Jon and I have been looking for houses lately, since our rent is going up 25% in August and we figure we might as well take advantage of the $8K tax credit courtesy of the President.
It’s exciting to be thinking about moving into a house, especially now that we officially need that second bedroom for Maddox. But I have to confess: for me, one of the major perks of getting a house is having the opportunity to sort through all of my stuff and get rid of everything that I don’t use.
Jon (and most everybody else) finds this attitude crazy. I don’t blame him, but I still can’t stop myself from twitching with glee when I picture rooting through all my belongings and lightening my load.
I can trace this behavior back to my childhood. My father used to encourage us to get rid of our excess “stuff” and would cheer every full trash bag that went out. (Full of possessions, not just trash. He was not that excited about plain trash, although it would have been great if he had been.)
So now, I derive intense satisfaction from hauling out trash bags (and they have to be hefty black ones) full of things I’m ready to part with. My siblings probably have this same complex, but it’s okay, because someone has to support the garbage bag industry.
The bags can be headed for the Salvation Army or to those big yellow clothes collecting bins, or just out to our dumpster. It doesn’t matter. It’s psychologically liberating. Except of course when I realize I’ve tossed out something important in my zeal, and have to go buy a replacement.
Don’t get me wrong – I dig my stuff. I have no sentimentality about belongings, but I have a lot of items that I appreciate, and other items that would be extremely unpleasant to live without.
And, before anyone gets excited about what will be on the curb outside Leanne’s house the day of the move, let me clarify and tell you that the ginormous tv, our laptops and my ceramic rooster cookie jar are coming with me.
But all that other stuff? (Insert delighted teehee here). Hand me that trash bag, we’re just getting started.
I was holding Maddox in our living room when Jon started playing a series of song clips on his laptop. Man, I thought, those are some great songs! I listened to them for a moment more, and realized that there was something…familiar about them.
It turns out, our friend Paul had sent Jon a link to this video:
As explained in the video, each of these 36 songs use the same four chords. It’s amazing how many of these songs were popular, and how many of them are still recognizable. This mix even includes two of my favorite songs, With or Without You and Glycerine (a personal nostalgia-fest). I feel so deceived.
And yet – I kind of want to get the entire playlist. I mean, there’s only four of them, but those are some great chords.
Take a look at the video – how many of these songs do you recognize as songs that you like, or at least liked until they were hideously overplayed? Have you also been suckered?
Since I’m all about the baby lately, but don’t want to turn this into a baby blog, check out baby updates at maddoxheller.com.
I’ll be updating this blog periodically with similar content to before the pregnancy, but for all baby-related news, pictures & video, head over to the new site.
I’ve been having contractions throughout the night and into this morning. I’m not sure if they’re the real kind, or if they’re a false alarm – darn those Braxton Hicks.
In any case, I haven’t called the doctor yet because 1) we’re still in the process of recording the time between contractions 2) I’d rather stay home as long as possible and 3) I can still talk (and type) through them.
On that note, I figure the best way to get through this is to breathe, blog and play World of Warcraft. It’s hard to be stressed when you’re editing a post or beating down virtual monsters.
I’ve also started our #labor twitter updates. Part of me is reluctant, just in case this is too much personal information to put on the internet, but what the hell, it’s a Brave New World and I’m going to roll with it.
Breathing is pretty self-explanatory – I’m trying to use the coping mechanism Jon’s Mom suggested, which involves kind of going with the pain, and visualizing to help your body do what it needs to instead of resisting this. The fact that I can still be rational about it tells me that this is the very beginning and things are going to get a lot more painful.
I’ve also been resisting urges to clean the fridge, to spray my plants with lemon oil for fruit flies and to do laundry. All these things need to be done, but after hours of off-and-on contractions, I know I’m going to be tired later, and want to conserve my energy.
Wish us luck, and cross your fingers that this is the real deal – we’re ready for this baby to arrive! Drop us a line via Twitter or email – unless the hospital turns off the wireless internet, we’ll be on throughout the day.
Well, we’re at T-minus 5 days and counting, and here are some random thoughts that have been collecting in the empty space that used to house my brain:
1. I feel like a poser every time someone wishes me a Happy Mother’s Day. My Mom, who is amazingly talented at the right gesture in any situation, actually found and mailed me a “Happy Mother’s-To-Be Day” card. If she was in charge of the world, things would run much more smoothly.
On that note, I wish my sister was on Facebook so I could wish her a Happy Mother’s Day without having to use my phone. My newest unobtainable desire is an iPhone, which is so awesome of a phone that you don’t have to speak into it to communicate, you can just email people from any location.
2. Time slows down when you’re waiting for things. Yesterday, we had time to do some contract website work, visit Crane Castle , try out a new pizza place in Ipswich, and we also spent a good two hours hanging out with the Tivo guy, who was very nice and tried hard, but who utterly failed to fix our box.
3. You must get really great upper arm strength once you have a baby. We live on the 3rd floor of our apartment complex, and I was trying to work out the logistics of carrying my laptop, the baby and the baby’s bag down to the car, and I came up with two trips, carrying the baby the whole time.
