Brother and Sisters

Before Little E was born, I wondered how the pugs would adjust, particularly Rikki.  Rikki is quite a needy pug, loving nothing more than to be pet continuously, even if you are sleeping, unconscious, or dead. If you have two hands, you'd best be using them to rub her belly.  One of your hands is amputated? Then get one of your feet off its lazy sole and put it to work.  In short, she wants to be pet. One of her signature moves is to wedge herself between Bunni and any human, regardless of whether the space can accommodate her--if need be, she'll plant half her ass on the ground and the other on Bunni's face in order to gain prime position for petting ("PPP").

With all this neediness, I worried that she might resent little E and eat him (although the latter was less of a concern because she hardly has any bottom teeth).

The first night we brought E home, the pugs were on high alert and barked with high-pitched persistence every fucking time E cried. And that happened a lot. The next morning, I demanded that Kevin find and hire some type of very expensive dog whisperer to train them.

Luckily, those voracious reactions quickly died down, probably because the pugs were just too exhausted to care anymore.

Well, with an exception. Our little Rikki has taken her sister responsibilities very seriously and does alert us with a few mild barks when she hears E crying and doesn't think that we hear him.  There have been countless times in the dead of night where I wake up only because she jumps off the bed (the pugs sleep with us) and runs to the nursery with a bark or two when E cries.  It's her jumping off the bed that wakes me up, not E's cries (because my auditory nerves are a little slow to arouse).  We don't have a baby monitor--I know I would wake up eventually when his cries reached a certain decibel, but she lets me know as soon as it starts.  Then, after she sees me stumbling blindly to the nursery to check on him, she runs back to our bed. What a good little girl.

Bunni is a little more aloof, which I could have predicted.  She sniffs him once in a while, particularly if he has milk smeared on his face or poop smeared his butt, but in general leaves him alone.

Oh, Rikki still pulls the whole PPP wedge maneuver with E. It took her only a little over a month to sit on E's cheek in getting PPP.  Overall, though, the pugs have taken things very very well.  My favorite pictures of E so far are of him with his pug sisters.  I am so proud of how they have adjusted, and I can't wait for future days of E playing with the pugs, like this little guy.

All This Time...

...you were growing in my belly, little one.  We are so glad and blessed that you are here.

I anticipate many, many more moments like this. 

Bunni and Rikki are dazed and exhausted, as you can see, since their 22-hour nap schedules have been disrupted.

Little E arrived on January 17 at 8:12 p.m., weighing in at a hefty 8 lbs. Can you believe that? I'm 5'2". I blame his size squarely on Kevin, who's 6 feet tall.

Nursery Reveal

I am 38 weeks pregnant.  Are we ready? I'm not sure if anyone can ever really be ready for a baby and the extreme life change to come, and besides, the answer in our case is a definitive "no".  Oh you think I'm joking.  While having your nursery all set up is not necessarily indicative of how prepared people are to raise a baby, it's a nice benchmark that shows that you've...well, put thought and effort into the endeavor.  At some point, during one of my haphazard and aimless wanderings into the nursery, I completely abandoned the notion that we would be ready in this regard.

Admittedly, I have been organizing and making lists of things that need to get done (like learn how to strap a baby into the carseat).  Some may call this "nesting". I don't think so. It's more like "basic shit needs to get done so why don't you finish eating that cookie and get to work".

So here are pics of our nursery, the state of which directly correlates to and quite accurately depicts my frame of mind and preparedness for the impending baby.

Hallway leading into nursery.  At some point, I'm guessing soon, this table, which will be used as a diaper changing table, will need to move into the actual nursery, although there isn't room for it now because of the following...

Some people put up wall art, bookshelves, and mobiles in their nursery.  We have decided that "boxes" is a fine theme for decor.

Kevin did set up the crib. This is the crowning achievement of our nursery.  It's the Gulliver crib from Ikea.  Like you care--this isn't exactly the type of nursery from which pinterest posts and inspiration are derived.

This is what the baby will be looking at from the crib.  We want our baby's first word to be "clutter" or "junk".  That crib railing there? That was the defective one that I managed to get Ikea to replace after a cumulative 1.5 hours on the phone (99% of it on hold). Behind it is a shipping box for 12 bottles of wine. We thought that was appropriate for a nursery.

And there you have it.  I hope this post makes you feel better about your life.

Oh, and here's a picture of me last week at 37 weeks.

Prenatal Workout DVDs

Some of you may be wondering how I've maintained my active and healthy lifestyle during pregnancy.  If you were wondering this, I'd like to know who you're confusing me with.

