Terribly Awkward

About two weeks ago, Tuan and I made plans to meet another couple, Matt and Sheila for lunch. I had an OB appointment scheduled after lunch, so I drove into town by myself. We'd planned to eat at Aladdin in Fondren, which is one of my favorite places to eat. Arriving early, I decided to go over to the Rainbow co-op to browse and get some tea tree oil. Since the earnest vibe of Fondren usually rubs off on me, I got the bright idea to leave my car parked at Rainbow and walk over to the restaurant. Aladdin's parking is so limited I figured I'd help them out and Tuan could run me back to the car after lunch.

Long boring back story aside, as I'm walking through the parking lot towards Old Canton Road, I realize there is a guy standing on the side of the busy street holding a sign. He was dressed in what looked like blue scrubs and wearing a mask. Since his back was to me, I had no idea what the mask was, but being in Fondren, I thought, "Oh no, this guy is probably an abortion protester and now I, with my huge pregnant belly am going to have to stand beside him and wait to cross this super busy street." I could actually see through the sign and the word choice was visible (albeit backwards). Whether he was protesting for or against abortion, it was just going to be awkward. Nevertheless, I kept walking and thought something along the lines of, "I will stand for truth and life and if he is pro-choice, this will be very interesting."

As I step up onto the sidewalk, I can finally see what the mask is and read the sign. The blue scrubs were a perfect companion to the GENIE mask that the guy waving a sign about making a choice to eat at Aladdin was wearing. It was awkward--just not in an important values kind of way. I had to stand there FOREVER waiting for a chance to cross the street and being Southern, I was compelled to make small talk with the person next to me--no matter how ridiculous the costume or the sign. So, we stood there, the pregnant lady earnestly trying to do the Fondren thing and cross a busy street at lunch, while making chitchat with a masked stranger dressed as a genie and waving a sign. The WALK sign never changed, but I did find a group of brave souls to cross the street with and cross it I did, breathing a sigh of relief and glad for the Genie-free oasis shelter that was waiting.

Thirty Eight Weeks

"Yeah, you're not going to go anytime soon." So said my Ob-Gyn on Thursday. For some reason this was a relief and a an exasperating "throw you hands up in the air" kind of moment. I have lots to do before he-who-is-almost-named arrives and physically feel great. However, at night, I get this kind of excitement and reluctance to go to bed because this could be the night. (!) I was induced with J and A, but with this one I'm not over-eager to induce, at least not early. Give me a week, though, and I may be begging for Pitocin.

J was induced a day after his due date. I wasn't making any progress in labor and had been 3cm for weeks. Since I probably shouldn't write out birth stories in the early hours, I will just say that at 8lb 11 oz, he was ready to arrive. My doctor induced us with A a week or two early because J had been so big and she was worried that A would be, too. A was 8lb 5 oz and arrived like lightning. My body seems to love pitocin and since I never had contractions with either of the first two, I am so, so thankful that option is there and it is a good one for us.

But A's coming quickly and early (even by a week or two), then ending up in the NICU with issues that we never fully figured out except that she "got better", has made me less than eager to induce early. I don't know if the early and quick labor was a factor or not, but I would rather not take the chance. I'm also not worried about having a baby that is "too big" this time around. Sparing the gory details, my nurses told me when A was born that I was "made to birth babies" and when I go into labor and my water breaks with Number 3 to rush to the hospital. Should I have shared that information or kept it to myself? Who knows.

So between those concerns and the personal desire to just "go into labor", I am willing to wait. I've expressed this desire it to my doctor (not very well) and she's been very co-operative about it, but leaving me with the option to schedule an induction after next Friday's appointment.

Now the excitement only grows, because each day is a day closer--two weeks left! Time is flying and we cannot believe it is so soon! Please keep praying for us that we would deliver at the right time and most importantly, have a healthy baby boy in the end. Secondarily, please pray that he comes on his own, but you know, with time to make it to the hospital!

Did ya hear the one about the goat, the wolf and the sack of grain?

Well, that's kind of what we're dealing with right now--except it involves vehicles and carseats and gas mileage. We've been pondering our vehicle situation for a while and if I've ever wanted to conference call with Dave Ramsey and Klick and Klack, this is the time.

Our station wagon gets great gas mileage (20-30 mpg), runs great, I LOVE to drive it (leg room I usually only dream of) and so on and so forth. We tried putting all three carseats in it last night with very dubious results. They fit, but it sure didn't seem comfortable. So . . . the station wagon may be on the way out. : ( This makes me so sad.

