39 weeks and 6 days

At 3 in the morning while I still laid in bed wide awake thinking every feeling and pain was the start of labor, I decided to go eat and get a pill for this headache that seems to get worse the further along I wait to deliver. I was wobbling towards where I knew the cereal was waiting for me, I took a step on the stairs only to feel my foot slip out from under me. I am now falling down the stairs! I land on my back luckily. Now as I lay in bed it’s not my headache or labor pain, its the pain in my back! Where is this baby? I am done!

39 weeks and 5 days pregnant!

My husband informed today that he was going out tonight drinking with his friend because he deserves it! I guess it does not matter that I could go into labor at any moment. I guess I can find someone to come over to watch our two year old and get to the hospital on my own. I mean he deserves to get drunk right! Who cares that he now has to get a taxi home when I go into labor and I will be perfectly fine to drive us to the hospital when he finally arrives home when the taxi drops him off. I just hope he has time to close his tab before he tries to find a taxi. I only have one good friend that I have found since I moved up here and today I missed her bridal shower because I am in so much pain and emotionally and physically done from being not only 39 weeks and 5 days pregnant but also taking care of a two year old.

BUT he deserves to go drinking.

Do you know what I deserve! A spa day, a bottle of wine, even a hair cut. But I guess I will get that when both girls go to school.

I have to vent on a blog because I could never tell anyone that my husband just left me to go drinking! And he didn’t understand why I did not want to talk to him for the rest of the day. Well I will NEVER forgive him if I go into labor and I am by myself…Oh wait I have my two year old!

First open house and I am over it!

Since our realtor has been busy with other houses, we decided to host our own open house. What a disaster! She said she would do all the advertising and posting and all we had to do was put up signs. Well it has now been 2 hours and the only people that have shown were two old nosey neighbors that had nothing nice to say and even told me that I should remove a baby gate from the stairs because it was dangerous! Dangerous for who? My baby that could fall down the stairs or you that is just in my house to criticize it and make you feel better about your house.
So I decided to look at the postings on craigslist about our open house and to my surprise there weren’t any! No wonder no one was showing if I knew I had to do everything I would have posted it myself instead of wasting more of my time.
And did I mention our realtor is my husbands cousin! Thats why they say don’t work with relatives. Now I look like the one that is constantly being negative about my husbands family member. So I guess I just sit back and wait for my husband to one day realize that maybe there is a reason our house is not selling.

What did we get ourselves into…

2 days shy of being 5 months pregnant and all I can think about is Real Estate. 2 years ago when I was pregnant with our first, our house was on the market and we found our dream home, except we could not call it ours until we sold our condo. Everyday we waited for an offer that never came. I worked in Boston and made sure the house was perfect everyday incase of a showing—That never happened. April of 2008 the stress got me, the company I worked for went under and I was getting so close to my due date that I had to start nesting so we took our house off the market and settled back into our condo.

2 years later and here we go again. I am again pregnant with our condo waiting to be sold and watching as the house we dreamed about for months gets sold. And we are not the buyers. I again want to say forget it lets stay here. We have put in so much work and no one is even looking at our place once again. But it is only a 2 bedroom and we are running out of space. But when is enough? Can a family of 4 really not survive in a 2 bedroom? I have now rented a storage unit that is packed solid of baby clothing toys and girl clothes that have been handed down from our niece. We have no where to put bottles and if I have to dig my car out of the snow one more time I might scream!

Right when we placed our condo on the market we received our first call for a showing. We mopped floors dusted tops of cabinets and even baked muffins for a good atmosphere. As we sat in our neighbors parking spot and watched as the time went by we finally realized we had been stood up! When we walked back into our home that had been turned into a model home I just plopped down on the couch and ate a freshly made muffin. Here we go again…

Saving money

After the company I worked for no longer existed and I was out of a job, I knew it was time to start snipping coupons. I made it fun—I always got a coffee and the sunday paper. It became a game to me—How much can I save this week. I have decided to share some of the secrets I have learned over the last year with you. 

