Target, I know that complaint won't go anywhere. Edith will keep doing her thing, and those of us who have the privilege of going through her lane just have to learn our lesson.

I don't have much to write about

Truth be told, I am mostly writing so that the first thing someone sees when they come to my page isn't a naked cross-section of a pregnant woman. :) You're welcome.

Not much new on the pregnancy front. I mean, I'm still pregnant. I guess that's something. I am making some progress--dilated to about 1 cm (for over a week now) and starting to soften (but still pretty thick). She's still quite high, so I spend a good amount of my free time at home sitting on a big exercise ball. It's supposed to open your hips to allow for the baby to drop. Although, Jack never really noticeably dropped. And I also never dilated before I was actually in labor with him. So this "progress" (or lack thereof) doesn't mean a whole lot to me. I have decided that when it's not pouring rain outside at night, I am going to try to walk for at least a little while. I'll do whatever I can! (Well, nothing crazy. I'm not going to down a glass of castor oil or anything. Unless we're having this conversation in a month).

Well, no wonder

No wonder the heartburn is through the roof.
No wonder I can eat about half of what's on my plate.
No wonder I can't climb a flight of stairs without feeling like I'm going to pass out.

Truly, I couldn't have found a way to say it better than this picture. Enjoy. :)

This shouldn't be so exciting

When I was pregnant with Jackson, I toyed with the idea of doing cloth diapers. Well, I ended up using disposables. Which is just as well, because he ended up in daycare, and I don't think that would have worked too well. This time around, I really wanted to give it another shot. Plus, I have a couple of friends who have cloth diapered their babies since I had Jack, and they had many words of wisdom for me. Amy in particular has been a fantastic go-to. :)

Well, after a couple months of checking out different systems and covers and everything, I finally made the leap last week and placed my first order. Now, we do have some disposables to get us through the first few weeks (because I think it's just depressing to think about getting used to a new baby AND having two children AND doing cloth diapers all at once), and since Jack was a fairly big baby, I decided to skip the smallest size of cloth diapers. But with what I got, we should be pretty much set for the first year. (Except that I'm sure I'll find some ridiculously cute covers that I just HAVE to get....)

Here are the diaper covers I got, which will work with a prefold (think classic burp cloth diaper) inside.



I am super excited about using them. But what's really sad is that cloth diapers have found their way into my dreams the last couple nights. I have woken up and thought, "Seriously? I was dreaming about diapers?" Pathetic. :)