It’s sort of like those logic puzzles where you have to cross a river with a wolf, a sheep and a head of sheep-attracting lettuce, and you can’t leave either the wolf or the lettuce with the sheep. So, you just carry those suckers with you everywhere.
Finally, wish us luck! Remember, we’ll be online during the labor until I become incoherent, or, like my friend Sarah suggested, until I have a contraction and snap my laptop in half.
Right now, we’re playing the waiting game. We’re half past week 38, and the baby could come any time. I’ve got a few thing to wrap up at work, but am feeling pretty good about having things in order. Our bag is packed, the house is tidied up, and a kind co-worker has offered to show us how to install our Graco car seat, so we don’t have to enlist aid from the fire department.
Physically, he’s a lot lower now, and still moving up a storm. He’s pretty big now, so when he turns over, you can see a bulge of baby sticking out between my ribs or smack in the middle of my stomach. The only other change is that I’ve been feeling more of a compulsion to do family get-togethers lately, because I want the baby to enjoy an extended family like I had while growing up.
This means trips to Kristy’s farm as well, which is a win-win, because the baby will get to see his cousin AND learn about that whole “nature” thing, which he is unlikely to discover in our overly-technological household.
The Mommy
I’ve been down with a mild cold for the past few days, courtesy of a mucus-spewing waitress who perhaps should have 1) stayed home instead of serving food or 2) worn a suave swine-flu mask to work.
Being 8 1/2 months pregnant and sick is frustrating, because you’re never sure which symptoms are from the baby and which are from being sick. I suppose it doesn’t really matter, since in about 2 weeks, I should be either recovering or recovered from both and enjoying the nice summer weather on maternity leave. So, it’s just a matter of getting there.
Housing
We’re still looking at open houses – lately, there’s been an increase in available houses, which is nice, since there haven’t been many for the past year. We may go look at a house in Danvers today, right after we stop by Lowes or Home Depot, which are wonderful, wonderful stores.
Jon Vs. Cats
The reason we are going to Home Depot is that Jon has recently declared war on our cats, and refuses to let them wander around freely at night. I can buy into that, because I’m up already about 3 times a night from the baby, and being woken up by cats as well is just not okay.
Unfortunately, our cats do not share this feeling, and need special precautions, like a rug wedged under the door so they don’t scratch up our hall carpet and cost us deposit money from the apartment complex, a new compact litter box, and the door handles reversed – I had to put the one with the lock button on the outside, because otherwise they engage the push handles and let themselves out. I would be irritated, but I kind of have to applaud their talents. Then, there’s the morning sweeping to take care of the spilled litter, food and rug shreds.
All in all, this is almost more trouble then just being woken up a couple of times during the night. I’m looking forward to having a house with a big basement, where they can roam about all night, or maybe even a kitchen where they could be locked in. And then, we could train them to make us breakfast, so when we got up in the morning, the coffee would be ready.
Today, I had a “non-stress test,” a.k.a. being hooked up to a fetal monitor for 2 1/2 hours in a hospital bed. It is more fun than being shot in the chest and left for dead, but you know, most things are.
I figure that it’s better to be safe, and all those doctors must have some reason for prescribing this, so we’re going to do this once a week until the baby is born.
On the plus side, there may be internet access in the birth center area of the hospital. (Jon was able to get online today during the test.) This means LIVE TWEETS OF THE BIRTH, which is vastly entertaining and should contain choice bits of interesting pregnancy information. That is, if I can type at that point.
If anything, after the phone calls to our parents, this will be the first place where the birth will be announced, so if you want to be one of the first to know, check out our twitter feeds. You can view my updates on my twitter feed, or get Jon’s perspective on his feed.
Jon and I have been looking for houses lately, since our rent is going up 25% in August and we figure we might as well take advantage of the $8K tax credit courtesy of the President.
I can trace this behavior back to my childhood. My father used to encourage us to get rid of our excess “stuff” and would cheer every full trash bag that went out. (Full of possessions, not just trash. He was not that excited about plain trash, although it would have been great if he had been.)
Don’t get me wrong – I dig my stuff. I have no sentimentality about belongings, but I have a lot of items that I appreciate, and other items that would be extremely unpleasant to live without. 
ShareThis
On that note, I figure the best way to get through this is to breathe, blog and play World of Warcraft. It’s hard to be stressed when you’re editing a post or beating down virtual monsters.
I’ve also been resisting urges to clean the fridge, to spray my plants with lemon oil for fruit flies and to do laundry. All these things need to be done, but after hours of off-and-on contractions, I know I’m going to be tired later, and want to conserve my energy.
1. I feel like a poser every time someone wishes me a Happy Mother’s Day. My Mom, who is amazingly talented at the right gesture in any situation, actually found and mailed me a “Happy Mother’s-To-Be Day” card. If she was in charge of the world, things would run much more smoothly.
2. Time slows down when you’re waiting for things. Yesterday, we had time to do some contract website work, visit 
It’s sort of like those logic puzzles where you have to cross a river with a wolf, a sheep and a head of sheep-attracting lettuce, and you can’t leave either the wolf or the lettuce with the sheep. So, you just carry those suckers with you everywhere.
