Long time, no type!

SO! I kind of haven’t posted for a while because my mood has been fluctuating so wildly that I haven’t wanted to risk writing something I might regret later. Some of my friends have gotten nasty e-mails and phone calls from me that speak to my frame of mind at that time, and they have all been SO gracious! I tell you what, you’ll never know truer friendship than when you’re feeling like the most wretched human in the world and friends show you love regardless.

No Gavi yet. Yesterday was my due date. Since the doctors had been preparing me for an early delivery due to my near-constant contractions for the last two and a half months, I don’t mind saying that it’s a little disappointing. Plus, last Wednesday, I was within one more contraction of going to the hospital when labor just stopped. The same thing happened Saturday night from eleven to four thirty. I was SO close to calling the doc and saying it was time to go. Part of me wishes I had. (It’s mostly my feet – I’m finally REALLY starting to swell, and my feet are SO ugly that it’s mostly vanity rather than discomfort.)

I asked them to break my water on Monday, and they declined. I was really disappointed by that. After all, they’ve been concerned about the size of this kiddo for months. At my appointment LAST Monday, I was already dilated to five, 100% effaced, and measuring 42 weeks. (Meaning Gavi was obviously full size.) But this week, suddenly, it’s like “No, we can’t take ‘measures’ for another week.” And I had my heart set on having a baby on Monday. So the fact that I didn’t really threw me into a tailspin.

Terra has been my biggest help. She took the time explaining to me why the doctor probably made the decision he did – if Gavi hasn’t dropped, there’s a possibility that the umbilical cord could get caught between his head and the birth passage, which would necessitate a c-section. Obviously, I don’t want that. But the doctor didn’t explain that, so I was just left with my major disappointment that shadowed my Monday.

But after ranting and raving about it for QUITE A WHILE, I felt a lot better. I’m resigned to the fact that I might not go into labor, after thinking it was going to happen every day for the last month. But that’s freed me up to quit worrying about it. So Caleb and I went to the zoo yesterday – for the third time in a week! – and today we’ve been running all the errands and going to all the doctors that I’ve been putting off for weeks.

Let me tell you how that little munchie is keeping me from going berserk. He is the cutest kid in the world! First of all, he can now count to 10 unprompted. Genius, right? We’re still working on the alphabet, because he has his favorite sections but the other letters just get left out in the cold. He’s also very excited about baby Gavi, and tells everyone we meet that the baby is “sleeping.”

Which isn’t often true! Gavi is the most active baby I could ever dream of! He is CONSTANTLY kicking and moving and rolling and roiling. It makes me SO happy to feel him move! (Even though I keep wishing he would drop so I could meet him!) Jonny has strep, so Caleb had to get tested yesterday, and I’m going in this morning. I’m starting to feel poopy, which doesn’t really fit in with the “completely strong” feeling I’ve had for the last couple days.

At the zoo yesterday, Caleb made it through the WHOLE THING! We didn’t go down some of the side streets with the birds, and we didn’t see the primate panorama, but he walked through the ENTIRE rest of the place. I’ve quit taking the stroller, which makes it a lot less of a battle since he understands that I’m not going to try to make him get in it. Anyway, the most we’d ever made it through was half before. So we had a little reward of a train ride and a carousel ride! Last week when we rode the carousel, he was scared of the animals, so we just sat on a bench. This time he was happy to sit on an animal, but it had to be one of the stationary ones. Next time, I bet he’ll sit on one of the animals that rise and fall with the spinning. He’s SO brave!

My new favorite animal is the dwarf mongoose. The biggest it gets is 24 ounces, and it looks like the cutest beanie baby in the world. Caleb’s favorite is the okapi. He kept hollering it at the top of his lungs yesterday. “OH-COPY!” It really is a pretty incredible animal! I can’t even tell you how much I’ve enjoyed having the pass to the zoo. It’s only a little more gas than I was using to go to work, so it’s kind of a minimal expense in my mind for the hours and hours of joy we’ve had.

Another big milestone yesterday was that we had our first faceplant with blood with Jonny not around. I’m pretty good with booboos as long as they don’t bleed much. This one is the corner of his mouth where he slammed his face into the coffee table as he fell out of the chair he was playing on. That sucker bled enough to make me freak out pretty badly, but Caleb just enjoyed playing with what splashed on his arm. Then today, he pulled the bird bath down on his head which is, um, totally my fault because I’ve been letting him play with it even though I knew it wasn’t entirely stable. He made trails for his trucks, and I thought it was brilliant that he was so involved.

Grandma and Grandpa Garmane are even more excited about this baby being born than we are, if that’s possible! They’re going to take Mr. Caleb home with them for a couple days while we’re at the hospital, and then come stay in Denver to see us during the day when we come home. They’ve been through the whole range of desperate hope that I have – every time I call them, they ask if it’s time! (So does Jonny. I have to quit calling them!)

I turned 31! That’s a milestone for me! We had a bunch of friends over on Friday night to celebrate – and we played the game I wanted to play for once! (Scene It. Four boys against four girls. I have NO idea how we lost.) Then on Saturday, my family came to us to celebrate, and John and Sharon Sommerfeld joined us for lunch, then went to do their own thing, then came back that night. My parents gave me a FoodSaver, that vacuum pack thing. It will totally help with my grocery game, so I can buy meat in bulk! Then my sister gave me a gift certificate for a post-partum massage at the same place my boss took us to for Christmas. Ohmigoodness, how awesome is that going to be?!

And Jonny gave me nine books that I’m really enjoying. But he gave them to me a week early, because he has a serious issue waiting for holidays. He totally tricked me into looking at it, too, by telling me that it was something he’d picked up for Chris and Alisa’s engagement party! Sheesh! And y’all thought I was bad!

Goodness gracious, this is a HUGE post. And I didn’t even cover half of the wonderful things Caleb has been doing! But that’s what I get for keeping my fingers still for a week and a half while the craziness continues rolling!