Farts, Squeals, Cot, Fat, and Toys

Time since birth: 14 weeks

Pppfffllttt. Burp (how do you spell the sound a burp makes??). “Good girl! Get that wind out!” I’ve noticed that I’m not the only mom that praises her baby for “getting her wind up/out” (burping and farting). Newborns seem to have a difficult time getting their wind out sometimes, so when they do, we let them know how good they are. I still tell Hannah she is a good girl when she burps (I usually laugh when she farts. How such a big noise comes out of such a little baby is beyond me, but it’s very very funny. Sometimes she even looks right in my eyes and gives me a really cheeky grin when she farts). So, if we praise our babies for burping and farting, but then get older children in trouble for it, when does it become socially unacceptable? Doesn’t it confuse kids that one day they praised for it, the next they get in trouble? When is the cut off for being able to burp/fart in public (and by in public, I mean in front of people other then your family/friends you feel comfortable enough to do that in front of)? How do you explain it to your children after they have been able to do it freely all of their lives?

Ring Ring. I was calling the dentist’s office to make Aaron and me an appointment. “I think the line is breaking up,” the receptionist said. “No, that’s my baby,” I replied. Hannah was making so much noise, the lady seriously thought there was something wrong with my phone. Grandma was playing with her, and she just discovered how to squeal in delight. She was pretty much in one giant squeal for about an hour, she was so excited to play with Grandma. I’ve been trying to get her to do it for me, but she will only do little ones. I guess Grandma is her favorite. She adores Grandma. I tried to film her doing it, but as soon as the camera comes out, she stops what she is doing to stare at it (that goes for still camera’s too).

I’ve been pretty tired this week as Hannah was having a growth spurt. She was waking up 2-3 times per night (she usually wakes up once or if I’m lucky not at all). Babies have a growth spurt at around 3 months old, and hers was a beauty, she gained 700g in 2 weeks! I haven’t weighed her yet this week (I weigh her on Wednesdays), but I think she has gained a fair bit this week too. She weighed 5.8kgs last week, so maybe she will crack 6 this week.

It was 9pm, an hour past my bedtime (no laughing, Hannah goes to sleep at 7, so if I want a decent nights sleep, that’s just what I have to do). Following the instructions I got from the Google (haha), I was still getting us nowhere. The Jess pulled into a 7-11 to get some gas. I called Aaron and told him where we were. He got on google maps and laughed. “You’re like 3 streets down from where you’re going.” “But we’ve been down the road twice, and I haven’t seen the street we’re looking for.” He had to explain it to me about 3 times (I’m very special with directions… I don’t know how I was ever a pizza delivery girl). The road we were on turns to the left, and goes straight. We were supposed to go straight instead of veering left (road designers, why, oh why would you do that? One road does not need 3 different names in one mile!). Finally, back on track.

There was a van in the driveway, and the lights in the house were on. “There wasn’t supposed to be anyone home,” I said to The Jess. “Well, I drove you all the way here (which wouldn’t have been far had it not been for my special interpretation of the google directions), we have to get it now.” “Ok, let’s go.” We light-footed our way to the garage. We could see someone sitting on the couch. “Maybe he’s house sitting, I was told they aren’t coming home until tomorrow.” “What should we do.” “Let’s just keep going.” It seems the man on the couch was either ignoring us or had really really bad peripheral vision. We grabbed the some pieces of the cot and snuck back to the car. I was a little afraid the man would be waiting for us with a baseball bat when we went back to get the rest of the cot. Luckily he wasn’t. “I don’t know how he didn’t see us, but I really don’t think he did.” “That, or he knows we are there, but doesn’t want the social awkwardness of saying anything.” “Maybe.” We got the rest of the cot, loaded it up, and drove off. I sent a text message to the cots owner, letting her know that we picked it up. She was away until the next day, but told me I could go ahead and grab it out of the garage if I wanted to. We did feel a bit like robbers though, since there were people there.

The next day, I got a text message from the cots owner. She said her husband was home at the time and hosting a bible study. She said we were good robbers, no one saw or heard us even though we were right there and could see someone through the sliding door. Don’t worry, we have no plans of getting into that line of work….

