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August 14, 2003
8-14-03
You know, despite the fact that my father died 2 weeks ago, I think I'm doing pretty well. I know that he is watching over us and that my mother can start to enjoy the rest of her life. She had been devoted to dad visiting him at least twice a day. It was very stressful on her and we all worried that she'd have another stroke. It was very hard to see him in the nursing home as well as accept his change of attitude that would make anyone feel guilty for him being there. He could stress anyone out. I think we've all heard the quote "Doctors make the worst patients." TRUE!!! My dad knew too much and would demand tests and medications. He wasn't always the nicest person to be around. But, the good part of that is that it was brought on by his parkinson's dementia. He was never like that. He was always so kind. It is hard to believe he's not around anymore though.
Last weekend, we went up to spend the day with my mom. One of my brother's showed up and he and I started the daunting task of organizing dad's workshop. OH MY GOSH! The amount of stuff we threw out was amazing. And that was just in the 2 hours I spent helping. My brother stayed the night and continued cleaning and then went up today to finish the job. We'd find these items still in the original packaging, unopened from Ace Hardware. We'd stare at it wondering what it was and how long it had been there. We'd toss it in the garbage. My dad had extension cords that had gone bad, he'd cut the ends off in anticipation of replacing the ends with parts that worked. Geez! Just throw it away. We found over 100 screw drivers, a dozen hammers, 1/2 dozen crowbars and the list goes on. He has at least 6 of those boxes with tiny drawers for screws and parts. The boxes probably have 50 drawers each. Some had screws or nails that had rusted - all of them. I never knew there were so many different types of screws and nails. Mom says they had 7 cans of garbage on monday, 6 from the basement. I'd really like to tackle the basement. My parent's basement is a piece of work, let me tell you. My mother collects many different things. She has over 200 barbie dolls. She had them all in a closet but the floor flooded a month or so ago, so there are barbies every where. A stack here, a stack there. She has fabric ini stacks; she used to sew. She has 2 doll houses that she never worked on. She has old wallpaper rolls 15 years old or older, just in case she needed to replace a piece. She has textbooks from us kids when we were in college. She has several rubbermaid crates of beanie babies - WHY??? She has a clothes line in the basement where she has clothes hanging up. There's a few milk crates of albums. She probably has more empty boxes still folded with popcorn in them than anything else. She still has a shelf of ceramic containers that used to hold flowers that are 30 years old. Arrangements that she got when my brother was born. The list goes on and on. My mother is a packrat. In the formal living room we have a baby grand piano that no one knows how to play. It's beautiful but out of tune. She has about 15-20 noah's arks underneath and on top of the piano, animals (by the pair) and all. She has an assorted collection of The Wizard of Oz stuff, Hummel figurines and plates in one of the china cabinets.
And we haven't even talked about clothes. My parent's house has 6 bedrooms. My mother has clothes in every closet, every dresser, every drawer of every piece of furniture, including the crib for visiting babies. She has rubbermaid containers and cardboard drawers under beds, in every available corner of each room. She thinks, I suppose that she'll be able to fit in all her size 8 and 10 clothes some day. Mind you, these are all at least 20 years old. She still has shoes from the 70s still in their boxes. She has 3 huge bookcases in the family room that have at least 1000 books on tape, 200+ videos, Encyclopedia Britannica, Year books, Time/Life books...I think the 45s and 8-track tapes have been tossed out. She has shelves of recipe books that could make a bookstore look bad. Oh wait - Longaberger baskets. I counted over 100 once. I mean who needs this much crap? What does one so with this stuff? That's why I don't collect stuff. She collects Snowbabies for me and I get them at Christmas. Every year on my birthday, she gives me 2 exotic looking wine or champagne glasses.
Anyway, I am now 32 weeks along and eagerly awaiting the birth of my son. I am ready for him. I've washed all of Owen's clothes, sheets, diapers, towels, etc. I've had a little acid reflux, minor swelling now and again, and I'm HUGE! And knowing I'm going to be getting bigger is always a nice thought.
G is great. I think every day he begins to understand a little better that he's getting a brother. The other day I was commenting how "mommy has a baby in her tummy." He says, "I have baby too" and lifts his shirt. I told him he didn't and he said "I have mouse in belly" and made his stomach move like the mouse was kicking him. He's so creative! He loves to play with playdough. He makes hotdogs and balls with it. He's starting to visualize things. I bought a bunch of sculpting tools and put them in his "present box." he gets to pick something out of the box if he pees on the potty. It has happened once in the past 7 days. I don't push the potty training. He'll do it when he's ready. G is presently hooked on rice cakes and cereal bars. He loves those cereal bars. He also likes those new Quaker oatmeal squares. He's getting plenty of fiber in his diet these days. He doesn't eat fruit snacks much anymore. I had bought a case of them a year ago and he hasn't finished a box in several months. He prefers a banana, other fruit, or cereal bar. He won't drink much milk anymore. I try to give him snacks that you have to drink milk with but it doesn't help. He really likes juice and kool-ade. I'm real bad with the kool-ade lately. I've been craving COLD sugared drinks. At night, I want ice cold water, but I try to avoid it because I'll pee all night if I drink it. I only got up twice last night, how nice. It's getting tough to get out of bed these days.
My SIL, who is due in 3 weeks went to her doc on monday and she is alrady 3 cm dialated. she had her 1st daughter 2 weeks early so we all think she'll have the baby (sex unknown) next week. I'm so excited for her. I have my next appointment on Monday morning - 33 weeks! Yeah, I'm getting closer and closer. But, don't count at all on me going early. I do need to schedule an appointment for a massage. The woman who did the pregnancy massage last time told me there are things you can do to try to start labor. I'm going to get her to tell me a few things. I would like to have this baby 2 weeks early. I'm not concerned about the baby being big enough. G was a good size and if it helps to deliver early so that I can have a vaginal birth, then I'll try anything. All suggestions are welcome. I'm hoping I'll get some feedback on this subject from others.
That's probably enough for now.
Anne, G and Owen (edd 10-7-03)
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