- You can not save money by shopping at one store. You have to go to many. This might seem hard but you SAHM have no excuses : ) 

- If you buy two papers (The Globe and The Telegraph) You get twice as many coupons and they are not always the same. 

- Allot of people throw out the coupons, find a neighbor or in-law that does not use them. 

- Just because you have a coupon does not mean you need the product! 

More to come, I will also be posting links to some of my favorite money saving sites.

Two days and counting!

Two more days until my second Triathlon—Maybe this time they will have the swim part. I have my Wet Suit ready and my sneakers by the door. And this time I am wearing them so I do not forget them! My Tires are pumped and goggles ready! Wish me luck!

It’s not that easy…

Everyone always says “Your so lucky” after I mention that I stay home with Capri. I actually try avoiding the subject at times because I usually get responses like “Don’t you get bored” and “What do you do all day”. I find myself making excuses when in all actuality I find it harder then a full time job! My job never stops and I get called all hours of the day and night and I never receive a paycheck or bonus for a job well done. And then I have to justify staying home when all I want to do is raise my daughter but at times I just want to give into the times and send her to daycare and go earn a paycheck. Just because I do not work does not mean that we are loaded so I don’t have to work. No, it means we have changed our lifestyle so that we can live on one income. And when I see my dream house it stays in my dreams unless I want to get a full time job and be away from the house and my daughter. I actually have to go now because the person that should be taking over decided to go to the gym (which I have NOT been to in a week and I have a Tri in 12 days) and the little one is screaming for dinner and I just finished cleaning up after lunch…

Sprint Triathlon

On August 1st, Hugh, Capri and I packed up the SUV and strapped on the bikes for our road trip to Greenfield, Ma.—Where I would attempt my first Sprint Triathlon with my neighbor by my side.  When we met Todd and Heather in Greenfield we decided to pick up our packages and then head to Amherst (home of UMASS) for dinner. Unfortunately because of all the rain, the swim portion of the tri was cancelled. Instead they had a .25 sprint to the transition area where we then would start our 15 mile bike ride and finish with a 5K run. The night before the race after stopping at a sporting goods store to pick up a tire pump for Heather’s bike, we pumped up Heather’s bike tires. As we walked towards Todd’s car to put Capri’s Car seat in for the next morning, we hear a BANG!   So many things went through my head in the next few seconds but I knew… Heather’s voice was the next sound to be heard as she says “Was that my tire”! In a fast walk that was almost a jog we all reached the car at the same time to see Heather’s tire blown.

We Decided to meet a little earlier in the morning because someone had to have an extra tube at the Tri, or maybe even a bike tent. This has to happen to other people, right? I am packing all of Capri’s things for the morning when I realize I forgot her formula! The boy’s can pick up some tomorrow on there way to watch the race. As I am going to get my “Tri” bag I realize I don’t have it. In a panic I run to the car, it’s not there. My sneakers are in that bag! I can’t run a race in sandals! What am I going to do… Luckily I have a big foot and almost fit into Hugh’s shoes, so thats how it’s going to be! 

6 a.m. I meet Heather for breakfast with Hugh’s shoes so tightly strapped on that there is no way they would fall off. As we laugh nervously about our mistakes and luck, we look at all the other Triathletes that not only looked prepared but talked about how this is there third and fourth time at this race, “And have you seen the hill…” 

6:30 a.m. We arrive at the Tri early enough to start our tube search. After talking to many people and a long search for a guy that is “over there” we found a women who took us to “The Guy” not only did he fix Heather’s bike but she got the ONLY tube that he had! we were ready to go! 

7:15 a.m. The mandatory meeting for all participants. As the announcer asked the 300 plus crowd who were the first time racers, I think ten people raised their hands, including me. 

8:00 a.m. The first horn sounded for the race to begin. We watched as the International Triathletes start with such umph and speed…

8:15 a.m. Heather and I are walking around waiting for our wave when we hear another horn. We realized we were in the path of the sprinters as we jump to get out of the way, Heather slips on a huge puddle of mud… I catch her hand and we both jump out of the way of the sprinters laughing so hard our sides hurt. 

