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Here is the crib bedding we got today… It’s quite sassy and pink. I know Kev, will just love it!!!!!!!

Ashton’s been gone visiting family in west Texas for a week now. It’s been a busy week. I thought I would write her a letter and include pictures of all the happenings that have happened while she has been gone… (I’m sure she will be glad she missed them.)

Dear Ashton,

We all miss you very much, BUT we are glad that you are having fun square dancing, inner tubing, shopping, golfing, playing with baby goats, pizza baking, taco making, watching movies, and just plain relaxing! While you’ve been away Jax and I have been very busy.

First of all, Jax is taking very good care of your baby while you are gone. He has been giving her baths every night.

He’s also insisted on wearing your hat, almost every day. (Maybe it reminds him of his “SHISHIE”)

On Friday, I was cleaning out my office and Jax was playing in the living room as usual. I hear him giggling hysterically so I go to check on him. Here is what I found!!!

Jax had blanketed the entire living room wit baby powder. It took me and Carmen forever to clean this up. Our vacuum broke in the process. Ash, aren’t you glad you weren’t here? HA! I thought the shirt he was wearing on this day was very apropos considering his FATHER did this with AJAX when he was little.

Yesterday, I walked in and Jax was smearing diaper cream all over his lips and face…. Saying YUMM! I don’t think he got any in his mouth… Thank goodness! AGAIN… like father like son…. Kevin diaper creamed his poor brother from head to toe when he was this age. He cream the poor guys eyelids shut… I definately think genetics are playing a role in this!

Now, on to what you really wanted to see, my little Ash E. Poo… Your new bedding! Here it is! I hope you like it… I love you! I spent the ENTIRE day today cleaning out and cleaning up your room. I hung all your laundry and your room is spotless! (THANK YOU MOMMY!) I thought you could use a more grown up bedding set since you are going to be a 3rd grader soon!!!

Sheets…

Well, I need to go cook dinner. I love you and look forward to seeing you real soon.

Hugs and Kisses,

MOMMY

I’m so proud of my little man! For the past 6 days Jax has been totally content being put to bed wide awake… in his own bed. As you can see from previous posts, this is a huge accomplishment for him. I am so happy to put him in his room and not have to lay with him at all! ALL NIGHT - he sleeps alone in his room. It’s so refreshing…

Now, we’ve conquered 2 things on my “I DON’T THINK IT WILL EVER HAPPEN” list. 1. Weaning… I thought I was going to have to go to college with him! I’m proud to report that the little stinker has been boob sober since January 26th. 2. Sleeping in his own bed - YEAH!!!

Now, our next projects to tackle on the list will be potty training and getting him to talk more… then we will move on to kicking sissy’s boyfriends in the shins… but that’s much further down the road. Afterall, he’s only turning two next month! Gotta start early!!

I went to the chiropractor last week because of a numbness in my arms. After we were done and were just chit chatting about what the plans would be… Ashton climbed up on the adjustment table and passed out! I mean, we were only talking for maybe 5 minutes. Ashton was out cold. What a NUT!!

Anyone who knows Jax, knows that he and sleep have never been great friends. He has always woken up every couple of hours searching for me. He’s always had to be held down to go to sleep. Whether it was in the high chair or carseat or in our arms… sleep just wasn’t something that he was going to do on purpose. Well, about 2 weeks ago we finally got him a twin bed and have been pretty consistent about making him sleep in it. Most nights I was having to lay with him until he fell asleep and then sneak off only to be woken up a couple of hours(if I was lucky) later to start the whole process over again. We’ve had a couple of good nights, but mostly not.

Then all of the sudden, two nights ago, I think he came to peace with the idea of sleeping alone in his bed. For the past two nights he has crawled in his bed, after his bath, around 730 saying “night night.” I’ve turned on his one and only favorite DVD - Sponge Bob and told him “night night” and that I’d check on him in a bit. I shut the door and leave the room. He lays there a while and when he starts to doze he jumps up and starts flipping the light on and off. He throws his blankets and pillows on the floor and puts his feet on the wall and kicks a little. After a couple of hours….he passes out. This I can handle… He’s not screaming as if someone just took his favorite toy away. He’s just restless. What’s super awesome is that last night and the night before… he didn’t wake up upset or get out of his bed until 630 am when Kev was leaving for work!!! I know to most people this is no big deal… but for us… 930- 630 is a HUGE accomplishment…

At this rate, I might just make it through his childhood without having to visit the insane asylum. It’s amazing how much better you feel when you get your rest!!! I hope it continues! Now let’s just pray that Kylie is a good sleeper…

Seriously, what are these people thinking? They throw their babies off the roof for good health and luck! I don’t even know what else to say.. This is insane. The poor babies have got to be scared shitless….

Well, as you already know… I am. This is my third time around and I am determined to do it differently this time. Let me give you a little back ground info… How about a shortened version of my two previous births?