Our Land Cruiser can hold the carseats and then some, but it needs some non-mechanical work, lacks the leg room I desire and has terrible gas mileage (16 mpg, I think). When every drive you take is at least twenty miles round-trip and usually more like forty-fifty, you've got a LOT of gas being burned--and we seem to drive a lot. The plusses are that it has four-wheel drive, can tow, can haul and it's such a cool car.

We are committed to being debt free with an emergency fund, which means driving very used vehicles. This also means that it's a good idea to be a two-car family even though Tuan walks or takes the bike/golf-cart to work. Ideally, we'd have a snappy fuel-efficient model and a family car, but if one car breaks down, we need a three carseat vehicle just in case.

So . . . right now, we're thinking sell the Honda Wagon and get a Honda or Toyota van. Better gas mileage, driveability, multiple car seasts and so on. The sale of the wagon would not cover the cost of a new (to us) van, but we can afford to make up the difference. Keeping the Land Cruiser means we have two family vehicles and Tuan can use it for towing, times when we do need a 4x4 and generally making up for the fact that we'd be owning a van and he sold his jeep so long ago. : ) We'd still have to do the superficial repairs the LC needs.

We actually have a buyer for the Land Cruiser, but there's no point in selling it and keeping the wagon and getting a van. Selling the LC would nearly cover the cost of a van, though we'd end up with one car that wasn't useable for all of us.

Why is this so confusing? Why is this so hard? Why is it also so hard to find the type of van we're looking for that is for sale? It's an issue of cost/safety/financial prudence/vehicular reliability/future repairs and cost of running. Crazy stuff. Any input?

Tuan and I are a bit counter-cultural. We are not afraid of good, used high-mileage vehicles. 150,000 miles is cake. We've also found that the cost of the few repairs we've made to our older cars has never exceeded the amount of cost, depreciation, insurance and tags that newer models would have run us. In fact, we've hardly done any work to our older cars apart from batteries and starters. He's also able to do a lot of minor repairs himself and we've found a great mechanic in Graves and Stoddard (HIGHLY RECOMMEND them).

Humbly awaiting advice, input and leads on vans for sale.

Nesting

I intended to share my couponing experience, but grabbed the wrong camera! Instead, I'm sharing the boys' room. The kids stayed with my mom and dad last night and today which gave me some time to paint the shelves and get things a bit more organized. Tuan built the shelves and I'm not sold on the color, but can live with it for now. If you click on this link you can view my Facebook album with more photos of the room and happenings in our family.

Interesting Trend

So, there seems to be this pattern later on in pregnancy where I am hit with insomnia and stay up half the night. I did it with the previous two kids and here I am again. I've had some contractions, some hicks and the coffee after dinner tonight isn't helping. Plus, no. 3 enjoys lodging his foot in my ribs, back and pelvis simultaneously when I lay down.

We are thirty six weeks and five days. As I understand it, we're in the clear for proceeding with labor and anytime is a good time. I have been having contractions with this baby and I never had any with J and A (not the painful kind, at least). They are welcome--funny as that may sound.

At four o'clock in the morning, I could get up and be productive, but that just seems so wrong. I don't like to go downstairs at night anyway and don't have my Kroger receipt upstairs or I could share all the wonderful coupon bargains I got this week.

This pregnancy has been less fatiguing than the others--no choice, really. However, these last two weeks I've been so tired and in need of a nap. I've wanted to nest and madly, madly wanted to deep clean my walls and baseboards and kitchen cabinets. The spirit may have been willing, but the flesh was too weak--until this afternoon. After a post-Bible study nap, something got me going and I cleaned from four thirty until nine-thirty pausing only to eat supper which Tuan kindly cooked lest I have to surrender my magic eraser and vinegar! Okay, there were baths, too. It was so deeply satisfying to make this kind of progress. Is the laundry put away? no. Are my cabinets thoroughly clean? yes. gotta keep my priorities straight, here.

Also, this is so weird, but I have discovered that the Sonic Chicken Club Toaster is the most amazing food ever invented. It is not nourishing, nor is it low-carb or low-fat--wonder why it is so good? There is something phenomenally good about this sandwich: two slices of white bread (gasp! goes Sally Fallon), slathered with mayo (yuck says my non-prego self), and ketchup, cradling a large, fried chicken patty, tomato, bacon, lettuce and plastic cheese (again Sally Fallon gasps). I'm craving it right now as I write. I could eat two at a time, they are so good. I don't think I actually would eat two at a time, but I could if all self-control went out the window. Hmm . . . isn't Sonic open all night?