After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

I'm not saying that Annie goes to the gym a lot...but today, Luisa the owner of L.C. Fitness Studio threw her a baby shower. Not only was it a baby shower, but since today is Halloween, it was a "Babies & Toddlers" dress-up shower....

How awesome is it that Annie's water aerobics and gym classmates would get together in her honor? After seeing the photos and the really cool presents, it is obvious that these ladies really got into the event. As you can see, there was another cool cake. It really is amazing what talented cake makers can do.

This weekend we attended a 2 part birthing class. The highlight of the sessions was breaking into two groups: "mommies" and "partners". Once segregated we were told to write down some of our thoughts on being with a pregnant woman and everything that goes with it. As the guys went around the circle throwing out feelings, it became quite obvious that I've got it pretty good.

Living Hell
Nothing I do is ever right
I have to do all the chores and the cooking
She needs too much TLC
She cries all the time

The challenges of living with a pregnant woman were flying out so fast that the father-to-be who volunteered, couldn't write them down fast enough. I think the group got a little loud, because the instructor came over and immediately "hinted" that we should add some positives to our lists. All I could think of at that moment was that we better get some good ones or there were going to be 9 angry and crying pregnant woman in a few minutes.

Name some positive things about your partner being pregnant.....the loud and rambunctious group got instantly dead silent. I threw out a positive and then someone else followed and before too long the group had a decent list that would help balance out the pains. It took a little longer to develop than our previous list, but we got there. I even offered up the suggestion that putting together the nursery was fun...boy did that get me some strange looks from the guys.

If these guys have it half as bad as they say they do, I'm living a CHARMED life.

So if the class had a highlight, there had to be a lowlight and there is no doubt what it was. After the discussions and the lecturing were complete, it was time to watch a birthing movie. The movie took us through Deborah's labor and showing us how wonderful her husband was, helping her though this difficult time. There was even a shot of the actual birth, which I could have done without, but it was moments after the birth that the lowlight occurred. Without warning, the cameraman provided us with a closeup of something that I REALLY didn't need to see....the passing of the placenta!!

At least during the scene with the baby sliding out and being "tossed" onto the mother's chest, you quickly realized how special that moment must have been for that woman and the ickiness instantly disappeared. The passing of a placenta, however, has no redeeming moment. Then in the follow up scene, it looked like some doctor type had dropped the placenta into a tray and was pointing out things in it to the new parents. PLEASE, PLEASE tell me that doesn't happen in the real world.

It is no surprise that Annie' belly is growing, she is 8 months pregnant. On the other hand, it has been a slight surprise that MY belly has shown signs of following suit, but that isn't really today's topic. What is truly surprising however, is that even with everything we have going on, the Sznitken family has decided that now is the time to start a vegetable garden.

I guess you could make the argument that having home grown, pesticide free vegetables for our little girl to eat will be a wonderful thing. But right now, I'm wondering if we'll ever see something edible come out of this little adventure. Sure Annie has quite the green thumb. Just drive by our house and you'll see all of the flower gardens blooming away. But, I'm thinking Annie might be a bit preoccupied in the coming months. With Annie's dance card full, I'm guessing the majority of the weeding and watering is going to fall to me. I'm not against this at all, but the extent of my gardening skills starts and ends with digging a hole as deep as the root ball and twice as wide.

That's right, I dig the holes that the plants go into, but whether they flower or even live, typically rests on Annie's shoulders. She's the one who knows when its time to water, when its time to fertilize and what the 3 digits really mean on those fertilizer bags. 10-5-15, 15-4-9, they might as well be school locker combinations for all I know.

The beauty of this project is that the garden is on the back side of our house, where nobody goes, so if I kill all of the plants, I'll probably have a few weeks to secretly run out and buy some replacement ones. Then again, if I do a good job and regularly weed and water the plants, besides getting to eat some tasty vegetables, maybe I'll also have some success on that ever expanding waistline.