I hate dogs

I have never been a dog person. Since I was little. Probably has something to do with what I consider to be a few traumatic incidents involving dog bites, but still. never have been. 

BUT 

I am the mother of boys. It seems there is some natural maternal want that develops when you have boys, you want them to have a dog. 

despite what you want. 

Henry generally takes a while to warm up to dogs, BUT, he is such an active kid and runs around all the time, I have no doubt that he would love and adore HIS dog. 

So Jason and I have been throwing around the idea, very lightly, and where we are at now is Jason doesnt want a dog until the boys are old enough to help. 

Which means not for another 3ish years. 

but I want so badly for Henry to have a puppy. I know he would love it. 

oh and when we do get a puppy, it will be a beagle

Arent they ADORABLE?>!

after 5 minutes of research we have determined that society says this breed is the best with kids, and introduced early enough, fine with cats. 

cause if you remember we have 2 cats. 

I can't wait. I am excited. Even though I am nothing of a dog person, I want my boys to be dog people. 

Get out!!!!

I am trying SO hard to get Charlie out. 

I have my reasons. 

1. a ridiculously amount of pain no one who is doing "gods work" should have to constantly feel.

2. more importantly, my dr has decided to jet off to france from the 23rd to the 3rd.  ppssh. They are inducing me the 4th(or 5th), so if he decides to come even 1 day earlier, then my Dr. wont be here. :(

So I have until Saturday to get him out. 

AH!!!! 

Its kinda stressing me out. 

I know I am only 36 weeks, but babies are plenty healthy at this point, my dr said out of 100 babies born right now, 1 will need to go to the NICU and not for anything serious. 

So. 

GET.OUT. NOW. 

Lately

Ah!!! I have neglected this blog quite a bit. A friend from high school re-did my photography website for me, and it lit a creative fire under my butt so I have been spending all my extra time doing that. 

So lets see. I am 36 weeks pregnant. 

Jason started his new position at work today, so if you remember, that means we SHOULD be living in New York right now, buuuut we aren't. It was just so messy and complicated with getting him home in time for the birth so his work sent someone from New York out here to train him instead of sending Jason out there. 

So nice. 

So 36 weeks pregnant, my Dr is inducing me at 38! So relieved. My back took a real beating with Henry's pregnancy, and didnt heal enough to go through this one pain free, and its just gotten worse and worse, and they think I may have another bulging disc, so they are taking Charlie early. Its the earliest the policy allows induction, and its the earliest my dr can even do it cause he will be out of town. 

I am ready for him to be here and not be pregnant. I remember what it was like having a newborn, I know how little sleep there is, etc. Trust me, I remember. The pain I am in daily, nightly, 24/7 is SO much worse than any form of newborn sleep deprivation. Basically where my body is currently is that I can not bend or use my ab muscles(which you use every second of the day) without excruciating sharp pain. Funny enough, a couple weeks ago as a last ditched effort to maintain a sanitary house I bought an old persons reacher stick:

It helps SOOOOO much. I can pick up a room without bending and so by the end of the day, I am not paralyzed. Still in pain, but not as much.  My dr is letting my take Loritab, but after 2 doses of it, Jason thinks that it keeps me up at night, so I havent been taking it anymore. 

I want to shot out to ALL the many people who have helped in some way or another during this pregnancy. My mom has been a HUGE help with Henry and even cleaning my house sometimes. My sisters love playing with Henry and when I sneak off to my moms house to take a break, they willingly without being asked will chase Henry around and keep him out of trouble. I have many many friends who have just offered anything I needed, babysitting, food, cleaning, and even though I usually wont take advantage of that, I greatly appreciate their offers. Although I did take advantage of it when Jordan offered to come deep clean my kitchen floor lol. and of course, my husband, for scratching my back every night, bringing me ice water, taking care of Henry the second he gets home, doing what he can with the house when he can, and more importantly, putting up with my overdramatic emotional hormones during this time. He's a trooper and a keeper. 

again, mine beats yours.

Last night while taking out one of my contacts, I scratched my eye. 

Worst pain I have ever felt(next to having a certain area waxed, NEVER again).

I couldn't keep my eye open, or  shut, so I just had to pick one. I closed my eyes and fell asleep around 830. 

My sweet, adorable, thoughtful husband then went downstairs and cleaned my entire kitchen and dining room.  Did the dishes, swept the floor, took out the garbage, restocked the paper towels, etc. all of it. 

I can not tell you what this meant to me, and I didnt even know it would. 

I woke up this morning not feeling any of my usual gotta clean the house stress. I woke up ready for a day of being a mom. I felt so much happier knowing that the biggest daily chore I have was done, and I could just spend most of the day playing with my son. 

and boy did we. 