24 weeks

24 weeks Pregnant:
Aaron and I went away this weekend, a lovely present that Aaron got me for my birthday. We were both lucky enough to have Friday off work, so were able to leave at about 1pm which was quite good. I also got my very first Australian drivers licence that morning. About time, it’s only been 8 years! We were both very hungry for lunch by the time we got going, so we thought we’d find some fast food or something on the motorway, but as time went on, nothing was found. We decided to stop in a little whoop whoop town called Mooney Mooney, which seemed to consist of a boat ramp, and one gas station/shop/burger joint. This was all the one store mind you. The things they had on their shelves were actually quite comical. They only had one of each item, and the items were quite random. If you wanted some rice, or plain pasta, you were just plain out of luck. If you wanted a blue odd shaped wooden thingy that kind of resembled a step stool (but didn’t look like it would be very safe or level), then you were in the right place. They did however, have one thing of baby powder (but nothing else for baby). I should have taken a photo of what was on their shelves, but I did not. Anyway, we had fish and chips for lunch there. You would think the man who worked there (and probably owned it) would be happy for any customers, but instead he seemed a bit grumpy at the prospect of having to serve us.

The cabin Aaron booked for us was really good. It was so relaxed, had a bath tub (with jets), kitchen, bedroom, and a tv, dvd player, and cable. Not that the DVD player worked. It was a very good, relaxing weekend. There were some giant ducks hanging about as well that I fed out of my hand (after some coaxing). I was quite alarmed the first night when I got up after playing lots of board games with Aaron and my feet were very swollen and sore. That is the first time I’ve had that in my pregnancy so far. It felt so weird walking on them. Luckily we had the bathtub, I had a nice (lukewarm so as not to cook Mushi) bath and put my feet on the jets which worked a treat.

Mushi seems to really like church. Everytime we go, he/she is very excitable, moving all around and kicking up a storm. This week at church, I saw a lady in the bathroom who told me that a member of the morning congregation (we go to the evening service) just had a baby naturally that weighed 4.5 Kilos (9.9 pounds). I can’t even begin to imagine having a baby that giant, and really really hope that ours does not weigh that much at birth. After all, I’m not that big. We had to leave fairly early from the supper/yakking after church due to my crazy pregnancy reflux. I forgot to bring my Rennie (prego woman safe antacids), and really needed to go home and have some so my throat didn’t feel like it was being slowly burned into nothing.

This morning I took some fish oil tablets (to aid in the growth of Mushi’s brain), and an hour or so later, I burped. It tasted like fish and I couldn’t figure out why. I thought back, I haven’t eaten fish in the last 2 days, what is going on??? Oh yeah, I had a fish oil tablet. Bad idea I tell you! I’ve been burping fish taste all day. It’s not the most pleasant thing in the world. Note to self: next time, spend the little bit more and get “odourless” fish oil tablets. Only about 400 more left in the jar before that can happen….

Oh yeah, (see, the baby brain… it’s making me forget stuff), on Thursday, Aaron and I looked at a granny flat in Chatswood (as we are looking to move out of our tiny 1 bedroom, preferably before the baby is born), but it turned out to be horrid. The picture that was posted on the website clearly showed a dining table, china hutch and couch. When we got there though, all we saw was a kitchen, 2 small bedrooms, and a little bathroom. I have no idea where they supposedly took the photo on the web from as there is absolutely NO WAY a couch and dining table would fit in that little place. One or the other would barely fit, but not both. The web also said it had a yard, which turned out to be a block of cement otherwise known as the carport that goes with the main house. Awesome. Needless to say, we did not apply for said granny flat, nor were we impressed. The agent didn’t even say hi, which I thought was very rude. As if anyone is going to pay $370 per week for something that is smaller then our current tiny one bedroom apartment. Tell him he’s dreaming. And so, the search continues. The problem of course, is that we have guinea pigs, and despite the fact they they are in a cage, and can’t do any sort of damage to a house/apartment/whatever, they are not allowed in most places (and we don’t want to lie and then sneak them in because that is not the right thing to do).

So to sum up being 24 weeks pregnant: I’m so awkward in my movements that it’s comical (especially when trying to get out of bed over my long pregnancy pillow. It seems like I’m trying to get over a mountain, and probably looks that way), my feet have started to whinge at me by swelling if I don’t elevate them some during the day, my stomach acid wants to eat my esophagus (can’t be bothered looking up the spelling on that one, and I’m sorry, but it’s just not a word that I need to spell on a regualr basis), Bending over to pick something up is somewhat of a production which includes involuntary grunts, I’m horrified by the thought of having a giant 4.5 kilo baby, and I don’t great a great nights sleep because I have to wake up to pee at least once during the night. But you know what? This is all part of the beautiful gift of life that is growing inside me, it’s just funny to write about. Oh, and one more thing, my belly button is threatening me more and more each day with thoughts of popping out. I wonder if it will suddenly just pop one day, or slowly become an outy. I shall soon (very by the looks of it) find out!