My mind overfloweth.

So, are you ready? I have so much on my mind that this just may turn into a very long Blog Fart Thursday. Although all morning I've been thinking it's Monday. The whole working on Wednesday thing totally threw me off!

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Beanie and I just got done cleaning the living room. She has so much fun it should inspire me to do it more often. If there's one thing I've really been slacking on it's been keeping up on cleaning the house. I don't know why, but I have such a hard time getting into a routine with it. I am so much happier when it is clean though, so I really need to figure out a system. I like the idea of the "clean one room a day thing" but it has never really materialized. I feel like I can never get caught up enough to start. But, I'm working on it. And right now our living room is beautiful! Beanie has so much fun using the Swiffer duster. And she likes helping vacuum too. She laughs and giggles and runs away from it. So, we really should make cleaning more of a regular activity. Heck, it needs to be done and, who knew, to a 2 1/2 year old it is a ton of fun!

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Glenn and I were talking about breastfeeding the other day. Its a big worry of mine. Not because I don't know what I'm doing (I think we're well practiced in that area), but because I remember how time consuming it is breastfeeding a newborn and then I think that I'll also have an almost three-year-old on my hands. I really think its very important to nurse on demand for quite a long while and I so want it to work out as well with 2.0 as it did with Beanie. At the same time, I worry about what Beanie will do to occupy her time while I'm spending time nursing 2.0. I mean, for the first month or so basically all you do is nurse the baby! I'm really glad that (hopefully) Glenn will be able to take a few weeks off work and be home with us. With Beanie he only had the night off that we were in the hospital and then he was back to work. This time around I think it will be very important for him to be home. I think he's starting to get that too.

And, on a related note, I'd really like him to have the time off because we don't have much family around in the area. I'm sure my dad and stepmom will come by. In all honesty, they were quite helpful last time with things and gave us our space too. My mom and stepdad will (maybe) be able to come into town in May, but that is still a bit up in the air. I'm sure my mother-in-law would like to be in the delivery room (I won't even go into the discussion we had to have about that with Beanie), but, in reality, I would just as much prefer if she didn't come into town. She has no concept of personal space and would just be too hands on I'm sure. Since my mom is planning on being here in May, I plan to tell her that she can come in May or later if she'd like. Let's face it, if Glenn is off for the month of April, May is going to be when I'll need some help. Actually, I'd rather she just come in December when my brother-in-law & his girl friend have their first child and skip the whole coming in May thing (I think the whole "we'll just come later and see both" is a bunch of crap), but it's not my decision to make.

So, anyway, back to breastfeeding...if you have any tips on how to entertain a toddler while breastfeeding a newborn they are much appreciated!

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I'm getting really excited for Thanksgiving. It's going to be a small event this year, but I'm still excited. I made this delicious stuffing a few years ago and am trying to decide whether we should make it again. Since its sort of up in the air who will be here (my brother in law & his girlfriend very well may be having a baby!) and my sister doesn't eat turkey (I'm going to start calling you a turkeytarian Sissy!) we'll keep the menu fairly small and simple. But, how on earth do you keep Thanksgiving dinner small & simple? I mean there's the turkey...and sweet potatoes...and stuffing...and egg stuffing (delicious, trust me, although the first Thanksgiving I ate with my future inlaws I thought they were all crazy!)...and mashed potatoes...and rolls....and veggies...and cranberry sauce. And dessert, you can't forget dessert! All of the sudden its not feeling so small and simple anymore.

Heh, I'm hungry already!

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I'm letting the fact that I have an anterior placenta get to me. Not get to me too much, because the doctor didn't mention it so I assume she must not be too worried, but get to me just because I also worry if its low-lying. Like I said, I'm sure the doctor or ultrasound tech would have mentioned something or looked at it in more detail if it was problematic, so I'm trying not to think about it too much. I'll just have to remember to ask about it at my next appointment.

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I really need to buck up and get Beanie on to sleeping independently. She does well some nights; the other night she slept until almost 5 before waking up for Mommy. Other nights it's more like midnight. Beanie and I aren't going to fit on a twin bed together much longer and it is really starting to hurt my hips to sleep without a body pillow. And, for sure, Beanie, a body pillow and I are not going to fit on a twin bed. I'm always so tired in the middle of the night and end up falling back asleep with her, but I need to work on staying awake and just comforting her long enough for her to fall back asleep. Otherwise my hips will pay in the morning! And, getting her into a new normal soon will make things easier on all of us come April.

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What is it with people thinking they have any say in what you name your child? For the most part everyone whom I've told Baby 2.0's name likes it. My mother-in-law said "Oh! That's a weird name!!! Where did you come up with that??" First of all, last year our name (which, sorry I'm not going to say) ranked #124 in the US population, so, while it isn't the most popular name, it certainly isn't totally unheard of! Then mother-in-law asks if it's a family name, which, coincidentally, it is, but I wasn't planning on telling anyone who didn't already know that it was because that isn't why we chose it. We chose it and then I remembered (or my mom mentioned) that it was my grandfather's middle name and my great (great?) grandmother's maiden name. But Glenn told his mom that it was a family name from my side, not knowing that I wanted to keep that fact on the secret side. Not that it matters, I just always said I didn't ever want to use a family name and here we are!

