Sciatica

Last week Sunday I entered the wonderful world of sciatica.

The sciatic nerve.  If you never know what it is, you are very, very lucky.  Its a lovely little sucker that runs from somewhere in your back-ish area down each of your bum cheeks and legs.  That's the medical description anyway.

For me, it is a source of pure discomfort.  On Sunday my left leg/butt cheek started hurting and it hasn't stopped since.  Whatever little man is doing - somersaults, double axels, back kicks, karate chops.... its constricting that nerve somehow.  Every step I take is uncomfortable.  Some days are better than others.  So far work has been alright.  I just limp a little bit - which causes people to tell me I have my pregnancy swagger on.

OR - they tell me I have my pregnancy waddle going.  But I hear them say swagger anyway.

My darling husband found me some good stretches on youtube, so I've been rocking those.  They're a little tricky with the big ball of baby I'm carrying in my front, but they definitely help.  It's making sleep less awesome because it pretty much hurts every time I move or roll over.  But I think that's just preparing me for when baby comes anyway.

And who cares about any of that, when I get to come home from work and have a little boy lift up my shirt and kiss my belly.  Out of the blue.  And then he says, "Doctor get baby brother out."

Um.  Sweetest genius boy ever!

This sciatic nerve thing is annoying.  And I'm super eager to meet my youngest little man.  But I also love being pregnant and getting to take him everywhere I go.  I love feeling his every move.  And I love my baby bump.  Pregnancy is awesome.  And this may be my only chance to experience it, so I want to enjoy every minute!

Time Outs

(Here is another little gem I found gathering dust in my drafts.  Posting because I want to remember these great moments!!)

We have entered the wild world of time outs.

It's something we've been putting off for ever and ever, but now we're at a point where we have naughty little boys and we don't know what to do with them!

Honestly, they are really good boys.  But there are a couple things that require consequences.  One is jumping on the couch.  In general, the idea of jumping on the couch is just good fun.  But when you have twin two year old boys, it gets wild and dangerous and they just don't quit.  No matter how mean my mommy voice is, or how I redirect, there is jumping and injuring inducing wildness.  And then there is the hitting.  Which is mostly just ONE of the boys, whose name may or may not be associate with royalty.  He tends to hit over and over and over and over again.  Not hard, but he knows how to make his point with the repetition when he is not happy.

We have a handy little spot we picked out in the living room on the floor.  Little man has to sit there (right now for only about 30 seconds).  Its been a chore to get the boys to realize time out means they have to sit there until I come over and get them.  But we're getting there.

One of the biggest challenges is the other brother.  For instance, Kyrie likes to bring Kingston his toys when he's in time out.  Um.  Not helping the situation Ky.  Kingston likes to taunt his brother by climbing and snuggling with mommy when Kyrie is in time out, which only escalates Kyrie's unhappiness.  Another challenge is getting them to stay there.  Kyrie will say, "aw done, aw done" over and over.  Kingston will do the stretch out thing where he tries to slowly and discretely sneak away.  Except that he's crying and yelling at me while he does it so its less than discrete.

And one of the funniest things is if they are being silly and wild and jumping on the couch, I'll ask them to stop.  When they don't, I'll ask if they need a time out, and they'll say yes with a smile.  Needless to say, the smile is gone in 2 seconds when they are planted in time out.

And the best is sometimes they will just go sit in that spot and say, "Tah Ow."  They definitely know what a time out is.  Hopefully soon they'll realize they don't ever have to go there if they just listen to every single thing mommy ever says :)

The Things We Say

(Sometimes I write things and don't post them.  I think because I want to reread them and make sure they're not dumb. But then sometimes I forget about them.  I found this post sitting quietly in my drafts and I want to post it because these are things I want to remember my boys saying.  They're blowing my mind with how their language has taken off lately, and I need to keep sharing this stuff!!  I have the WORST memory of anyone I know, so if I don't blog it, it may be lost forever.  So here is this....)

We talk a lot these days.  Some of us more than others.  And some of us say the most ridiculous things.

I'd like to share them with you.

Here are just a few things I hear on the regular.

"Kingston be nauny (naughty)"  Because my Kyrie is a tattletale.

"No No Brother!" Kingston says with a finger pointed.  Any time he comes near his toys.

"No Thank You."  When I ask either child to take a nap, give a toy back, give me a hug, anything.  Always the polite, "no thank you."  Dave goes to pick someone up when they are playing.  "No thank you daddy."  And if he picks them up anyway, they keep saying it, but LOUD.  "NO THANK YOU DADDY!"


And every time we're in the car... and I mean EVERY TIME, like one million times over, my children say, "Car get owie!"  and then "Hold Mama hand.  Hold Daddy hand." Because every time I stop the car, before I get out I say, "You have to hold mama's hand.  Cars are dangerous. They can give you owies.  Are you going to hold mama's hand?"  And so, like the good little passengers they are, they like to remind me of this fact the entire car ride to wherever we might be going.  Which is endearing on the 2 minute drives to the gas station, but not so much on the 30 minute drives.  Less endearing the 167th time.

And one of my personal favorites:

"Carmen tooted."

Carmen is the dog next door.  Who they occasionally see outside and have never touched.  But they are obsessed with her.  When there is a bike in the yard next door?  "Carmen bike."  She's not outside?  "Carmen sleepin"  Never mind the entire family that lives there and talks to them.  And somehow they (Kyrie) knows at the ripe age of 2 that toots are funny.  And even funnier when you blame them on the neighbor dog, apparently.

Ahhh... pregnancy.

I'm so disappointed with myself and my terrible blogging during this pregnancy.  I want to remember everything about it, and I keep forgetting to write about it!!  Yikes!!

I think I've had a really easy pregnancy so far.  I really haven't had any terrible side effects yet.  Just minor little normal pregnancy things.  My back is killing me, but that's normal as your center of balance and posture changes.  I ice it at night, and that seems to help.  Also, my legs are super duper sore at the end of the work day, and I have some really awesome veins happening.  But I also have some totally sexy compression stockings that help with that.  And somehow my ankles are still normal sized.  Pretty sure that will change soon.

Many people have commented that I am small for a pregnant lady of 8 months.  But they've said that all along, and my doctor has said I've measured right on at each visit.  He says my baby boy is just sitting low.  Which I can feel.  I pretty much ALWAYS feel like I have to go to the bathroom.  Like hour 6 of a road trip after 3 big gulps.  So I race to the bathroom one hundred times a day and I tinkle out the amount of pee a bumble bee can store.

So that's cool, right?

And maybe I look small, but wowzers.  My stomach feels huge to me.  It actually hurts.  Its like its stretching.  Well, not like its stretching.  It actually IS stretching.  Imagine that.   The top part of my tummy is super sensitive.  It gets numb all day long.  Its because as my skin is stretching, so are my nerve endings which is causing me discomfort.  I learned it on the online internets.  So it's science.

These things are little nuisances.  I feel very, very lucky.  I've never been sick really.  No swelling yet (though I'm prepared for it to happen any day...), no belly button popping out (just flattened), my feet don't hurt, and I'm generally pleasant.

Well, that last one depends on who you ask.  Maybe I'm not :)

I love being preggers though.  This baby boy moves like a ninja.  He does not mess around.  And that is amazing.  Its so cool to experience.  I love being able to take my boy with me everywhere I go.  And I've been sleeping pretty good too.  When I wake up to bumble bee pee I feel little man moving as I drift back to sleep.  It reminds me to pray for him and I'm right back to sleep.