We got out his pool, and swam in 8 inches of water for hours. 

we laughed. 

wrestled.

snacked.

snuggled. 

It was fantastic. 

I am not sure my husband knew by doing this that it would dramatically change my day today, but I grateful he did it anyway. 

I love that man of mine

T minus 5 weeks

I have slightly over 5 weeks until Charlie comes. 

As far as things go for Charlie, things are ready. We aren't gonna buy his crib til probably a month after he is here, and I still have a slimmer of hope that we wont need to buy a new one and Henry will give his up. Charlie's nursery is ready. I reupholstered the car seat for him so its all comfy and new. I even bought a pack of newborn diapers the other day(holy freaking tiny!!).

What I am not prepared for, is for Henry to have Charlie come. One thing I have heard and learned that is consistent among advice for the first born to add a new sibling, is to have all changes done 4 weeks BEFORE the baby comes. Potty training, toddler bed, bottle weaning, etc. 

So 5 weeks before Charlie comes, here is where we are at with Henry:

He is completely weaned from formula

he is still in his crib

he puts himself to sleep at nigh

potty training...bahaha! for reals?

still wakes up at night for a freaking feeding

Now, the concerning one. at 14 months old I still rock him to sleep for his nap. I know I know, I should be done with that, but its such a sweet tender moment that Ive been selfish in holding on to it. about 2 months ago I tried cry it out for his nap and it was awful, he would go to sleep just fine, but would only stay asleep for 45 mins. I did it for a good week and it never got better so I stopped. 

5 weeks before Charlie comes, this is my last chance to wean this. Today I put him down in his crib awake, he was asleep within minutes, and has been asleep for 90 mins! woot woot!! so hopefully it continues to be this good and get better. 

The other concerning one, the night feeding. This is so frustrating. My kid is 14 months old and still wakes up for a feeding. He goes in phases, he will sleep through the night for a month, sometimes two, and then out of no where start waking up hungry again. I have no idea how to completely fix it. We've done cry it out, we've slowly fed him less and less, nothing has worked long term. To be completely honest I have not been so gung ho about getting rid of the feeding because at this moment it is not disrupting my life, I mean, I am usually already up peeing anyway. 

So here is my advice I am asking for:

advice on the night feeding

advice on how to prepare a 14-16 month old for a sibling

and anything else you double mommys can think of that would have helped you in these last 5 weeks, or the weeks after. 

My blog has turned from my journal into my cries for help platform lol. But you guys are oh so good with all your wisdom! I am lucky. :)

Socially acceptable....

I prefer the written word

and I am a very loud passionate person

This makes for a very hard person to have disagreements with, as my husband has discovered. Over the last 4 years Jason and I continue to learn and evolve in each others way of communicating, but its just so dang hard, probably for the both of us, to get past how loud I am. When I yell, I YELL, so when I am just talking passionately, it can certainly come across as yelling, even though to me, its not. 

I am also a very sarcastic person

This makes for lots of times I wish I would have thought before I said something. Now, our way of communicating during disagreements has improved 1000% since we were first married, and I would say it has evolved from fighting to a disagreement discussion. We are very careful not to call names, not to assign responsibility and to use cheesy phrases(which actually help a lot) like," when you do this I FEEL this way." Using the word FEEL is very powerful, it kind of shares responsibility, because feelings are all up to interpretation by the person feeling them. 

Anyway

my point is sharing this with you was not to give you perhaps personal insight into our marriage, but to ask this question:

Do you think it is an acceptable form of communication to text important discussions, instead of face to face?

You see, my preference for the written word began long before I met Jason. I can remember as far back as 12 years old preferring to write a letter to my older sister telling her how much I hate(drama queens) her rather than yelling at the top of our very loud and powerful lungs. We would write each other letters and slip them under the bedroom door and wait for a reply. Sometimes I wonder if my parents had any idea we did this, but it seemed to not only keep the decibel peace, but it helped us get our message across without being interrupted, given snotty looks, or what else. Not only that but I think when you read something as apposed to hearing it, you hear it differently and perhaps more profoundly.   

my tone in nature is very sarcastic. Its why I ALWAYS was horrible at telephone jobs. So even when I am sincerely saying I am sorry, I admit it does sound wrong. It sounds like I am saying it sarcastically, or forcibly. 

but texts doesnt have tone. So sometimes with me, its almost better for my words to come across toneless, than with my natural tone.  

I know in the end it all comes down to personal choice and what me, my spouse, family etc decide is the best way of  communication, but I am curious to know if its a socially acceptable thing, and if there are others like me. 

So again I pose this question:

Do you think it is an acceptable form of communication to text important discussions, instead of face to face?