Romance

Happy Valentine's Day.

In honor of the forced romance of today, Mr. Long-Suffering and I are spending the afternoon in a darkened room - together.  With an ultrasound technician.  This afternoon is the follow-up to the follow-up ultrasound with the high-risk people at the University of Chicago.  I am hoping for uneventful.  Is that too much to ask for?  (Or grammatically, is that too much for which to ask?)

I haven't mentioned much on the blog about how I feel about this pregnancy, but I am trying to get attached to Muse and yet, for some reason, I keep thinking that I am not getting a take-home baby out of this.  Certainly, I've had DBTs before, but these are so persistent that it's disconcerting.  However, I continue to go through the motions of washing and sorting clothes, purchasing diapers (but not opening the packages), getting the nursing supplies gathered onto the table in the nursery, etc.  It's that old "fake it until you make it" thing.  I'm trying. 

I also haven't mentioned much about Muse's chromosomes since I don't know anything more, and I don't know whether I will know anything additional about them before he is born.  The whole pre-term labor scare thing and 5 weeks of absolute horribleness that followed really shook the genetic fears right out of me.  Prematurity was scarier than Down Syndrome to me, so I just sort of let it slide.  I, of course, still worry that Muse might have something wrong with his heart (which is why we're going for the fetal echocardiogram today...along with regular ultrasound), but I'm not nearly as fearful now as I was 7 weeks ago.

In other news, I developed two new pregnancy symptoms that are un-fun: vertigo and swelling (neither of the caliber to have us worrying about pre-eclampsia).  The vertigo is only if I move my head certain ways (like rolling over in bed, getting from laying to standing, or checking my blind spot while driving).  The swelling is the typical feet and hands (notsomuch face, though there is a definite chipmunking of the cheeks) plus swelling of my lady regions (probably because I carry so low...in fact, if you know where a bikini cut c-section scar is, I start carrying about 1" below that). 

Monkey went missing before bedtime last night.  That’s a tragedy, but we avoided tears at bedtime.  Monkey was still missing this morning.  Chuckles said it’s in supernanny's car.  Supernanny looked.  Not there.  Eventually Chuckles says….oh, he’s in the closet.  Goes, gets him in 2 seconds, and Bobo is thrilled (tears were imminent).  Why oh why couldn’t he have done that last night??? (Monkey was a gift given to Bobo from Chuckles on his first day of life...Grandma had taken Chuckles to Target and this is what he brought to the hospital.)

In honor of Valentine’s Day, Hair Nation played GnR's “Used to Love Her” this morning.  Totally apropos, right?

My girl scout cookies arrived.  Wish me strength.

Chuckles competed in the Pinewood Derby for the first-time ever.  Bobo insisted on calling it the Penguin Derby, which was adorable.  Bobo and I didn't go.  We elected to stay home and go to sleep at a decent hour (Bobo's sleep has drifted into statistically significant bedtime shenanigans and night-time wakings).  Chuckles did not win, but he did fine, and best of all, my competitive little jerk (I say with love) was a gracious loser.  That is one of the most important things I want him to learn in Cub Scouts and life. 

I made pancakes and stamped them with Star Wars cookie cutters.  Am winner mother - even if I don't know a Death Star from an X-wing Fighter (though I think the X-wing is actually shaped like an X).  I am not sure who was more excited about these pancakes - husband or children.  Also, served them with homemade fruit syrup that I canned on Saturday (nesting much?).

Sacrilegiously, whenever I hear "May the force be with you," I want to follow it up by saying, "And also with you."