I (or anyone, for that matter) would not describe my lifestyle as "active" or "healthy"--probably just "moderate". In any case, I did want to exercise a bit during the pregnancy as I heard that helps you bounce back faster after delivery.  The other benefit is that you feel a modicum of justification in eating that sleeve of Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies in one sitting.  Or the entire box of chocolate covered pretzels.  Or the "trail mix" that is mostly chocolate, the pieces of which you pick out so that in reality, it's like eating a bag of chocolate chips.  Which of course brings us to the actual bag of chocolate chips. Mixed with a generous heap of peanut butter.

Anyway, I've been going to a weekly prenatal yoga class, but I would not call this "exercise".  Well actually I do, to make myself feel better, but it's really not.  We spend about 20 minutes at the beginning doing breathing exercises, another 20 at the end in relaxation pose, 10 minutes in a "sharing circle" (where we give updates on our pregnancy and talk about that week's topics, like using vocalization to help relieve labor pain), so that we're left with a little over 20 minutes of actual movement which takes place at the pace that one would take if almost completely paralyzed. I love it!

Otherwise, about twice a week, I choose among various DVDs.  None of these give a serious or intense cardio workout--they do get the heart rate up (some more than others), but overall the intensity is like what you would get from gentle to moderate pilates and calisthenics. I'm not saying you'll start snoring through them, but these are not your CrossFit/kickboxing/spinning type of activity.

My prenatal workout DVD collection includes:

Haha I am kidding.

For real...

Summer Sanders' Prenatal Workout

This DVD gives full-length and express workouts for each trimester.  I have primarily used the first trimester express workout, which is about 30 minutes.  I found that I was comfortable doing it as my pregnancy progressed, so I haven't bothered trying the other trimester workouts.  Oh, I tried the full-length routine once, and the main difference was more sets of the same exercises (not new exercises), which got me all bored so I stuck to the express.  You go through standing warm-up exercises (squats and lunges), then there are arm exercises and sit-ups, and a short stretch and cool-down session. Overall I like this--it's short and peppy.

Long & Lean Prenatal Workout

I guess I didn't read the description carefully because I thought I was buying a yoga DVD (because of the pose on the cover), but this is not a yoga DVD, it's more pilates.  There are three segments, and I usually do all of them (skipping the relaxation at the very end of the last segment), which takes about 45 to 50 minutes.  She starts with standing/moving poses, then floor work, then stretching. Some of the exercises seem a wee bit ineffectual to me, but I try to concentrate on my core like a good girl. I like this about the same as the Summer Sanders workout--it just depends on how long I feel like working out.

Jane Austin Prenatal Yoga

I held off on buying this for a long time because at almost $18, it was more pricey than the other DVDs which I had been able to buy for cheap on eBay.  But I have two friends who recommended it, and in the interest of adding some variety to my workouts, I purchased the DVD.  The entire routine is about an hour long (I fast forward through certain portions so make it about 45 minutes).  I really like the production quality of this DVD.  There are the instructor and 4 students, and the instructor's real-time cues (as opposed to a voiced-over narrative) helps it feel like I'm in a real class.  Again, this isn't a cardio workout, but I felt the poses were effective for strength and flexibility, and there are some hip and pelvis opening positions that I may try during labor (that, or I will be screaming for an epidural). 

Power Yoga: Total Body

This isn't a prenatal yoga DVD and I don't recommend it if you haven't done yoga before.  I was and am no yogi--I've sporadically taken yoga classes at the gym and practiced at home for the past 10 years.  Hm, 10 years sounds like a long time, but I would emphasize "sporadic". I would say that I am advanced beginner or intermediate.  I had used this yoga DVD before the pregnancy, and a few weeks ago decided to try it with modifications because I wanted a little more of a challenge.  The whole routine is about an hour, but I cut out certain sections to make it about 45 minutes and I modify a lot (i.e. instead of upward facing dog, I get on all fours and arch my back with my eyes towards the ceiling; standing with my legs apart and bent for forward bends; doing half bridge pose instead of full bridge pose; saying "fuck it" to the exercises that just won't fly). 

Shiva Rea Prenatal Yoga

I've only tried this once so far. It is very mild, which is a drastic change from her Yoga Shakti DVD I used before getting pregnant when I wanted to get a really good flow yoga workout that got my heart rate up.  I may try this again if I'm feeling really chill and just want a mellow yoga workout, but since I have others to work from that I like, I don't feel much desire to use it.

Complete Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga and Short Forms

I was excited about this DVD because of all the different-length practices (ranging from 15 to 75 minutes) and I thought it would give me the same kind of "flow" experience that I liked pre-pregnancy with Power Yoga and Yoga Shakti.  However, this DVD didn't work for me. She does move quickly, but in a way that I felt was too rushed.  It wasn't that it was hard or challenging, but the poses felt a bit perfunctory and I couldn't get much out of it. Lots of people on Amazon love this DVD though, so I'm in the minority.

And that, my friends, is how I spent money on something to be used for only a few months in my life.  We won't talk about how much I've spent on maternity clothes. It blows my mind.