Circulation and Sanity.

Well, after two phenomenally nausea-free days I woke up this morning and just couldn't hoist myself out of bed. So I stayed in bed. I am remiss to use any of my precious sick/vacation time because of our fragile finances, but sometimes when you're down, it's best to stay down. I came in to work around noon and was lucky to find a good parking spot, so my day has been consistently brightening up since then.

A few random notes about this pregnancy. First, the baby is stealing my blood. Now, realize that I am well-insulated. I hate being cold. Why the heck else am I carrying around all of this extra padding (read--fat)? Well, I've been colder than ever, very prone to shivering and wearing multiple pairs of socks and sweatshirts pretty constantly in the house. This was something I could deal with. Well, Baby Cute, you've gone too far. This week I discovered that my fingers and toes turn purple when I'm cold. I have childhood memories of my friend Beth being pretty consistently purple, but she was a STICK figure. Grrrr. I thought my feet were dirty before I got in the shower one morning. I've since discovered that no, behind my toes was just purply gray. To fight back, we are turning up the heat in the house and I am just adding extra padding, in the form of clothing this time. I knew my body would change, but my circulation? Wowee, you are a powerful parasite, Baby Cute.

While Baby Cute still likes fruit, really no food sounds good. We enjoyed grilled cheese and tomato soup IMMENSELY this week and pickles and chocolate chip cookies danced around on my tastebuds like they were tapdancers. Delish! But really those are the only food highlights. It's a good thing I'm taking the horse pills (a.k.a. prenatal vitamins) and the free samples I got of fish oil pills. I am currently debating with my stomach about what to eat... I'm running on a Pepsi and a bowl of frosted miniwheats.

Not only was telling my sibs fun, they are also tremendous resources for me. Turns out Jerry Lewis (my brother-in-law, not the telethon dude) is not only a pen guy, but also a potential baby product goldmine! His company's partnership includes Graco products. Hooray! This is the stroller and carseat that I love best. They are the French Roast pattern.




While they aren't available to him yet, the savings may just sway me toward another pattern that is on his company intraweb.

My sister Melanie also posted in her online journal about how happy she is to be an auntie again. I forget that all of you out there are randomly thinking about Baby Cute, too, so when I realize that you are it makes me happy. I am such a worry wart that the extra thoughts and prayers that are out there sure make David, Baby Cute and me feel better.

Speaking of Davids, for those of you who don't know, we have been following Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover plan since October of 2005. In that time we haven't used any credit cards and paid off all of our consumer debt other than one big credit card we are tackling bit by bit. It is the reason I started working at the baby store and a BIG point of pride for David and I. We paid our mortgage for the first time this month and we sat down to have our "Oh my God we're having a baby, now what the heck do we do" Pow-Wow this week. It looks like we are going to be just fine. There are many people out there who do a lot more with a lot less, so we are thankful. We'll have to modify Dave Ramsey's plan to fit our needs, beef up our emergency fund to cover my unpaid maternity leave, set aside some of our house projects and forget about taking another "just us" vacation, but really the thought of being home with Baby Cute for a few months is SO much more appealing than Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Also, given that daycare in the Lansing area ranges from $125 (home) to $275 (center), we have decided that David is going to stay home with Baby Cute. He's excited, and I'm relieved about not becoming the "super mom" that I know all too well, rushing around with sick kids, doctors' appointments, housework and household management. I love working, and I love my job, so the emotional, financial, and mental benefits of having a stay at home (SAH) parent is really comforting to me. Dave will need some training from the Moms and we'll make it up as we go along, but not worrying about getting on a waiting list for a $1,000/month daycare center with 10 babies and 3 workers in one room is a tremendous relief to us both.

Not to get ahead of myself, but this also puts less restrictions on how many Baby Cutes we can have, too. My observations have been that 2 is just about the maximum that a two-income family can handle before it just doesn't make sense to work outside the home. Not that we're having 5 kids, but that part of family planning isn't nearly as tough on my worrisome mind.

For as hectic as our February was, March is very calm. We are traveling to Owosso on Saturday to see the off-off-off-off-off Broadway production of "Beauty and the Beast" that one of my Lansing friends is performing in, having dinner with another Lansing-friend couple before that and I'll work at the baby store on Sunday. I'm looking forward to Saturday morning in our new house. Perhaps we'll even begin to tackle the PILES and PILES taking over the eventual nursery. Or maybe I'll sleep and eat pickles and chocolate chip cookies (but not at the same time).

Today is my nine-week mark and Baby Cute is officially a fetus. Way to go, Baby Cute!