Up-gee mystery: mostly solved

I'm fairly certain that up-gee means hungry. Last night, Squeeze was saying something about being hungry and Starbeans said, "Up-gee!" although not as clearly as he had those two different mornings. Throughout the evening, I kept peppering him with, "Can you say, 'hungry'?" and he said up-gee every time. Again, not as clearly.

It got me thinking. Because I'm so hungry every morning, I often try and get us going on food as soon as we wake up. [We co-sleep, so I get up when he gets up.] I say, "Starbeans, are you hungry? Do you want some breakfast?" several times each morning to start moving towards the end-goal of FOOD. He must have been extra-hungry those mornings, I guess.

Speaking of up-gee - man, am I hungry.
What's new these days???

Up-gee!

What does "up-gee" mean? Up-gee, pronounced with a hard 'g'. On two different mornings now, Starbeans points and the wall and says, "Up-gee! Up-gee! Up-gee!" I tried to get him to show me what up-gee was, but he just brought me to the back room and started playing with his cars. It reminds me of a story my mom told me about myself at that age: she said I came rushing into the room, saying, "Loomy! Loomy! Loomy!" but she had no idea what I was talking about. I was pointing in a specific direction as well, so she had me bring and show her the loomy, which turned our to be the living room. That story makes a lot more sense now that I have a toddler of my own.

I also called one of my grandpas "Pon-tee", while Starbeans calls both his grandpas "Bupa". One of my nieces called my father-in-law "Bah-ta". She also had an imaginary friend named "Creek Boobah". That might be my all-time favorite imaginary friend name. Creek Boobah!! It's just so cool.

I've been feeling well (other than extreme hunger and lots of sleep). There has been no barfing or nausea whatsoever. By this time with Starbeans' pregnancy, I had thrown up at least 10 times [I know, because I kept a Barf Log]. Mostly, I think, because I couldn't grasp the concept of how frequently I had to eat. I am much better about that this time around, forcing something down every couple of hours; but I also think it has something to do with continued nursing. Kellymom has a whole section on tandem nursing and it seems that many women report that their nausea and nursing sickness is diminished or knocked out when they nursed during pregnancy. I don't know if that is true, but it seems to be the case for me; particularly combined with paying closer attention to how frequently I am eating.

However...thinking about it more, I do remember times where I was brushing my teeth and a wave a nausea would hit out of nowhere: I had to fight it with the strictest concentration to avoid puking. That hasn't happened this time. It would be interesting to talk to other tandem nursing mothers, to hear their input. But for now, all I have is kellymom and her survey of 100 or so people.

We are at 10 weeks today! Our due date is October 24.

Another calico post

There are many reasons why I've been so lax on my blog recently. First and foremost, I've been going to bed as early as possible and eating like an overworked ox. [I really should be in bed right now.]

Can anyone guess why? It starts with a "we" and ends with an "ine". Week nine.

Yep! Growing a baby really takes a lot out of a girl. And, (tee-hee) to all my former co-workers - I was only suspecting it at the end of my time at work, not ready to discuss or confirm. Using the infamous "child(ren)" in my farewell email was probably a subconscious mistake. I must say, though, I almost told Viiiiiiiiicky after she gave me her delicious carrot bread recipe and handmade card. I wonder if she saw my secret smile?

Secondly, we have been pounding the boards at home to maximize the amount of work we are able to get done, on many different levels: strategically, logistically, and physically. Much of my mental and physical powers have been drained by the almost-constant push to get things done. We are planning to go FSBO in selling our home, so I have been reading and researching endlessly in my quest to conquer our little corner of the housing market. Not to mention seeking a lender for our new home loan, setting terms for the purchase agreement on the new place, and organizing all of our financial details.

Finally, we've been sick the past week. Squeeze had a sinus infection that he was socking with endless salt washes. Starbeans fell ill after two bouts of congestion, which finally resulted in a double ear infection (our first tangle). I am proud to say that we conquered the beast through garlic oil & mullein ear drops, hot compresses, and keeping the kid in a hat 24/7. I was sick, too, and cleaned myself out with several salt washes and a hot compress. There is nothing worse than all going down at the same time. It is so nice to be [mostly] back to normal; especially Starbeans. It was terrible to see him suffer, rubbing and pulling at his ears like that, not to mention crying and whining incessantly. I understand why (the pain), but dang - it is hard to take.

And now, I must go to bed.

Sleeping cat(s)

Uh-oh

My little darling was joyfully ripping books off the bookshelf while Mama was vacuuming a ceiling and Dada was varnishing a handrail this weekend. Uh-oh - Mama's books! Nothing was destroyed, thankfully. I learned to keep the most vulnerable books a little higher after a beautiful old hymnal had its spine half-ripped off last summer.

Starbeans has his second runny nose in three weeks...such a bummer. We just cleared up the green goo last week, then hoo-haw, its back again. Shucks. At least he's learned to wipe his nose. I can hand him a diaper or a soft cloth and say, "Wipe your nose," and he does it. Today, he was in another room while I was in the kitchen and I spotted him wiping his nose all by himself. Amazing! I love seeing things click in his brain. Sometimes I try new things that I assume are way beyond his ability, just to see if he can do them. He usually can, which leads me to the conclusion that I'm the slow one. I've got to get with it!

I should also say...I am reveling in my new-found freedom from work. Being able to fully focus on Starbeans, our home, and our meals is thrilling! Our house is so much cleaner and I feel a lot less stress. I've also been able to join the playgroup I've always wanted to (but had to work) and have been able to socialize much more. I like it, I love it, I want more of it.

The birds are chirping and the sun is out

It's easy to feel dreamy on a day like today.

Much work, little time

We are in process of preparing our house for the market; in hopes of going rural this summer. Every weekend has been spent balls-to-the-wall, working our little fingers to the bone.

So far, we've replaced the bathroom sink; patched, primed, & painted; half-packed; organized; tossed; cleaned; vacuumed in spots we'd forgotten about for the last 4 years (yikes); and worked on various miscellaneous repair jobs. We are hoping to be ready to list in April, so it is down the the wire at this point. Wish us luck, we still have a long way to go!!

Blogroll

I finally added a blogroll to my sidebar, listing all the blogs I read on a regular basis. I don't know why, but I've always felt resistant to doing that, as if I were exposing myself. But I'm not exposing myself, I'm exposing them!

Lax

I've barely been posting recently. The last few weeks have been a huge transition for us in many ways. For those of you who check in on me regularly, I will post more in the future - I promise.

A quick Starbeans story...
One of our cats [unfortunately] pooped in the corner near our front door last week. We have no idea who the offender is; it happens now and then, but usually in the basement, where it is not quite as shocking. There was quite the exclamation about it when the poop was discovered and Starbeans spent his time pointing at it and saying, "Poooo!" before we cleaned it up. Yes, poo. It, of course, was disgusting. The funny part of the story is, every time the word poop is mentioned since, he runs to the corner, points, and says, "Pooooo!" I'm amazed by his memory.

First day of freedom

Today is my first official day away from cubeland. I'm not feeling it yet - give me a few weeks. With my new-found freedom, I made White Bean with Vegetables, Garlic, & Rosemary soup, chicken stock, yogurt (a first!), and hummus. [I should clarify that the yogurt and hummus are still in process.] It has been a good day.

I've recently made granola too - I never believed people when they said it was easy, but BOY! was it easy. I've made 2 batches in less than a week because we've wolfed it down so quickly. Like my favorite cookbook says, "adding a bit of nutmeg can make it taste downright mysterious"...and so it does.