Then, the other day I was on the phone with my mom who asked if we had decided on a middle name. I said no. Actually, the whole middle name decision has been quite the discussion lately. We can't seem to agree at all. I told her Glenn's favorite (Xavier) and you could just here the dislike in her voice. I rattled off a few others we were thinking of and she quite obviously didn't like any of those either. She started naming off some ideas of her own. I told her, "Trust me, we've talked about every name under the sun. The ones I told you are the ones we both sort of like." But, what does it matter anyways? Baby 2.0 is our child and we'll pick the name.

Now I can totally see why people choose not to tell anyone the name until the baby is born. Who wants to hear it??? And by "it" I mean all the silly little comments people who have NO decision making authority have!

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It is so rainy and stormy here. Beanie is suffering from cabin fever and so am I. Glenn took her outside the other day while he raked leaves (thank goodness the neighbor's maple tree is now bare!) and she had a blast. I feel bad not getting out and about so much. We have been trying to avoid crowded indoor play places as much as we can with this crazy flu season. Maybe a futile precaution, but we're trying. I can't wait for some dry weather so we can get out and play.

I think I'll stop here although I could go on forever today. I might as well try to do some more chores since I have such a good helper this morning.

My 180 on the piggy flu

So, awhile back I wrote about my struggles with the silly swine flu pandemic. Well, I thought I might as well update where my thinking has evolved to on the situation.

As I said before, at first I was dead set against the vaccine for either myself or Beanie. Thought it was all a bunch of media hype, a new vaccine that was untested, etc etc. Well, I still agree that its a whole bunch of media hype (I mean, really would the public be as worried about the big scary swine flu if the media just advertised it as what it is -- another A strain of the flu?), but when the vaccine actually came out it turns out it isn't new and untested. Its the exact same flu vaccine with a different strain in it. As a pediatrician and my OB put it, every year the flu vaccine has 3 or 4 strains in it. The swine flu vaccine is just a flu vaccine with the 4th or 5th strain in it. As the pediatrician said, yea it sucks but that's what it is.

After a boatload of reading and researching (and making the decision to get the regular old flu vaccine this year) I have decided I will get the H1N1 vaccine. That is, I will if my OB ever has it available for me! I am not waiting in a hours-long line with a thousand other people trying to get it. I figure I have more chance of catching something from someone who doesn't know they're sick yet than actually getting the vaccine! We will not be getting it for Beanie, although I will admit there are times when I struggle with that decision as well. But, Beanie is otherwise healthy & we are taking precautions to stay well. I know we can't quaratine ourselves in the house for the next six months but we are doing our best to avoid crowded places & people we know are sick. We wash our hands, take our vitamins, eat well, & use hand sanitizer when we aren't right at a sink. So, we'll see. Like I said, I still struggle with this but, at this point, its not like she can get the vaccine anyways as most pediatricians don't have it yet around here.

The thing that does make me upset (and a little leary) is that, even though supposedly thimerosal free doses are available, you are hard pressed to find the vaccine that doesn't come in the multi-dose bottle that contains thimerosal. While I don't buy into the whole mercury-autism-etc hubbub, I would prefer to have a thimerosal free vaccine. I'm not sure that will be available to me though and I have decided to get it either way. I'm just confused as to why a vaccine that is in such high demand needs to be made with preservatives? I'm not knowledgable (at all!) about vaccine production so maybe there is a valid reason (if someone knows, fill me in!) but the reason that comes readily to mind is that it is probably cheaper for the manufacturers to make it that way. Or quicker? I don't know, Glenn surmised that perhaps preservative is needed because they don't know how long the vaccine will last without it, but I received a thimerosal free "regular" flu vaccine and if its the same exact vaccine then that doesn't make much sense to me.

Anyway, just thought I'd post a little update. It certainly was a struggle for me to come to a decision and I respect everyone's decision, whichever they make.

Here's a link to the article that really sealed the deal for me. I had read numerous other studies & articles, but I really respect Dr. Sears' view on vaccination (although we don't delay most vaccines) and appreciated the unbiased information he provided in this link...

http://www.askdrsears.com/thevaccinebook

(Okay, he has since posted an article about MMR, so you have to scroll down a bit to get the H1N1 info)

Swine Flu Schmine Flu.

So, is the swine flu really getting worse or is the media just catastrophisizing about it like they do about everything else?

I've always been in the camp that the media is making WAY too big of a deal about the silly old swine flu. I mean, more people have died of the plain old run of the mill flu but you don't hear them going on and on about that. Or do you?

Well, now that I'm pregnant I keep hearing about how there is a new strain that "targets" pregnant women. How all pregnant women should be vaccinated...you know with the vaccine they are rushing through clinical trials in order to have it ready for the "real" start of flu season. I have never gotten a flu shot (even when pregnant with Beanie) and I don't plan to this year. I definitely don't plan on getting one that hasn't been fully tested on anyone, let alone a pregnant woman or a developing fetus.

However, there's the sillyness in my head wondering about this stupid swine flu. I mean, do I arm myself with hand sanitizer and never go to storytime? Do we quartine ourselves in the house? Not going to happen.

So, what do other mamas think? What are you doing about the swine flu?