Interesting Article on Parenting

Click here for an interesting article from Time Magazine: The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting. My mom sent it to me, and I am putting it on my blog so I can find it in the future when I am tempted to sign our little guy up for eight extra-curricular activities while he's in kindergarten and help him with all his homework. Of course we want to give him many opportunities to have fun and find his passions in life (is 6 sports too many??), and I would never refuse homework help when needed (when can we start calculus?!). But I hope I can get my over-achiever, OCD tendencies to move to the backburner when it comes to parenting. I just want to lighten up a little and let him be a carefree, happy kid! Seriously, I can't wait to be his mom, and for Joe to be his Dad. What an adventure!!! Little boy, we are ready!! (Almost.)

Old Man in the House!!

Yes, Joe had a birthday! Sadly, Joe rang in his 30th year (yep, he's 29!) without much fanfare. But he did enjoy a birthday burger at Fuddrucker's with me, Nate, Lori, & Reese. He also enjoyed a spectacular carrot cake I made for him! Mmmmm it was good. Grating all those carrots was sooo worth it! Here's Joe contemplating his birthday wish while listening to our terrible singing. We started a new tradition with the Millers of doing a terrible, off-key rendition of happy birthday and let me tell you, it's a lot of fun. Way less awkward and more entertaining!!

Joe had no problem with the 29 candles.

And here's the birthday boy with me & the baby. Almost a cute little family of 3. Almost!!

Side note: Joe has introduced me to a number of his colleagues at work recently, and each time it goes something like this: "I'd like you to meet my wife ... and here's my child!!" (pointing to the belly) It's cute. :)

Hope you have a great year, Joe!!

Mission: Accomplished

It's been quite an ordeal (really, a surprisingly big ordeal), but I finally have both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccinations. I know, I know ... it seems like people are making way too big a deal out of the "swine" and all that. It's just the flu, after all! But all I can say is that when you're pregnant, you start seeing things from a different angle and pay a lot closer attention to all the possible complications and dangers to you and your baby. And, since the fierce parental instinct to do anything you can to protect your baby has long since set in, it's not a matter of what you're going to do, but how you're going to get it done!

Getting the H1N1 vaccination in Maryland has been tough. Joe lucked out and got his a couple weeks ago ... he happened to be doing his ER rotation when the VA vaccinated its ER workers. When the announcement was made, he was the second person in line, and after saying he had a pregnant wife at home, the needle went right in. Then we had to find one for me. Two Saturdays ago we left the house at 7 a.m. to get in a line for vaccinations which would begin at 10. Sadly, we got there around 7:30 only to turn back around - the line was already over a quarter mile long, and with guests at home we couldn't really stand the thought of waiting in the rain for 5 hours with the possibility of going home antibody-less.

So we kept at it. I made numerous calls to my OBGYN and regular doctor with no luck. Then I figured out how to get on the county list for appointment-only vaccinations. When some clinics opened up a few days ago, I called about 60 times before getting through and then kept my phone within inches of me for an entire day waiting for a return call to set up an appointment. (Actually - I made the mistake of missing the first call because I was in a meeting and had to repeat the calling process to get back on the list, so I made sure not to miss it again! My goodness!)

Anyway, now that I'm vaccinated I feel a tiny bit more at ease, but I know it doesn't provide comprehensive protection by any means. Almost every day I feel so utterly exhausted, out of it, and not like myself that I think I must be coming down with something (riding the metro with all kinds of crazy people just adds to my anxiety). So far, though, I've always woken up feeling better the next morning. We'll hope it keeps up. Try to help me out by staying away from me if you're sick. We have to keep our baby growing healthy and strong for 74 more days!!

Visitors!!

We were excited to have Joe's brother Dan & his girlfriend, Jade, come stay with us last week. Dan was interviewing and checking out the dental school, so we tried to show them a little bit of Baltimore and what living in Maryland has to offer. Luckily it only rained 2/3 of the time they were here ... which was okay since we still got to enjoy the Amish Market (indoors) as well as the spectacular drive there, plus lots of football-watching. What can I say, Jade & I just couldn't get enough.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day ... we walked around the DC temple and then gave a driving tour of DC (it was getting late, and Dan & Jade took the train in to tour around the next day). All the fall colors were soooo pretty.

I sure am sporting quite the baby bump now! And I'm happy to have made it to my third trimester :)

Unfortunately the rain returned for our night down in Inner Harbor with Nate, Lori, & baby Reese. But we still had fun, and it made it that much easier to hurry home for SYTYCD!! Dan, you better keep watching, or ELSE!!