Sunday, December 13, 2015

Confessions from my toddler mom pregnant life

Right now, I'm 18 weeks pregnant with a 14 month old. It can be tiring.

1. I gave my kid animal crackers to keep him quiet so I could get seconds of dinner. He was done, I wasn't.

2. I tell my husband to clean the kitchen while I sit on my ass and do nothing. Nothing, but build a human, that is.

3. I am desperate for screen time before two. Not because I don't allow it, because my baby is too little to be interested, and I wish I could just put on a video and lie down for a minute. I tried to get him to watch Elmo on my phone for 30 seconds to cut his nails. NOPE.

4. I count down till bedtime. I used to dread bedtime because it came so quickly after daycare pickup and then I missed Dalton. It's not that I get sick of him now, it's just that his bedtime is my bedtime, and it would probably be earlier if this was my first pregnancy. I'm just so tired. 

5. With Dalton, I took weekly bump pictures to remember this special journey. With Baby #2, we occasionally take belly pictures when I remember. 

Last one we took. I'm 18 weeks and huge now. 

6. I have choked down coffee. Last time, as soon as I developed an aversion, I gave it up. This time, sometimes it disgusted me but I NEEDED IT. 

7. My kitchen is filled with packages of random foods that I HAD to have in the grocery store, ate 1-2 servings of, and then never wanted to see again. Examples: pumpkin spice oreos, pumpkin ice cream, salt and vinegar chips. Not directly related to a toddler, but I never experienced this last pregnancy.

8. I want a minivan. Almost the first thing Eric said when I told him I was pregnant again was "so do we need to get a minivan?". The answer is yes. I'm well aware they are associated with being a lame soccer mom. Which matters to me because...I have such a cool image to maintain? I've never been cool. Not in elementary school, not in high school, not now. But you know what I have been? Someone who doesn't like to do extra work when I don't have to. So why would I open a car door while trying to juggle two kids and groceries when I could push a button and have it SLIDE OPEN? Even if it did make people think I was less cool for driving a van (not possible), the circle of people who I actually care about their opinion of me is an ever dwindling list. If you're not my relative or an extremely close friend, you probably aren't on it. Sorry not sorry. 

For now, my civic will fit two babies just fine (ok, a baby and a toddler, if I must admit my baby isn't a baby), but it's already ten years old. Eventually, it will need to be replaced, those babies will get bigger, and that's when the minivan will enter my life. Have a car payment again will be lame, but driving in silence while two kids watch DVDs with tons of room will be beautiful. 

Someone this post became an ode to a minivan. I haven't even driven one since I learned to drive my mom's when I was 16, so literally half my lifetime ago. 

9. Nursery preparation is pretty much the last thing on my to do list, down there under dentist and oil change. First of all, it cracks me up when people ask if we're going to move Dalton to the other room (currently the guest room, so come visit now before that's gone) and move the baby into the nursery. Um, he'll be 19 months when his brother or sister arrives. We will just have two nurseries, at least if the definition of a nursery is a room that contains a crib and diapers. 

Sure, pinning cute nursery ideas is fun. But you know what's even more fun? SLEEPING. On the weekends, I really need my nap during Dalton's nap time, at least one weekend day. Babies don't care what the nursery looks like, it's for the parents. And this parent would rather take a nap. We have a crib in there, my sister gave me some newborn diapers that were leftover from my niece. I'll get the box of newborn clothes that we keep passing back and forth from her when we visit for Christmas and probably put them in the dresser that's in there, which is left over from Eric's old bachelor apartment. It will be ugly, mismatched, and perfectly functional for a baby. Once people see the minivan outside, they won't have high expectations anyway. 

It would be nice to round this post out with a tenth item, but Dalton is napping, so it's time for my weekend nap. 


9 comments:

  1. When do their attention spans last to watch tv? I can't wait to just lay on the couch and snuggle for more than two min.

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  2. Your #2 nursery attitude is how I felt about nursery #1. I was not sentimental about it at all. Baby DGAF what decor you choose. I always wondered about those off-white nurseries on Pinterest...how long do they stay that way? Baby will just spit up in it and pee/squirt poop on the changing area.

    I'm currently rocking the wagon. We had one before baby,though, for our big dog and gear-involved hobbies. Back hatch opens with a button and is convenient for diaper changes.

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  3. I love my mini van. I just got my second one and it's really the best thing ever. Also, I am 17 weeks and have yet to take a belly picture this time, it just isn't a priority.

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  4. I have absolutely nothing to contribute here....can I somehow help with something?! :)

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  5. My parent's minivan is still in the family and still useful, even though all of us are in our twenties. Hell, I'd consider getting one and I don't even have kids. So much room for activities!

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  6. I also had vowed to never get a mini-van. And then I found out I was pregnant with my 3rd, which would mean 3 kids in car seats (my oldest and youngest are only 3.5 years apart). My little Kia Sentra got traded for my first (of many) vans. And while I look forward to getting back into a convertible someday (I miss my Mustang GT convertible!!), there's no way I'm switching from a van until my kids are out of high school. Which will be another 10 years. Am officially in mom-van purgatory until then. . .

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  7. I miss my minivan so much!!! I had it for 10 years and it was amazing! The best part is not hitting other cars with the door in the microparking spots when you're trying to get the baby out of the back. As for the nursery, when Anna was born her nursery was still storage. Rome was putting together the changing table the day I brought her home from the hospital and we had no "theme". She slept in my room for 5 months anyway. Yes 5 month LOL So eventually it got done. I never understood the whole rush to get the nursery done but I'm not a decorator so I think you and I are on the same page there. As for the pictures, you're pretty much on par for baby #2 also. You're doing good Mama!

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  8. Your new theme song? https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=swagger+wagon+commercial&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

    Love this video and I don't even have kids :)

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  9. We were joking that our nursery theme is "stuff we got for free." Of course, the nursery this time around is a (free hand-me-down) pack n play next to our bed.

    Minivans are awesome. I have a theory that any car you put a car seat into automatically turns into a minivan anyhow. But a Civic minivan is a lot less convenient than a Honda Odyssey. Still, in the name of avoiding car payments, we have continued to drive our 2 door 2001 VW Golf. 2 carseats fit in the backseat just fine. I like to think of it as a mini-mini-van

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Thanks for commenting! Comments make me probably more happy than they should.