8:44 a.m. It’s our turn…This is it! There is no turning back. I look at the other racers, they look like me. I can do this. The horn blows…we are sprinting to the bikes. This is awesome! I head out of transition with Heather by my side and I see the first hill (this must be the hill they were talking about). There are so many bikers in one area, I lose Heather…I get up the hill out of breath but ready to go and I realize, this race has just begun. I could never explain the natural high you get as you cruise down a hill with the wind in your face. I had no idea I was about to face “THE HILL”. I was told to watch out for the covered bridge, it was one lane and slick from all the rain. As I am flying down a hill I see the bridge and drop into the lowest gear—Bad idea. As I came out of the covered bridge I see a sharp turn, as I turn I realize I am on “The Hill” I am in the lowest gear! In a panic a switch gears but it won’t change because I am on “The Hill”. I have no power and I start to fall, I can’t got the pedals around…I am done. I notice another biker pushing their bike up the hill. As I attempt to get on my bike for the third time just to fail because the slope of this hill is any bikers nightmare I see a group of people, it’s the family from the hotel that were warning us about the “The Hill”! They are camped out at this entrance to hell to watch people fail! 

We have to do this loop around Greenfield twice, as I approach the bridge for the second time, I am now prepared! I prepare my gears and I push! As I pass the family, out of breath but still on my bike, I smirk. As I come to the transition area I see Hugh, Todd, and Capri! I can do this! I can finish! 

I drop off the bike and start to run. I ran so proud past my fans as I gave a little wave to the three of them. When I passed them, reality hit me. I can not do this, my legs are jello! Keep running. I can’t stop! The hardest thing I have ever done (next to “The Hill”) was to keep running. I just wanted to walk. By the third mile and passing two people and seeing the finish line, I knew I had done it. I finished! As I gave gave everyone hugs I knew I had just finished something big!

August

I think one of the most stressful months of my life has passed. I have not posted one blog since august has begun because I have not had one second of time. Now my husband and I are finally lounging on the couch downstairs and as he watches the Red Sox play the Yankees I will attempt to catch everyone up. I might be relaxing and sipping on some wine but at the corner of my eye I see the pile of prom dresses and sketches my mother brought from Virginia. I could attempt to find a new home for them in the back of my closet but instead I will try to ignore them…

Other people…

I can not go anywhere without having random strangers drive me crazy. Today my friend and I planned on meeting at the park but it was interrupted by yet another New England rain storm. So we decided to meet at the mall. Around here there are play areas for kids in the malls, which is great but you get kids from every litter. As I am trying to teach Capri that she goes up the stairs for the slide not up the slide a girl about 4 years old decides she is going to take over the mom role and picked her up. I did not freak because Capri is now at the age that I do not want to be a helicopter mom. But as the girl is dropping her and continuing walking I felt the need to jump in. FINALLY after I did something the “MOM” shows up, without saying sorry or making eye contact with me she yanks the girl away. Then as Capri is walking while squeezing my finger to keep that little balance that she still needs, a boy about 4 comes right up looks at Capri and then knocks right into her and walks away as she tumbles to the ground. I am not trying to be an over protective mother but COME ON! WHERE was this boys mother! There was only about 4 children there at this time and your telling me you did not see your kid do this. Learn some manners! 

I could not take anymore! We decided to get some lunch and then take a stroll around the mall. Capri has slept in her stroller twice, and she needs to learn to do it more. The only way to teach her this is to let her know that I am not going to get her when she cries. As we are strolling she starts to cry and the cries turn into yelps and then screams. People are now turning to look not once but twice. At one point I had to hold my tongue from yelling at the women with her daughter that has now looked at us three times! As I was about to scream “What do you want me to do” or  ”Would you rather me stay home”! I stopped took a breath and picked her up. Now I am just mad! The strangers that judged me won—This time!