Ash E. Poo - January 27, 2000 - I was 18 and had NO idea what the heck I was doing. I went into the hospital at night with contractions about 5 mins apart and I was slightly dilated. They decided to admit me. I held hostage in the bed by fetal monitors and an IV tainted with pitocin, which is like the devil’s venom or something. I was starving and they starved me, feeding me only ice chips. I laid there all night trying to sleep. By morning, my OB came in and things weren’t progressing (duh) so broke my water and kept upping my pitocin. After the overdose of pit, I was talked into having a little medicine to take the edge off the pain, so they gave me Demerol and phenya-something which made me drunk (like room spinning, NOT fun drunk) as heck. I felt out of control. I couldn’t keep my mind focused, all I could do was cry and fall asleep between contractions. It was horrible. By this time, I NEEDED an epidural. Along with that came a lovely catheter that caused pain that I could feel through the epidural. Ashton was born at 1:55pm.

Jackson: September 5, 2006 - I went into the pregnancy with birth plan in hand only to have it pretty much be dismissed by my OB as unnecessary. She said, “she does things her way, and mommies and babies come out fine.” I trusted her. Same story. Strapped to bed with fetal monitors coming out of every orifice of my body. Starved. IV’d with hell water (pitocin). Waited all night. Doc comes in and says that I was taking to long so she broke my water and all hell broke loose with it. Got all the way to 10 and my body was ready to push… but where was the doctor? Not there… She left.. so they tell me to freakin PANT, PANT, PANT and not push until they could get her back. What the heck? It hurt so bad… I was like hook me up… I need an epidural NOW… and guess what they did? They gave me one… just in time to push. Jackson was born at 10:22am. I received a “generous” episiotomy which resulted in the nurses coming in and lifting my covers every 20 minutes for the next two days to violate my privacy. NICE!!!

Peanut #3 and I will NOT subject ourselves to the needless torture and unnecessary medical interventions this time around. I’ve done a lot of research and I believe whole-heartedly that a woman’s body was made to birth babies. It’s a natural process, not a sickness. We will be under the care of a Certified Nurse Midwife and will birth in a comfortable birthing center. Now, don’t get me wrong. I think medical interventions are AWESOME when needed, but I think they cause more problems when they aren’t. It’s a domino effect. Give pitocin, it hurts worse… need epidural or drugs.. Labor slows… give more pit… baby goes into distress… c-section.

I watched an a really great eye opening movie last night about all of this. It’s called The Business Of Being Born. It’s produced by Riki Lake. I highly recommend it to anyone who is pregnant or thinking about having a baby some day. It’s a good look at the whole business of birthing babies.

Call me crazy… but it all makes perfect sense to me.

In case you haven’t already noticed the spinning tadpole looking thing on the side of the page… I’m pregnant! I’m almost 9 weeks. I am having a horrible time with the morning/noon/night sickness this time around, like I did with Ashton…

Well, I love taking showers and being clean. I hate to feel dirty. I’m one of those who HAS to shower before I go anywhere. I can’t go anywhere with two day old hair. But lately, I absolutely HATE taking showers. (I still do it though) I feel claustrophobic. I start to think I’m suffocating and the walls are closing in on me. I keep having to open the glass door just to breathe. It’s the weirdest feeling.

On top of that, the smell of my shampoo and conditioner make me so sick that I gag the whole time. They are normally good smelling TIGI products. For some reason, they remind me of some nasty Strawberry Shortcake lipstick that I must have eaten as a kid.

Don’t even get me started on the gagging that occurs when the water runs across my lips or into my mouth. Just thinking about it is making me gag.

I’m convinced that my shower hates me. It becomes smaller when I enter it and it has tainted my pleasant smelling products, inducing lovely barf-fests… This brings back so many memories of my pregnancy with Ashton more than 8 years ago. This was not the case with Jackson. I can only think of two episodes with him.. and they were only because I got too hungry. Maybe this means this baby is a girl. Who knows?

I’m not sure why I’m telling you all of this. It’s kind of silly when you think about it… BUT I needed to get it off my chest before I have to face the shower monster, yet again. I think I might try Ashton’s shower today.. hopefully it’s a better spirited shower.

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

UPDATE: I took a shower this morning in Ashton’s shower and it was MUCH nicer. Her shower is a full tub, so much more room for AIR. I also used some of her shampoo and conditioner that helped greatly. BUT now I smell fruity! Oh, well…. I guess I’m moving into Ashton’s bathroom for a while… Until my shower decides to play nice.

I usually take Ashton for ice cream after school on Fridays. Today we ran through McDonald’s and she ordered a chocolate dipped cone. This is what she received.

I think it was the saddest ice cream cone that I have ever seen. I probably should have handed it right back to the guy at the window… but he was proud of his creation… so I didn’t bother.

I just thought I would share.

I have come to a point in my life where I am in love with stretchy pants.

Whoever invented them is my hero. Stretchy pants are comfortable. They stretch and don’t restrict. I am in great need of this comfort these days. BECAUSE my waist seems to be expanding for some reason! dun dun duhnnnnnn..

Yup! That’s right. Our third “hellion” is due in November. We are excited to bring yet another wonderful member into our family. Wish us luck!!! Now I’m tired and need a nap!

Disclaimer: Stretchy pants are a privilege and not a right. To the women who go in public in their stretch pants- check ass carefully before leaving home. If your rear looks like someone took a steak hammer to it and you can see this through your stretchy pants…. put on a long shirt or don’t leave the house. This is not good for public consumption.

NO This is NOT a mean April fools joke! This is for real! Ha!